Kauri Cliffs Golf Course, New Zealand

Kauri Cliffs Golf Course is located four and a half hours north of Auckland in the Bay of Islands region in New Zealand, is one of those surreal golf experiences that avid golfers should experience at least once in their lifetime. Designed and built by David Harman of Golf Course Consultants (USA) this par 72 championship golf course measures 6,510 meters and offers five sets of tees to challenge every skill level; fifteen holes view the Pacific Ocean, six of which are played alongside cliffs, which plunge into the sea. The beautiful inland holes wind through marsh, forest and farmland.

The gently plummeting front nine whisks you away from the first tee and down towards the South Pacific that waits below. The grand scale of glacier cut landscape that surrounds the property dwarf the golfer and allows one to feel as if you’re in a golf amphitheatre. The 15 minutes tee time intervals allow for the few groups on the golf course to escape your sight after the 2nd hole, never to be seen again. Golfing at a relaxed pace and truly soaking up the atmosphere is what Kauri Cliffs is all about. This is how golf is meant to be played, in near-solitude and atop the cliffs overlooking the game fish filled waters just 150 feet below. Crashing waves won’t get you wet at Kauri Cliffs but you’ll be thinking of ways to frolic in the sky-blue waters after your round.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt

After the challenging but fair front nine brings you back to the clubhouse you’ll be relieved to know, it’s not over. Actually, the fun has just begun. The first 4 holes on the back play through the marshland valley and offer only a few glimpses of the blue ocean that you’ve permanently etched in your mind from the front nine. Some say the drive from the 13th green to the par-3 14th tee is where the beauty becomes surreal. At this point you’re nearly hovering above those islands on that on the front nine looked so far away. You can see the native species of trees on these islands and the windblown grasses that seem to grow right into the waves that are crashing on their shores. The stunning and placid Waiaua Bay sits below and beckons those golfers who wouldn’t mind soaking up the rays at the beach. What makes this spot truly special is how it the view changes and never tires as you play 4 of the final 5 holes along the cliffs to your left. This is where the golf often becomes secondary to photography or just daydreaming about this special place.

Awarded as the Best New International Golf Course 2001 by Golf Digest the course has received several distinctions since then. In 2010 it was ranked as the 18th Greatest Golf Course in the World by GOLF Magazine and voted the 25th course among the Top 100 Courses in the World for 2009-2010 by Golf Digest, among other distinctions.