Gulf Harbour Golf & Country Club, which occupies a stunning isthmus location on the Whangaparāoa Peninsula, north of Auckland, is facing an unwelcome fate in a similar manner to several suburban courses in Australia.
Pack your bags – and clubs – for that mid-year vacation or long weekend. A number of forward-thinking golf clubs have initiated improvements to become even better play-and-stay destinations.
If it’s world-class golf you’re after, two of the best new courses in the world lie in the north of New Zealand’s North Island. They lead the pack when it comes to our ranking of the best layouts ‘across the ditch’.
Few golf clubs have experienced a rockier climb to the top than Palmerston North. The club has changed the location of its course on four separate occasions, each time having to start development from scratch. Four times it has created a new establishment and twice it has had to re-establish itself from wreckage – in 1947 after World War II and in 1965 after a disastrous flood.
Christchurch Golf Club has the distinction of being the second oldest course in New Zealand (behind Otago Golf Club), and the sixth oldest outside the United Kingdom. It also came in as the 15th best layout in New Zealand Golf Digest’s inaugural ranking of our Top 50 Courses earlier this year.
Winter doesn’t have to mean total hibernation for Kiwi golfers. However, Auckland and the north of the country can be counted on to offer friendlier conditions than the lower reaches of the South Island might present. And Maungakiekie Golf Club in the city’s south is one place you can capture a little mid-year sunshine.
When it opened in 1993, Millbrook Resort was a bit of a novelty. A deer farm had been transformed into a thoroughly modern golf course. The farm’s homestead was converted into a restaurant complemented by luxurious lodgings, all in a spectacular alpine location just outside Queenstown. The resort golf phenomenon had finally come to New Zealand.
Australian Golf Digest
