A Kiwi Cracker, Mate
March 1, 2005

Alister MacKenzie in the Spirit of St Andrews (1934) wrote despairingly of golf in New Zealand.

"Golf in New Zealand, unlike Australia, is dead. Green committees there do not seem to realize the game is played for pleasure; they utilize long grass as a penal hazard and the consequence is that golfers will not put up with the annoyance of looking for lost balls."

Click on the photo to view larger image and caption. Photo courtesy of Cape Kidnappers An ariel view of the back nine looking out to Hawke's Bay.

Click on the photo to view larger image and caption. Photo courtesy of Cape Kidnappers A view of the back nine holes from Hawke's Bay.

The Scottish golf architect had come to Australia in 1926 and went through the land of the long white cloud on the way to his commission on the shores of the Pacific where he brought Cypress Point to life.

MacKenzie is revered in Australia because he had such an influence on the sandbelt of Melbourne. Whilst stopping off in New Zealand he did design Titirangi, a suburban Auckland course with a group of dramatic short holes and some really interesting two-shotters. It is short by modern standards and he admitted that although he designed the course he only knew it from "photographs they sent me."

Such was the way in the days of sailing long distances.

A little later his Australian design associate, Alex Russell, organized the links at Paraparaumu Beach, which until last year was New Zealandís best course and a constant presence in the top hundred courses in the world.

The 17th,a dogleg to the right, with duel driving areas separated by a dune that can be carried only with a long and perfectly placed drive is one of the best par fours in either country.

Like Titirangi, the short holes have unmistakable class but sad to report the MacKenzie accusation of overuse of long grass can be aimed at those responsible for setting up the course today. The greens are too soft and narrow fairways bordered by high rough are seen as the only way to defend the reputation of the course.

Itís completely the wrong way around and until the sprinklers are turned off and the rough mowers replaced by fairway mowers the course will continue to disappoint those familiar with the philosophies of Russell and MacKenzie.

This past decade in New Zealand has seen the growth of the real-estate driven golf course development and the inevitable use of golf designers who are hired as much for the ability of their reputation to sell houses as the likelihood of them putting significant courses on the ground.

Indeed one has to question whether those responsible for the financial success even care about the attached golf courses.

The problem in New Zealand is the country had about the same number of really significant courses as Tiger Woods has wedges in his bag.

For the health of the game there was a desperate need for courses of architectural significance to be built but no one is suggesting the courses of the nineties that sprung up in Auckland, Christchurch and Queenstown answered MacKenzieís call for the game to be bought to life.

For all the money that has been spent it has been a disappointment for a country blessed with wonderful land and spectacular sites for golf. Adding to the problem is a small population used to paying almost nothing in world terms for their golf.

It has been left to the most unlikely of sources, but finally a course has surpassed Paraparaumu Beach and it is a beauty.

Click on the photo to view larger image and caption. Photo courtesy of Cape Kidnappers The 7th is called 14 Flags and is a 414 yards from the tips.

Click on the photo to view larger image and caption. Photo courtesy of Cape Kidnappers The 9th hole is called Dip and is only 369 yards.

Julian Robertson is an American with a well earned reputation as one who has no need to worry about where his next dollar is coming from.

Robertson is not a young man but he is convinced New Zealand has a significant part to play in the future of American tourism and he is determined build courses that are sure to enhance the reputation of golf in New Zealand.

His initial expedition into golf construction was at Kauri Cliffs, a spectacular course north of Auckland, close to the famed Bay of Islands. Its beautiful site overlooking distant islands and it astounds all who play the course.

With Kauri Cliffs on the ground, Robertson headed south to Cape Kidnappers; the site of an ill-fated landing by Captain James Cook the Yorkshireman credited with the discovery of Australia.

Halfway down the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand Robertson found an old sheep farm high above the amazing cliffs of the Cape and he hired Tom Doak to build his course.

Doak is one of a new generation of architects with a passion for leaving a MacKenzie like legacy. Like the Scot he has written with the purpose of forcing people to question conventional wisdom and his Confidential Guide to Golf Courses is the finest critique of the courses of the world ever written.

It upset some but The Spirit of St Andrews was written in the early thirties and not published until sixty years later. It too would have grated a few MacKenzie rivals if it has seen the light of day whilst the author was still alive. Instead it lay in a chest of family papers until it was discovered, almost by accident, sixty years after it was written.

Cape Kidnappers is built on a difficult site where the routing was the key to extracting the most out of the land. The back nine features fingers of land stretching out toward the ocean and they had to be used for golf holes.

Doak had the task of fitting these amazing holes into the eighteen-hole jigsaw. It is a difficult and severe course befitting Robertsonís brief for a course capable of holding the national Open and the back tees are not for the double-digit handicappers.

The undulation makes for a succession of dramatic shots including the long second to the par five 4th green, the 220 yard shot over a huge gully to the par three 6th green, and the pitch down to the small and upturned 7th green.

It is the back nine where the golfer really confronts some all-world shots.

Click on the photo to view larger image and caption. Photo courtesy of Cape Kidnappers The 10th hole is a par-4 that stretches to 430 yards and is called Seaward Ho.

Click on the photo to view larger image and caption. Photo courtesy of Cape Kidnappers The par-4 12th hole, called Infinity looks like it is on the edge of the world.

The 12th green sets up with only water on the horizon and one feels like the end of the world awaits for those hitting a fraction too far. It isnít but that does not make the shot look any more comforting.

The short drive and pitch 14th has a replica of the confounding Road Hole green at St Andrews and it is followed by the worldís most difficult par five. The 15th is over 600 yards stretching out over the longest finger of land heading out toward Argentina.

All the way along the left is a 500-foot drop down the cliff to the water and unplayable lies line the right side of the fairway that is wide enough but not for the comfort of any player in the world. Even Calvin Peete at his straightest wouldnít have taken this one for granted. If it were the finishing hole of a major championship, Jean van de Velde would soon be forgotten as disaster awaits the unsure all the way down this incredible hole.

Cape Kidnappers is by some way the best course in New Zealand and although it is somewhat off the beaten track it is surely worth a visit. It has bought golf to life in a country crying out from more of the same.

Click on the photo to view larger image and caption.. Photo courtesy of Cape Kidnappers No. 15 (Pirate's Plank) and No. 16 (Widow's Walk are at the far north end of the course.

Click on the photo to view larger image and caption. Photo courtesy of Cape Kidnappers The par-4 No. 17 Gannet's Perch is 423 yards from the tip, all uphill.

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