Cape Kidnappers

Cape Kidnappers

  • Course Type

    Resort
  • GOLF Top 100 World Rank (2023-24)

    55
  • Year

    2004
  • Architects

    Tom Doak
  • Par

    71
  • Yardage

    7,147

Course Overview

Drone shots of this course are evocative, showing holes located on fingers of land 500 feet above the Pacific Ocean. But golf is played from the ground, not the air, and that’s just fine here as the tumbling landforms are ideal for golf. The course’s most famous hole is also its most feared, the 650-yard, par-5 15th, which falls away on both sides of the fairway and sports a horizon green perched precariously on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Architecture buffs are likely to be just as captivated by the playing angles at the preceding hole, a short two-shotter with a Road Hole green complex. (Photo: Gary Lisbon)

3 things to know

  • Hole everyone talks about

    No. 15, par-5, 650 yards: Keep your ball in play or it won’t stop rolling until it hits the ocean, 500 feet below. With a fairway flanked by cliffs, the longest hole in New Zealand doesn’t need a single bunker to be a difficult test. Thankfully, the fairway is mostly flat, making the behemoth potentially gettable if the wind is down.
  • Best non-golf amenity

    Enjoy a spectacular sunrise at the top of a Cape Kidnappers cliff as part of the resort’s Sunrise Breakfast at Black Reef.
  • Insider tip

    Embrace the journey. Getting to the Cape is not for the faint of heart. The resort is more than five hours from Auckland and upon reaching the gates, you still have a 15-minute drive on a windy road through cattle pastures. Let the anticipation set the stage for the dramatic coastline vistas with which you will be greeted.
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