Te Arai (North)

From seaside dunes to native forest and back again, the newer of two courses at Te Arai shifts in moods and perspective, but always with an eye toward drama. Afforded less coastline than Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw had on the South, Doak produced ample inland intrigue with a medley of blind shots and strategic half-par holes that play around bends and over ridges to boldly contoured greens. A few of those surfaces — notably at the 4th and 7th — are, as Doak concedes, “pretty wild,” yet they lend the course a vivid personality. A preserved Māori fort, or pā, between the 5th and 6th holes, also enhance the property’s unique sense of place. The result is a thrilling complement to the South Course and a public-access counterpoint to Doak’s celebrated work at private Tara Iti, just up the coast.