The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs: Top 100 Golf Resorts in the World

Some golfers will go to the ends of the earth for a game. Waiting for them there is the Lodge at Kauri Cliffs. Set on 6,000 rolling and remote acres of forest and farmland on the North Island of New Zealand, the ultra-luxe oceanside resort — opened in 2001 by American financier Julian Robertson — put a marker down for high-end golf in the country, paving the way for Top 100 World outposts at Cape Kidnappers (another Robertson property), Tara Iti and Te Arai. A few years ago, GOLF described designer David Harman’s gorgeous Kauri Cliffs course as “basically Kapalua meets Pebble Beach.” The resort’s non-golf amenities? They defy description. Guests who opt for the four-bedroom residences (buddies trip?) can have their meals prepared for them by a personal chef. Resort-provided e-bikes will take you to waterfalls, any number of beaches or along forested trails and farm roads lined with cattle and sheep. Prefer to hoof it in search of 900-year-old Kauri trees? Go for it. Surf? Head to Takou Beach. Fish? Reel in a New Zealand snapper and they’ll plate it for you that night at dinner. Perhaps you’d just settle for a post-round cocktail on one of the main lodge’s lush verandas. When you’re at the end of earth, why not?