New Zealand’s top courses
Jack’s Point was ranked No 1 in New Zealand, as voted by golf club members in a survey conducted by New Zealand Golf Rankings. Photo: Jack’s Point Golf Club
Otago golf professional Andrew Whiley recently completed the first New Zealand golf course regional rankings.
Whiley, from Dunedin, believes this is the first regional rankings of New Zealand golf courses and the most extensive ever undertaken.
With 776 respondents representing 114 golf clubs, the regional rankings were based on regions similar to the Super 15 rugby regions. Each golfer was asked to rank their top six golf courses, their favourite “nine-hole” golf course and their “hidden gem”.
Whiley, a columnist for Golfer Pacific, said golfers around the country enjoy debating their favourite golf courses with fellow golfers and now they had the opportunity to share their rankings with golfers from around the country. More importantly, he said, it was great to see golf courses that don’t normally get recognised actually being listed as special places to play golf.
The top golf course in the northern (Blues) region was Kauri Cliffs with the hidden gem also being Kauri Cliffs. The top nine-hole course was Waiheke Island.
In the Waikato-Bay of Plenty (or Chiefs region) it was Wairakei International that was rated as the number one course and the hidden gem being Walton Golf Club. The Wairakei nine-holer’ was the top nine-hole course.
In the lower North Island (or Hurricanes) region, Cape Kidnappers topped the rankings, closely followed by Paraparaumu Beach. The hidden gem was the splendid Rangatira Golf Club and Onga Onga was named the top nine-holer.
In the Canterbury (Crusaders) region, the Christchurch Golf Club led the rankings. Hanmer Springs was voted the hidden gem and Tai Tapu the favourite nine-hole course.
In the Otago-Southland (Highlanders) region, Jack’s Point topped the rankings with the Otago favourite Roxburgh Golf Club named the hidden gem. Dunstan Golf Club was the number one ranked nine-hole course.
On a percentage basis, Jack’s Point was the highest ranked golf course for all regions; Rangatira the most popular hidden gem and Tai Tapu the country’s favourite nine-holer.
Whiley said in order to ensure an accurate reflection of the rankings, golfer’s votes for their own home course were removed as many saw their own courses as number one. This also removed any chance for ‘block voting’. Whiley was extremely pleased with the input from so many golfers around the country, including input from Sir Bob Charles and former New Zealand World Cup player, Denis “Yogi” Clark.
Whiley said the results showed the New Zealand golf fraternity really appreciates the quality of amazing courses within a couple of hours from home. He also believes these rankings are an important tool for New Zealand Golf tourism.
“I hope it will encourage many local golfers to take a weekend road trip to play some of these special courses,’’ Whiley said.
“Many overseas tourists travelling New Zealand wonder where they are going to play golf and many want to play the `local’ courses such as Walton, Rangatira and Roxburgh. Here they will really find some great Kiwi golf experiences and local hospitality.”
New Zealand Golf Rankings is the authority in ranking our country’s best golf courses, with previous national top 25 rankings released in 2011, 2012 and 2014. Whiley said the rankings will be repeated next year with a team of PGA professionals and golf industry leaders.