Te Arai Links (North Course)

Three miles down the coast from his exceptional Tara Iti Golf Club sits Tom Doak’s third — and most recent — original design in New Zealand. Tara Iti owner Ric Kayne purchased the land in 2012 with the intention of building a public-facing resort and hired Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to design the South Course, which opened in 2022.  

Opening a year later, Te Arai’s North Course is situated on a less opulent, but not necessarily less interesting piece of land and was built as an antithesis to, not only Doak’s own 2015 design up the coast, but to the eye-popping resort gem that is the Coore and Crenshaw course. Without the same expanse of picturesque oceanfront dunes, Tom and his team were mainly forced inland, etching bold contours over broad topography, and timing their ocean reveals for just the right moments. 

At times, the North Course can feel like a throwback for Doak with a boldness that recalls places like Ballyneal and Old Macdonald, while the team that built it very much straddles Tom’s past and present. Due to New Zealand’s strict Covid quarantine policies, Doak relied heavily on his on-site crew: longtime associate Brian Slawnik, as well as shapers Angela Moser and Clyde Johnson, two extremely talented architects who have worked with Tom on many of his recent projects. Add in some shaping work from Tom himself (a rarity these days) and you have an immensely fun counter to the resort’s more photogenic — although equally entertaining — South Course. 

Huge, undulating fairways lead into twisting greens with rolling internal and external contours, which generate dramatically different results depending on which side of those slopes you find. It’s the kind of golf that can leave you scratching your head but also the kind that lingers, begging you to try a shot again (and again). Throw in the immaculate wall-to-wall fescue surface that superintendent Nick O’Brien has cultivated as well as ocean views at the beginning, middle, and end of the round, and you realize there isn’t much else you can ask for.

Take Note…

Fortress. A huge Māori hill fort, or Pā, sits directly next to the fifth green and sixth tee. Although not directly in play, the local tribe gave the go-ahead to incorporate it into the design.

Rerouting. Holes seven, eight, and nine were originally going to come later in the round (after the current 16th) but there were concerns about saving some of the longest walks for the last few holes.

Doak on the Dozer. In anticipation of getting on the bulldozer at his High Pointe revival, Tom jumped back on during construction at Te Arai North, rough-shaping the greens on Nos. 4 and 7, two of the most dramatic holes on property.

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