golf ‘where no one is watching’
MATAURI BAY, New Zealand — Twenty-five years ago, on November 1, 1999, Kauri Cliffs GC opened for play here, in what Kiwis call the country’s “winterless north.” The new course would quickly change the face of resort golf forever — not just in New Zealand, but around the world.
Prior to 1999, Golf + NZ mean two things: Sir Bob Charles and the delightful links at Paraparaumu Beach. In building his new clifftop golf course, and then the elegant lodge at Rosewood Kauri Cliffs, American financier Julian Robertson created a new, posh standard and identity for golf in New Zealand. A quarter-century later, this lavish resort formula has been replicated up and down the archipelago, which many aficionados today consider the premier luxury golf destination on Earth.
“Many credit Sand Hills and Bandon Dunes for creating a specific ‘remote links’ category, and I’ll go along with that,” says Ray Geffre, director of golf at Kauri Cliffs and its sister course, Cape Kidnappers GC. “But I’m convinced Kauri has had similar impact: here in New Zealand without question, but globally as well.
“For starters, if Kauri didn’t hit the World Top 100 in 2003, maybe there is no Cape Kidnappers. But the success of Kauri, then Cape, certainly paved the way for all the boutique, remote, super-upscale golf resorts that have opened here and around the world in the 21st century. In short, Kauri Cliffs proved that folks would travel great distances to experience that standard of luxury, far from the beaten path.
“That’s become our mantra: Play like no one is watching. Because here, you really do have the place to yourself.”
Kauri Cliffs GC was designed by Nicklaus protégé David Harmon, who, during the design and construction phases, made 42 visits from his home in Florida. Robertson presented him with a stunning subtropical setting and a free hand. Harmon, a former shaper, responded by producing a modern masterpiece whose contours compete with dramatic elevation changes on both nines. The architect also produced clever routing that swerves inland — along lush valley floors, straddling deep ravines — while always tacking back to the cliffs that rise more than 50 meters from the beach below.
That coastline is one reason Kauri Cliffs — with its long views, over the Cavalli Islands to the South Pacific beyond — continues to rank among the most beautiful golf courses on earth. By 2003, the course was indeed ranked among the top 100 on Earth (Golf Digest today ranks it #55), while the adjoining lodge oozed gracious antebellum charm.
In fact, it’s the stay-and-play proposition at Kauri Cliffs that has effectively spread this formula around the golf world. There are gorgeous, remote golf courses pretty much everywhere. The trick is creating accommodations that measure up.
New Zealand’s reputation for luxury lodges — intimate, lavish, sometimes quirky but always resonant of the surrounding landscape — preceded Kauri Cliffs. The famous Huka Lodge, in Taupo, was opened in 1924. In creating Kauri’s plantation-style lodge and its 22 guest cottages, Robertson and his wife Josie riffed on the example of Huka and others. Then they followed up with one of Tom Doak’s finest course designs beside the chic, post-modern Lodge at Cape Kidnappers, near Hawke’s Bay.
This is the model: superb scenic golf set beside bespoke lodges of equally spectacular quality. In homage, a dozen Kiwi resorts have been developed on the North and South islands. Yet this is the same formula on offer at Adair Castle in Ireland, Costa Navarino in Greece, the South Cape Club on the Korean coast, and so many North American Cabot properties, it’s difficult to keep track.
“If you think about what these resorts are selling, it’s luxury and solitude,” Geffre says. “It’s world-class golf at the edge of the known world, where you play your own game — because no one is watching! You don’t get that sensation anywhere else, even at the finest private clubs.
“Of course, golf enjoys a long tradition of amazing accommodations that stand beside superb courses, especially at seaside. But those hotels have traditionally been quite large, often corporate and sometimes impersonal. Kauri’s example is literally a world away from that. We host buddy trips where the eight guys are the only ones on property, for days. That’s a particular sort of luxury vibe, one that didn’t really exist until 1999.”
Much has changed in 25 years. To Geffre’s point, Kauri recently added a trio of 4-bedroom residences that cater to golf buddy trips and families on holiday. In the Robertson tradition, all 22 guest suites feature their own distinct, continually updated décor, open fireplaces, walk-in wardrobes and private porches with views worthy of the most discriminating Instagrammers.
While Mr. Robertson passed away in 2022, his family maintains ownership of all three of New Zealand properties. Starting Dec. 1, 2023, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts was entrusted with the hospitality operations at the Rosewood Kauri Cliffs, Rosewood Cape Kidnappers, and Rosewood Matakauri in Queenstown.
Yet some things never do change. As Business Traveler magazine reported in its September 2024 issue, “Kauri offers the pinnacle of high-end golf resort experiences… Pursue scuba diving, big-game fishing, sailing and other sports; hike to waterfalls, the unmissable Pink Beach and an 800-year-old kauri tree; and otherwise enjoy the upscale tropical plantation styling, thoughtful room appointments (even the bathroom hooks are finished in leather) and five-course tasting menus with wine pairings each night.”
