CAPE KIDNAPPERS GOLF CLUB, NAPIER, NEW ZEALAND

The Cape Kidnappers Golf Club is one of Doak’s best courses; the property is a top towering cliffs above New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay, it is built on a 5000 acre sheep farm just outside of Napier on the eastern coast of the North Island.

The site is amazing, the views on the sea towards the cliffs make this piece of land perfect for golf, nevertheless the topography made the routing of the holes very challenging and it is shaped across five fingers of land which tilt dramatically towards the north, before plunging 400 feet off sheer cliffs to Hawkes Bay below. Sometimes the fingers were wide enough for holes to play out and back some other times one hole plays to the end of a ridge, and the next crosses diagonally over a valley to the ridge on the far side.
The architect brings players towards the sea and back inland many times during the round, changing angles of play, changing the influence of the wind hole after hole.
This is one of the best demonstrations of Doak talent and it completely reflects his minimalist philosophy, fairways are laid naturally on the land and utilize the most scenic and dramatic parts of the site, they are fully playable, and yet each nine returns to the club house. The course, due to some forced carries over row gullies can penalize poor players, but this is a price to pay in order to appreciate the natural beauty of the site.