Cape Kidnappers Golf Course
Hawkes Bay Napier New Zealand

The Golf Course
Designed by legendary golf architect Tom Doak, the par 71 golf course measures 7,119 yards (6,510 meters) and will challenge golfers of all skill levels. Completed in 2004, Cape Kidnappers has been hailed as one of the great modern marvels in golf and is currently ranked the 41st best golf course in the world by Golf Magazine.

Our well equipped Pro Shop is located at the Clubhouse. An attractive selection of golf and casual wear is available. Callaway ladies’ and men’s clubs are available for rent. The ladies’ and men’s locker rooms are fully appointed with lockers and showers, and are located next to the Pro Shop. Should you wish to have a small packed lunch between the nines, an order can be placed with the Pro Shop before teeing off. Additionally, a full lunch menu is available in the Clubhouse dining room.

In the words of course designer Tom Doak...

"Our goal in designing golf courses is to create interesting holes you wouldn't find anywhere else. That wasn't hard to do at Cape Kidnappers, because the site is not like anywhere else in golf. If it were any bigger or any more dramatic, it would probably be cordoned off as a national park. It's an overwhelming experience to stand up on the cliffs, 140 meters above sea level, and look out across the waves far below in Hawke's Bay.

Cape Kidnappers is not true links terrain, with the wrinkles of sand dunes; instead the land tilts toward the sea as a series of ridges jutting out toward the edge of the cliffs. Yet, the play is seaside golf at its finest. The surface is firm and fast, the conditions can be windy, and the player who can control his trajectory will be master of the course. You'll hit shots over the tops of the tea trees, and play along the edges of deep ravines. If you stray on your approaches, you'll actually hope to get caught up in bunkers hanging off the green's edge, some of them deeper than you've ever seen before. Three times, you'll have to make the perilous leap from the end of one ridge to the end of the next. And at the sixth and fifteenth holes it's possible to pull your approach off the very end of the earth, though it will take nearly ten seconds of hang time for your ball to reach the ocean below.

For myself and my associates, it was a great adventure to track up the hill every day and build a golf course in such a remarkable setting. We hope you enjoy your time here as much as we have. New Zealand is a long way from home, but Cape Kidnappers is never far from our hearts."

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