Tara Iti Golf Club
Tara Iti Golf Club, Mangawhai, NEW ZEALAND
Opened October 2015
Client Ric Kayne had lofty goals when he first contacted us about building a new golf course along the coast of New Zealand, but we had to send him back to the drawing board once before he found the right property to build it, on a sandy spit of land just south of Mangawhai, ninety minutes northeast of Auckland. When we first saw the site it was covered by a thick commercial pine plantation; our plan for the course entailed clearing the whole site and restoring the natural dune vegetation around the 18 holes, creating a true links playing surface blessed with views of the ocean and of the islands offshore.
The private club accepts limited outside play from overseas visitors, and has already been pronounced by many New Zealanders as the nation's new #1 course.
