CAPE KIDNAPPERS - 17 POINTS

Clifftop sites can be thrilling. They deliver spectacular settings and social media drooling is all but assured. But a good setting only gets you so far. To break into the very top echelons of the world’s greatest courses you need more than beautiful views.

I was a bit nervous about what I would find at Cape Kidnappers. Almost every photograph I had seen was from a drone or helicopter high above the ocean, looking down on fingers of land reaching out to sea, with golf holes draped over them. They clearly had a wow factor, but would they be playable? And what about all of the other holes on the course - why didn’t we see pictures of them?!

Well, I am glad to say that Tom Doak created something special on the cliffs, and he did a very fine job on the other holes too.

The course actually begins by heading away from the ocean, and you don’t get any sight of the water for the first few holes. That’s OK though - it helps build the anticipation, and these are good holes with an almost heathland feel to them.

The first asks you for a fade off the tee to follow the hole round to the right, but then, to the well protected green, with trees left, a high draw is your friend. Some early questions are asked!

The first real highlight comes at the par 3 third. Regardless of which tee you are hitting from you will need to carry the ball to the green as a drop-off left, and bunkers to the right, are quite foreboding. There’s actually more space up there than you can see from the tee and this is something which becomes quite a theme for approach shots across the course.

The opening holes keep going strong. The fourth is a wonderful par 5 - it’s a blind shot from the tee (useful arrows are provided to help!) and if you hit the speed slot you will benefit. I missed it and it was a good three-shotter up to a green that was again protected by gunch and bunkering to the right, encouraging you to hit left to look after your score.

Anticipation grows on the fifth as you hit up a wide fairway but, with a bunker slap in the middle, you have a decision to make. It’s tighter on the right but you will have a better view from the green from there. It’s an infinity green and even though you are still some way from the coast, the water behind provides a great backdrop.

Picky punters might criticise the par 3s because they all require heroic shots over gullies - it’s an intimidating shot from the sixth tee for sure. But it’s not actually as far to the grass on the other side as it looks, and you are rewarded with a fantastic vista when you make it!

You head back inland with a great par 4 that tumbles down the hill into a valley before the green. There’s another heroic par 3 at the eighth before the ninth takes you back to face the water.

If you can judge a cliffside course by its inland holes, the front nine at Cape Kidnappers deserves high marks.

You are far more aware of the cliffs and the ocean on the back nine. The course moves in and out of those spectacular fingers of land for the first seven holes before heading back inland to the clubhouse.

This clearly brought some architectural challenges. These would be the most exposed holes on the course and there was only so much land to play with. Despite the spectacular setting, in some ways the holes have quite an understated feeling to them.

This is clifftop golf rather than links so rather than lots of rumples on the fairways, there are more curving slopes. This means that tee selection is vital - you need to choose depending on wind strength and direction.

The greens across the site aren’t Doak putting surfaces of the ‘buried elephant’ variety. They feel far more like extensions of the fairways, following the shape of the land. So there is a real premium on placing your approach shots carefully. If you don’t take the gradient of the ground into account your ball can easily land on one side of the green and run off the other. Too often I found myself hitting onto an upslope, negating any run and leading to some very long shots to well protected greens. Even when you are on the greens they really demand your full attention as the movement can be very subtle.

When I played, the condition was amazing - the greens ran so true and seemed to go on forever. They have recently been re-laid by a combination of Doak’s team and the greens staff and they were truly impressive. Brad, the Super, explained to me that they unusually ran around 10 or 11 but if it looked like it was going to be windy they would slow things down a bit. So focus was vital to make a score, no matter how close your approach shot. They definitely picked up pace on the more windswept holes on the back nine.

While the fairways and greens are subtle, the bunkering is more dramatic. There isn’t actually a huge quantity of bunkers at Cape Kidnappers but those there are punishing - often deep and waiting in front of greens for any errant balls.

Cart play is the norm here, although the course is walkable. In hindsight I wish I had walked it! The eleventh may have been more successful if I had walked - It’s a small green, with more movement than most, and bunkers to the right. Another heroic par 3. You have to walk quite a way from the cart park area to the tee and I had the wrong club for the 200 yard shot over the gorge and into the wind. A driver would have been more suitable than a 5 iron!

The next run of holes are the ones most photographed from above, moving along and back the fingers of land that reach into the water. From the air they look horribly tight but from the ground you see you have a lot more room. Although, again, approaching from the correct side with the correctly shaped shot is vital on the sloping ground.

The fifteenth is one the most photographed holes in the world. It is a very long par 5 - over 650 yards from the back tee - and repeatedly hitting long clubs on the strips of fairways heading out to the ocean is the challenge. It’s a flat hole and there are no bunkers on the way to the hole. But the sheer scale is enough to set you a tough task.

Next, you walk to the furthest point of the next ‘finger’ where you will find one of the most spectacular tees in the world perched on the cliff edge. This sixteenth hole is another par 5, but a far more manageable one length-wise at around 500 yards. It plays into the opposite wind from the fifteenth so the elements determine how these two holes play relative to each other. The sixteenth is an excellent hole where you are rewarded with a better view of the approach shot for finding the higher left-hand tier from the tee.

Cape Kidnappers is a big course, which asks you to hit big shots, and the final two par 4s are long, strong holes. Again you will need to be long enough from the tee to have any chance of getting to the well-protected seventeenth green. The eighteenth is a long hole but the green sits in a punchbowl so you have a better chance of making it in regulation.

There is no doubt that a round at Cape Kidnappers is a test. Picking the right tees to enjoy your round is more important here than at most courses. If you are trying to hit long irons or woods into every green you may quickly tire of the challenge - play it up a tee and you are far more likely to enjoy your round and the strategy as it was intended.

As for those narrow fairways you see from the drone? Well, on the ground they don’t feel nearly as bad and there is enough width to enjoy them. Even the long fifteenth fairway is fine from the ground. However, when you get to the greens, those with vertigo may choose not to visit the bunkers behind the green which really are cut into the cliffs.

Everything about Cape Kidnappers is thoughtful and well executed. From the simple but classy clubhouse to the presentation of the course. While buggy play is the norm, paths are used sparingly and thoughtfully. Tee markers are discreet and subtle. The conditioning of the course was excellent and nothing was out of place.

While the views will stay with me for a long time, I think it was the quality of the inland holes that really shone out for me. Doak was determined to create something befitting the quality of the whole site, and in that he succeeded.

BOOKING THE COURSE

Cape Kidnappers (and sister property Kauri Cliffs) have embraced online bookings and it couldn’t be easier to reserve a tee time here. However, it won’t be cheap. It comes in at NZ$850 per person - that’s almost £425. Local residents get a discount but there are no other deals on offer.

Due to the price, and location, it’s unlikely that there will be too many other people at Cape Kidnappers when you visit. It’s an expensive tee time - but you get a real ‘millionaire’s golf’ experience.

TOUR TIPS

Cape Kidnappers is in the Hawke’s Bay area of New Zealand - on the eastern side of the North Island. The nearest town of note is Napier. Napier is known as an art deco town, rebuilt in this style after an earthquake in the 1930s. There are plenty of other tourist activities in the area along with nice bars and restaurants. It’s more elegant than raucous but will will find a good meal and a nice glass of wine.

You can fly into Napier from Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. However you may well choose to drive, taking in Taupo where you will find Kinloch and Wairakei, on the way.

It’s worth remembering to give yourself plenty of time to get to the course. It’s a 20 minute drive from the entrance of the property to the clubhouse - something that Google Maps was not aware of!

There is accommodation onsite which is done to a very high standard, but it’s expensive. Expect to pay at least NZ$3,000 for a room in the summer months. Don’t fear though if you are on a tighter budget - there are plenty of options in Napier.

CONTACT DETAILS

Cape Kidnappers
446 Clifton Road
Te Awanga
New Zealand.

Phone - +64 6 873 1018
Email - proshop@capekidnappers.com​
Web - https://www.robertsonlodges.com/the-lodges/cape-kidnappers

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