North Island

The North Island of New Zealand mixes rugged volcanic landscapes with laid-back city life, and is blessed with a delightfully mild climate. More than half of the island’s 3.3 million inhabitants live in the two main cities (Auckland and the capital, Wellington), leaving the rest of the island rather sparsely populated.

From a golfing point of view, the landscape has changed dramatically since the turn of the 21st century, with overseas clients utilising the amazing landscape on offer to build some truly world-class courses. Before that time, the links at Paraparaumu Beach (opened in 1949) was the flagship course for the entire country, and it remains one of the nation’s best.

However, the fledgling clifftop cousins at Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers are now the ones that sit comfortably within some World Top 100 lists, as well as being two of the most scenic places to play the game anywhere.

Our North Island rankings were last updated in March 2019.

Top 100 Golf Courses - North Island

Tara Iti

1^st

Exclusivity has finally arrived on New Zealand’s formerly inclusive golfing shores in the shape of Tom Doak’s Tara Iti Golf Club which is routed in a wide and grand scale along the east coast of the North Island.

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Cape Kidnappers

2^nd

The longest drive at Cape Kidnappers is between the public road and the clubhouse. But once on the course, if you can keep your eyes off the cliff top views, the main golfing points are the bunkers and the greens.

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Paraparaumu Beach

3^rd

Host to twelve New Zealand Opens, the first in 1959, Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club is a New Zealand household name.

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Kinloch Club

4^th

The Kinloch Club pays homage to the great British and Irish links courses, although it is about as far from the ocean as you can get in New Zealand.

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Kauri Cliffs

5^th

Playing Kauri Cliffs golf course is quite a formidable test and I’m sure I’m not alone in fearing that a mounting tally of lost balls was beginning to detract from the views.

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Titirangi

6^th

Formed in 1909 as Maungakiekie Golf Club, Titirangi Golf Club, as it is now known, is the only course in New Zealand that can say it has Alister MacKenzie as its golf course architect.

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Royal Wellington

7^th

Wellington Golf Club – as it was known until it gained “Royal” status in 2004 – dates back to 1895, when a group of like-minded golfers established a golfing society.

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Wairakei

8^th

Avoid the creeks, gullies and the odd rogue borehole and you may card a decent score at Wairakei, which is an unforgettable and exciting golf course among the geysers.

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Wainui

9^th

Wainui Golf Club is the phoenix that rose out of the ashes of the Peninsula Golf Club. Grant Puddicombe and his team at Puddicombe Golf were brought in to design the new course and it opened in 2016.

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Gulf Harbour

10^th

Gulf Harbour is routed round a rolling hillside and the changes in elevation make for exciting and challenging golf with the added bonus of free panoramic views.

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