24 OCT 2018: Maybe money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can buy some spectacular bragging rights at two of the planet’s top-rated golf courses in New Zealand. In 2018, Cape Kidnappers and Kauri Cliffs have again been named among the best in the world in the annual Golf Digest (US) Magazine’s World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses – with Cape Kidnappers at No.17 and Kauri Cliffs at No. 37.

Captain James Cook and the crew of the HMS Endeavour were probably the first non-Maoris to set eyes upon Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand in October 1769. Upon Cook’s arrival, a group of Maori in canoes paddled out to trade. Probably as a result of language problems, Cook discovered that the Maori had taken his Tahitian cabin boy (who he probably kidnapped himself) in exchange for some trinkets. Cook subsequently named the area where the incident occurred Cape Kidnappers.

Almost 250 years later, in 2002, after a battle with environmentalists, Julian Robertson, a former hedge funds manager from New York, commissioned noted American architect Tom Doak to sculpt Cape Kidnappers Golf Course on this spectacular coast of New Zealand’s North Island near Napier.

Cape Kidnappers is an actual landform unto itself, a triangular headland where white cliffs jut eight kilometres out into the Pacific Ocean. Minimal earth was moved to this natural site that looks as though it was carved by a giant set of fingernails, with deep crevasses only overshadowed by 500-foot sheer drops into the Pacific.

Hole names such as Infinity, Widow’s Walk and Pirate’s Plank, where golfers are warned to not “even look over the left edge of the fairway if you are afraid of heights”—reflect the imposing nature of the landscape.

Yes, it’s a long way to go, but we’re talking trophy courses extraordinare, plus superlative creature comforts. Both Cape Kidnappers and Kauri Cliffs (about a three-hour drive north of Auckland) are remote and spectacular. And rather more lavish than one would have expected from such extreme locations. Apart from the highly acclaimed golf courses, both offer luxurious accommodations, spas and gourmet dining that live up to their lofty Relais & Chateaux standards.

The Farm at Cape Kidnappers, located in the heart of New Zealand’s thriving wine region, was named among the “Top 20 International Hideaways” according to the Andrew Harper Readers Choice Awards.

Not to be outdone by its younger sister, the Lodge at Kauri Cliffs, a veranda-wrapped plantation house with adjoining guest cottages, was named the number one hotel in Australia and New Zealand, as voted for by Travel + Leisure readers in the publication’s World’s Best Awards 2017.

The course at Kauri Cliffs, designed by the late Floridian, David Harman, clings to the top of steep, jagged cliffs overlooking the Bay of Islands and three private beaches. Fifteen holes have water vistas and six play oceanside on a layout whose slope rating swells to 144 from the tips. But with four sets of tees, everyone can find a challenge without a whipping.

Every hole is unique and fantastic, but my favourite is the par-three fourteenth, named Waiaua Bay, where severe drop-offs from green to sea require utmost accuracy. A plaque dedicated to Harman by owner Julian Robertson behind the tees reads: “A designer can always make a golf course too hard. He can add bunkers, more walls, whatever he dreams up. The true test is whether or not he can use what Mother Nature gave him and turn it into something like you see here.”

As one enthusiast opined in the guestbook, “This makes Pebble Beach look boring.”