Snapshots of a selection of courses from the new Top 50 list
Clearwater Resort
2025 ranking: 23
Previous: 23, 18, 17
For more than 20 years, Clearwater, the course designed by John Darby and New Zealand golf legend Sir Bob Charles, has proven itself as a venue for international professional golf. This status was reaffirmed when Lydia Ko won back-to-back New Zealand Women’s Opens at Clearwater in 2015 and 2016. Water is a strong feature of the course, particularly on all four par 3s as well as the long par 4 finishing hole.
Titirangi
2025 ranking: 14
Previous: 14, 13, 12
Located close to the centre of Auckland, Titirangi Golf Club is New Zealand’s only course designed by Dr Alister MacKenzie. It was during a visit in the late 1920s that MacKenzie drew up what we see today, and although the club has completed small projects throughout the years, the original routing is still intact. Titirangi’s green complexes that will challenge the best of short games, while the currently redesigning the 13th hole under the watch of architect Clyde Johnson.
Jack’s Point
2025 ranking: 5
Previous: 5, 4, 2
The South Island’s best course is once again Jack’s Point. Sitting on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, this is one of four Queenstown courses in our top 25. Roughly 60 percent of tee-times are booked by Australians, so it’s unlikely many of our readers haven’t played it, but if you have missed out on this gem, it should be high on your priority list. With a course that rises and falls along the rugged terrain, Jack’s Point provides two stunning backdrops, with the lake to one side and the Remarkables to the other.
Muriwai
2025 ranking: 12
Previous: 10, 12, 16
The west coast of Auckland’s black sand beaches produced Muriwai Golf Links. The layout sits alongside the Tasman Sea, which produces the perfect drama for this windswept links course. Dry in winter and irrigated in summer, the course is a particular winter favourite for the Auckland market. One of the fairest tests of golf in New Zealand, Muriwai is revered for the way it rewards good shots and punishes bad ones.
Queenstown
2025 ranking: 22
Previous: 32, 35, 39
With backdrops of the Remarkable Mountains and Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown Golf Club offers a unique opportunity to play on what is internationally regarded as one of the most picturesque golf courses in the world. Located on the Kelvin Heights peninsula, it is one of the most visible landmarks in Queenstown, which lies on its doorstep. The signature hole is the par-4 fifth hole, a risk/reward design framed on the left side by Lake Wakatipu with a fairway that doglegs to the left.
Royal Auckland & Grange
2025 ranking: 13
Previous: 15, NR, 18*
Now well and truly settled after a complete redesign following the merger between the Royal Auckland and Grange clubs, the 27-hole layout designed by Chris Cochran from Nicklaus Design has matured nicely. With three nines that intertwine yet provide variety, there are numerous opportunities to exercise Nicklausian strategy throughout. Next up for the club is hopefully the chance to host a tournament of international acclaim. (The 2016 ranking noted here* was for the previous iteration of the Royal Auckland course.)
90 Mile Beach
2025 ranking: 20
Previous: 24, 48, –
Formerly known as Kaitaia Golf Club, the course sits on the edge of 90 Mile Beach in sub-tropical Northland. Its west coast location is perfect for this bumpy links course, built in the dunes by a team of local farmers. The weather from the Tasman Sea can team up with the course to provide either enjoyable or challenging conditions. On a beautiful day, the views out to sea and the magnificent sand dunes at Reef Point will have every golfer’s camera out, but when the wind picks up, the course really shows its teeth.
Omaha Beach
2025 ranking: 42
Previous: 42, 37, 25
A links-style resort course, Omaha Beach Golf Club was designed to make the most of its location and the gentle, undulating roll of its rural landscape. Bordered by the sea on one side and a natural estuary on the other, it features a Totara Grove adjacent to one hole, a stand of Kaihikatea providing shelter to a boardwalk that delivers you to another, with the estuary itself providing a new landscape, and challenge, as you progress around the course.
Rotorua
2025 ranking: 50
Previous: –, 47, –
Rotorua Golf Club, known locally as Arikikapakapa, which means “the gentle sound of plopping mud” in native Maori, is one of the only geothermal golf courses in the world. Located in the popular tourist destination of Rotorua, many holes play over and around both dormant and active thermal areas. Vents of steam are often seen during the round, either from the course itself or the nearby Pohutu geyser… the largest active geyser in the Southern Hemisphere. Built on pumice, the course is free-draining and easily walkable.
Royal Wellington
2025 ranking: 16
Previous: 13, 11, 10
A traditional parkland layout that borders the Hutt River, trees and birds are in abundance at Royal Wellington Golf Club, the course that hosted the 2017 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and will host the women’s edition in 2026. Located on the current site for more than 100 years, it became New Zealand’s first royally designated club in 2004 to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the R&A. The course underwent a major redesign from 2011 to 2014 under the direction of architects Greg Turner and Scott Macpherson.
Terrace Downs
2025 ranking: 48
Previous: 44, 46, 27
High-country golf with big views is on offer at Terrace Downs. Situated between the plains and the Alps, the resort course is located an hour outside Christchurch and is known as much for its views of the Rakaia River and Mt Hutt as it is for the winds that can pass across the course. Tree removal to the right of the short par-3 16th a decade ago opened up big views on a relatively short hole that demands an accurate shot from the tee.
Whakatane
2025 ranking: 40
Previous: 46, –, –
A key part of the eastern Bay of Plenty golf scene, Whakatane Golf Club is an eye-catching dunescape course where the design uses the natural shapes of the sandy land right near the bay and affords frequent views of nearby Whale Island. With a reputation for greens in peak condition year-round, the layout changes direction multiple times in the 18 holes. Among the best holes is the par-3 16th, which plays downhill to a green protected on all sides by bunkers.
Whitford Park
2025 ranking: 43
Previous: 41, 36, 20
Just 30 minutes from the Auckland CBD, Whitford Park Golf Club incorporates a strong stable of holes in a traditional Kiwi setting. The site of a former ostrich farm, the club’s 103 hectares had a land cost of $NZ180,000 in 1964 – a far cry from today’s value. With a stream winding it was way through parts of the layout, the par-71 course features 17th and 18th holes that have been known to wreck a scorecard or two.
