The Tiger-less PGA Tour may have packed up its tent for the 2008 season, but there is a new televised golf tournament coming up that you don’t want to miss.
It’s called the Kiwi Challenge (thekiwichallenge.com), and it pits four of the world’s best under-30 golfers — Ryder Cuppers Anthony Kim and Hunter Mahan,
See Cape Kidnappers (above) and Kauri Cliffs on TV November 16th and 17th.
Masters standout Brandt Snedeker, and Adam Scott — against each other in a two-day, stroke-play tournament across two of the best New Zealand golf courses: Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers.
While I’m sure there will be some beautiful shotmaking to see, an almost better reason to tune in to NBC this Saturday and Sunday is to see the amazing beauty shots of these New Zealand golf courses, especially if you’ve ever considered taking a New Zealand golf vacation (which, as we explained in the January 2008 issue of Golf Odyssey, is much easier than people think). Read more →
I’ve seen golf balls blown sideways at St. Andrews and I’ve lost hats at Lahinch, but nothing prepared me for what I recently experienced at Cape Kidnappers, the magnificent New Zealand golf course designed by Tom Doak.
This video was taken as our group began playing famous holes 11-16, which sit atop “fingers” that extend into the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean…500 feet below! To help put this in perspective, consider that Old Head in Ireland sits 300 feet above the Atlantic. And those famous cliffs at Pebble Beach? A mere 100 feet above Carmel Bay.
Of course, it wasn’t a fear of heights that wreaked havoc on my game, it was the wind blowing in excess of 120 kph (about 75 mph). Not only did I lose more balls in this one round than I lost all of last year, I think this was the first time I’ve ever had to “play the wind” on putts. Read more →
Even if you can't play this private course on your New Zealand golf vacation, its clubhouse is a must-see. (Photo by Peter Sundstrom, flickr.com/psundstrom)
A New Zealand man has devised an innovative solution to the unfortunate but all-too-common practice of building houses on golf courses: he’s hiding them underneath.
Jewelry magnate Michael Hill plans to build 17 luxury, mostly underground homes on, er, in The Hills golf course which he owns and is this week hosting the New Zealand Open (officially, the Michael Hill New Zealand Open) a European Tour event. Somehow, I don’t think this is what people mean when they refer to “living in a bunker.” Read more →
