Tara Iti Golf Club

Overview: Tara Iti Golf Club occupies a dramatic stretch of the North Island coast near Mangawhai, about 100 kilometres north of Auckland. Tom Doak shaped the 18-hole, par-71 course with New Zealand architect Pip Cheshire across roughly 225 acres of sand dunes and coastal ground, with about 11 kilometres of ocean frontage. The setting is open, wind-exposed and strongly shaped by the land rather than by ornamental planting. Dune ridges, native vegetation and broad views create a course where the changing coastal conditions are part of the design. At 6,840 yards, the scorecard has plenty of length, but the more distinctive challenge is the way the holes move across naturally varied ground.

History: The course opened in 2015 on land that had previously been a commercial pine plantation. Doak’s design process retained the scale and movement of the dunes while softening the former plantation landscape into a more natural golf setting. The project was developed as a private club, and its remote coastal location is central to the character of the place. Rather than relying on a large collection of built features, the design concentrates attention on the relationship between fairways, greens, sand and the Pacific coastline. That combination quickly made Tara Iti one of the most discussed modern courses in New Zealand.

Did You Know? The name Te Arai is explained by the club as a Māori expression associated with a lifting-off point between earth and heaven. The course also became Tom Doak’s first major New Zealand project, developed in collaboration with Pip Cheshire on a site that had once been dominated by pine trees.