08/10/2026
12-Night North Island Golf Itinerary, New Zealand
If I were planning a golf trip around New Zealand's North Island, this is the 12 nights I would build. Four stays, three nights at each, and six courses that all play completely differently.
Rosewood Kauri Cliffs | 3 nights
Fifteen holes with Pacific views and six played right alongside the ocean cliffs, then inland through marsh and rolling farmland. Take the next day for the Bay of Islands and the beaches.
Te Arai Links | 3 nights
Two links courses that play very differently. The South Course runs through the natural dunes with eight holes right on the ocean, and the North Course brings more inland golf and some really unique green shapes. Honestly, you will want to play both. Or swap a round to explore the coastline.
Kinloch Manor & Villas | 3 nights
This time you stay right on the course, above Lake Taupō. Kinloch is the only Jack Nicklaus Signature Course in New Zealand, a mix of links and parkland that rewards a strategic game. Then play Wairakei, winding through native bush inside a predator-free sanctuary, home to the takahē, a native bird once thought to be extinct.
Rosewood Cape Kidnappers | 3 nights
The finish. Tom Doak's course sits 140 metres above the Pacific, with cliff-edge fairways, a par 3 across a deep gully and the famous 15th, Pirate's Plank, running out to the cliffs. Keep your last day for a private w**ery tour and a long lunch.
A course day, then a day for something else at every stop, so it never feels like golf on repeat. And there is plenty for anyone in the group who doesn't play.
Send this to the golfer you would take with you.
