L: Te Arai Links (North)
Michael Keiser, the developer of Bandon Dunes, Sand Valley and Barnbougle Dunes, famously quipped that “one course is a curiosity, two is a destination and, for resorts, one plus one equals three” – it was never a question of whether there would be a second course at Te Arai Links, but when and who would be behind it. Perhaps the thing which gets lost in Keiser’s quote is the importance of the courses carving out their own character and personality – there is little value in two designs of the same ethos.
It came as little surprise then, when Tom Doak was handed the keys to the North course – his penchant for the bold, severe and edgy the perfect antithesis to the smoothness of Coore & Crenshaw’s South course.
The ideal inland canvas of the North Course
Truth be told, Doak may well have felt a little short changed in assessing the site designated for the North, owing to Coore & Crenshaw snapping up the vast majority of Pacific Ocean frontage in their slender routing of the South. Though it turned out that what was lost in coastal views was more than gained in dramatic inland topography – an eclectic mix of big, sweeping ridges delivering changes in elevation and delightfully random hip-high conundrums.
Golf is a game born from the ground and the loud, rambunctious and at times chaotic landforms laid out bones for golf of the widest variety and highest echelon of entertainment.
Scenes for golf
Beginning on the ocean, traversing inland through the pines and finishing along the sandy beachfront there’s a wonderful chaos to the North’s routing as it chops and changes direction, zig-zagging across the property. Aligned with the ethos of many of the North’s most endearing features, golfers find themselves constantly off balance. The scale is enormous, features bold and fairways wide, but incredibly it will be the final 20-yards of many holes which will stamp its memory on most golfers.
In his green sites, Doak and his team at Renaissance Design were granted ultimate freedom of expression as wild rolls, breathtaking halfpipes, cratered punchbowls and rollicking tiers carve out a set of the game’s most lively and varied putting surfaces. Unapologetically crafted for enjoyment and shots that can’t be found anywhere else on the planet, the North’s greens confound and delight in equal measure.
Edgy and bold - Doak's greens are 18 works of art
Two and Three Shot Diversity
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Combining the choppy natural landforms of the site with the Renaissance team’s audacious green complexes delivers a variety of long holes rarely seen. Although at times it may not seem like it, there are decisions to be made from every tee and though fairways are easy to hit, deciding on and finding the most favourable section of short grass, less so. Approaches are often no less perplexing with opportunities to play an array of different shots and use various slopes. At times the options are overwhelming where the question lies of if you think you have a half-dozen paths to the hole, do you really have one? Moving your ball around the North’s chessboard is an entirely captivating and fulfilling way to play the game
The First
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Doak’s commitment to routing the best holes on the land shows at the first with a gorgeous drivable par-four. The tumbling fairway cambers left and a treacherous bunker guards the left half of the large, sloping green. Immediately from the tee there is a decision to be made and an opportunity to score – a common theme for the holes to come.
What a spot to cut the first green!
The Fourth
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A hole of enormous scale, the broad fairway wraps left with sandy waste land encroaching on the left side, giving the bombers an opportunity to take it on. It’s the downhill approach which will be etched in the memory as the lawlessness of the multi-tiered green and its tumbling contours makes a direct line at the flag a fruitless affair.
The wild double-tired surface of the fourth
The Fifth
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A brilliant diagonal fairway slices through the sand of the first par-five, presenting another question – how much do golfers dare bite off? The fairway then climbs quickly, leaving a shot of faith to a semi-blind greensite loaded with abrasive spines and wrinkles.
The wavy fifth green from the sixth tee
The Sixth
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Plunging from atop a dune to a rumpled valley below, the golfer catches a mere glimpse of the top of the flag fluttering from the tee. The joyful essence of the North is condensed in the approach to a double tiered half-pipe, punchbowl surface wedged between two dunes…. Watching a ball charge up the backstop and nestle by the flag carving a moment of unadulterated giddiness.
There's plenty of humour in the gravity of the sixth green
The Eighth
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By now it is clear that much of the North’s teeing strategy is driven by its angled fairways which often command a certain shot shape – the seaward eighth no exception as it handsomely rises left and favours a right to left ball flight. A single pot bunker on the fairway’s left edge asks plenty of questions and any ball which dares challenge it is rewarded with the cleanest line of approach.
The seaward eighth
The Thirteenth
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The rare breed of par-four which asks for a draw from the tee and a fade into the green, the thirteenth is exceptionally clever. The fairway winds left to a valley and ascends to a narrow green benched into a hillside. An approach from the right is partially blind with a forced carry over the rising wasteland across the width of the green, while the left half leaves only short grass between it and the flag, opening up the length of the surface.
The draw-fade shape of the thirteenth fairway
The Sixteenth
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A gorgeous opportunity, tipping out at 300 yards the sixteenth is entirely gettable, but not without jeopardy. It delivers the variance of the best short fours in the world, with the temptation of a heroic two often concealing the consequences which surround the green. Deep bunkers, creeping wasteland and a dramatic false front are the foundations for one of the round’s most thrilling recovery shots.
Recovery around the 16th green is no bargain
One-Shotters
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One the great achievements of Doak’s routing of the North was the identification of five one-shot holes which share very little DNA, but sit beautifully in their setting. Spanning a wedge to a wood, both uphill and down, and into an entirely diverse set of green complexes, the North’s par threes ask for as wide of a range of shots as could ever be imagined.
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At 220-yards, the brutal rising second is most forceful in its delivery – from the tee it’s obvious that the golfer is in for an early examination. One of a handful of bunkerless green sites, Doak found his defence in the form of a large fronting mound and a rollercoaster surface. 50-yards shorter, the subtle from the tee seventh is guarded by a deep trench and a multi-sectioned green loaded with an overwhelming whirlpool of slopes.
A daunting test with a long iron in hand....
With one of golf’s great inland greens benched into a hillside, an exacting homage to the Eden hole at St Andrew’s and the prettiest of the lot playing straight out to the Pacific at the 17th, the back nine’s trio of one-shotters are relentlessly excellent and loaded with character. It's hard to imagine a world where three more engaging approaches could have been found.
The perfectly benched green at the twelfth
Given the perceived handicap of an inland site and the outright spectacular natural beauty of the course next door, it stands as an incredible achievement for both Doak and Te Arai Links that the North is compared in the same breath as the South. The greatest shame may be that many travelling golfers will only see the North once as given the size and severity of its greens, combined with the width on offer, it might be the most flexible golf course on the planet as holes transform with a shift of tee or pin location.
In laying out the North, Doak was wonderfully aggressive in shaping golf which evokes a broad range of emotions and lingers in the memory. Doak’s masterpiece stands as one of the game’s most unique, memorable and engaging arenas and the perfect compliment to the South next door.