When the new course at Cape Kidnappers Golf Club in New Zealand was first unveiled in 2004, Tom Doak‘s unique heathland/links design, with its breathtaking cliff-top setting above Hawkes Bay, was immediately hailed as a modern masterpiece
That’s true still today — perhaps more true than ever, as Cape Kidnappers and Doak have finalised a series of collaborative renovations to mark the course’s 20th anniversary.
Making use of the quiet period during Covid, Doak directed a complete re-grassing of every fairway and every green, restoring the bounce and roll that make Doak’s bold features work.
Just in time for high season, which begins this month in the Southern Hemisphere, Doak advised on a range of projects, from the strategic trimming of manuka and kanuka trees, to the expert camouflaging of new cart paths.
“I don’t know how often golf courses go back to the original architect for approval and advice when it comes to renovations, but we do this with Doak all the time,” says Ray Geffre, Director of Golf at Cape Kidnappers and its sister course, Kauri Cliffs, which is located some 600km to the north. “Tom doesn’t do this sort of work for just anyone; he’s never been busier, all over the world.
“But he clearly has a soft spot for this place, maybe because this was his first overseas project. And the terrain is unforgettable. For our part, we are very careful about how the design and this environment are preserved. So we have never hesitated to contact Tom and ask, ‘What do you think?’ or ‘How do we work together to get this done in the best way possible?’ No matter where he is, Tom has never failed to respond.”
As a result, the 18 holes at Cape Kidnappers have never looked or played better. Yet Doak himself believes his first Kiwi design, routinely ranked among the world’s Top 100 courses, remains distinct and oddly misunderstood.
“There is nothing quite like it in golf; it just sits so high above the water,” Doak explains. “This is a course fairly ranked among the top 50 in the world, but I’ve found people have difficulty classifying Cape Kidnappers in their own minds — because it’s so different and distinct from anything else. There is nothing comparable in terms of setting and scale. It really does stand alone and may always stand alone. I do have a soft spot for it.”
This latest round of improvements proved both aesthetic and practical. Most of the tree work involved trimming back the manuka and kanuka trees that occupy the deep ravines between holes. At the signature 15th — a par-5 called ‘Pirate’s Plank’ — rampant tree growth had obscured the unique, intimidating sight lines of this fairway, which plays down a finger of ridge to a cliff-edge green.
“Today, it plays like a plank again,” Geffre reports.
At the par-3 8th (‘Backstop’), shots across a gully were beginning to be affected by the manuka and kanuka trees growing there.
“Tom actually likes the trees at 8. He said something to the effect of, ‘where else in the world do you tee off over trees?’” Geffre says. “We are trying to find a balance, and this is a situation where the trees get the nod to stay — but the height must be maintained. In general, we were concerned that several holes were playing more like a parkland course, and Tom shared that concern.”
“We take our environmental bona fides very seriously here,” Geffre says, “but we also want to preserve Tom’s course design, the long views of these cliffs, and out over Hawkes Bay. It’s a balance.”
Holes 7 through 10 were the subject of considerably more delicate and diverse tree work. Removal of the mighty cypress that towered beside the 9th green was removed, due to a combination of old age and disease. Doak replaced this non-native species with cavernous grass bunker. He also okayed removal of several non-native grandfather pines on the par-4 10th. Even the new cart path between 7 and 8 tees got the Doak stamp of approval.
“We had decided to go full path on that stretch because it could become impassable or dangerous in wet conditions. We went to Tom on that and told him, ‘Look, we know you don’t like paths, but we have to do this.’ He knows every inch of this place and sure enough, we identified a route behind some manuka, then hid the rest behind the 7th green.”
