Development of the Year 2023: Best private courses

In the Private Course category, the Te Arai Links South Course, also in New Zealand, took first place. Bill Coore of the Coore & Crenshaw design team said that incorporating the beachfront environment into the course design was key to creating player enjoyment.

“Our course really does give the player that rare and lovely feeling that you are right there next to the sea, a little higher than the beach itself,” he said. “I think Willie Nelson once said, ‘All you can do is create something you feel is good, throw it out there, and someone will tell you if it’s good or not.’”

Winners were judged according to how well the vision of the project was executed, the course aesthetics, economic and environmental sustainability, course routing, and land usage. The judges were Darryl Bartlett, senior project manager at NMP Golf Construction Corp.; Casey Paulson, project president at Driftwood Golf and Ranch Club; Kevin Norby of Norby Golf Course Design; Mike Nuzzo of Nuzzo Course Design; and Tripp Davis, president of Tripp Davis and Associates.

(Excerpted from the May/June 2023 issue of Golf Inc.)

Click here to check out the winners for the Best Resort/Daily Fee courses.

Private/Semi-private
FIRST PLACE

Te Arai Links South Course
Auckland, New Zealand
Owner/Developer: Ric Kayne & Jim Rohrstaff, Te Arai Links
Architects: Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw
Contractor: Puddicombe Golf
Cost: Not disclosed

The South Course at Te Arai Links has been a highly anticipated offering from architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw since it was first announced. The team strove to create a course layout that appeals to newcomers and veterans as well. It’s wide and playable but also strategic.

Managing Director Jim Rohrstaff said the South Course has as much ocean frontage as any course in the world.

“It’s that connectivity with the sea that distinguishes the South Course from most links experiences,” he said. “There’s the visual sensation of actually seeing the waves crashing. But golfers can also hear them crashing on more than half the holes.”

Coore pointed out that every par-3 hole on the course is oriented so that golfers can see the ocean.

“In my own mind — being as critical and objective as I can be — there aren’t two or three ‘Wow’ holes at Te Arai Links that are so much better than the others,” he said. “There just aren’t.”

Other features of Te Arai include a 2.5-acre putting green called The Playground and a practice facility…