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Mark_Huxford

A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« on: January 30, 2003, 08:45:13 PM »
On Thursday I was fortunate enough to take the day off and drive up to see the new Cape Kidnappers course Tom Doak's team is designing in the Hawkes Bay (New Zealand). The day turned out to be quite an experience so I thought I would recount it for you all.

I set off from Paraparaumu about dawn, and arrived at the Cape by mid-morning. After checking in at the site office I drove up to the top of the property where the golf course is situated. The 'drive way' is about 9km long and still in the process of being constructed. This made for some interesting give way situations as massive trucks came rumbling down the hill. I was definitely the one giving way!

When at last I got up there Tom came out of their small base hut to greet me. Although not a real big man, he gives you the impression he's always on top of things. He's pretty relaxed and laid back. Originally from Connecticut, he has an accent like Brad Faxon.

I transferred my backpack over to a blue 4WD (that would later mysteriously disappear) and we drove out to the 'first tee', ie: some dirt. We got out and walked the front nine together except for the 7th which I had to see later on from the other side of a steep ravine as a bridge hadn't quite gone in there yet. The course ground is all fingers of land punctuated by deep ravines that run out in similar directions to the cliffs. At first glance they can share a similar appearance that can be disorientating until you know your way around. While the land out nearer the gannet colonies is dead sparse and brown, the ravines on the golf course are covered in dark green Manuka and Kanuka tea trees that contrast with the golden brown native grasses. When the green brown fairways and light sand bunkers go in, Cape Kidnappers will possess a scheme of colour similar to Royal Melbourne and then trump everything with that azure blue of the sea. The property is immense, there is a sense of grandeur to everything and the views are out of this world.

The first hole is a slight bend to the right with an enticing drive over a ridge and then an uphill second shot to a well protected green. Just over the first green, the tees for the second hole begin. A fairly long par 5 played up a deceptively steep rise with a huge fairway that must be 60 or 70 yards wide with quite a tilt from left to right. The fence line starts to come in close down the left hand side as you near the green and short right there are deep! bunkers. The green has a tilt from left to right as well and like all the putting surfaces that were nearing final shaping it has broad pleasing contours.

The one shot 3rd hole plays back down along the low side of the second. An Eden type hole, it plays across a shallow valley to a green with a steep bluff on the left and a nasty bunker on the right. Behind the green there are bunkers that would appear to save shots from meeting a similar fate long to anything hooked left. For me this was the pick of the short holes although the others weren't really completed. #3 looked about ready to grass.

The par 5 4th was my favourite hole from the day. A blind drive over a ravine from the back tees, over a ridge in similar fashion to the 4th at Royal Melbourne West with the pinnacle nest of traps pushed a little further to the right. It may be blind but it felt like a great shot. As you get over the ridge you can see ways in the fairway contours to pick up yardage in order to get home in two. The entrance to the green opens from the left but a ravine and bunkers set into the slope down the right make for a great diagonal. In dizzying fashion on a ride-on shaper, Brian Sneider was putting the finishing touches on the green itself as we came up to it. A two level affair that gathers shots into an area short of the tier, down the right. All in all it looked very three-puttable.

The par 4 5th was just the opposite kind of hole to the great natural 4th. The kind of hole that didn't come easy and had to have its charm knocked into it as Tillinghast might say. Tom was particularly proud of the way it was turning out. The placement of the fairway bunkers make the easiest tee shot down the left, but from over there the steep dip before the green really has to be carried and the green wants to get away from you to the right. Second shots from the dangerous right side of the fairway hit into the green slope more and could perhaps be run in. The knoll the green was on had been shaved down so the sea horizon formed the backdrop, not the sky.

After the second short hole 6th (a long 2 or 3 iron brute over the ravine to a green set near the top of a hill) came the par 4 7th. An exciting downhill tee shot back into the valley followed by a second shot reminiscent of the 8th at Pebble Beach with a wonderful backdrop of tea tree and a couple of hundred feet elevation of open ground above that heading up the hill to the tree line and the red barns. 8 was another par 3 which makes five on this golf course by my counting. It features some of the more severe topography and a $200,000 bridge was under construction to get people up to the green.

The walk to number 9 tee was about the longest so far. Ahead lay a diagonal tee shot across the ravine that confronted us on 8, and then a second shot over another dip up to the green with a large single tree shading the left side of the putting surface. The drops in front of some greens, behind on others, are going to make eyeballing club selection tough on this golf course. Around us up at the green was a whole open area Tom was going to keep mown at fairway height. 9 green, 10 tee and the practice putting greens will fill this space, as will the clubhouse eventually.

After the front nine was over it was time for lunch so we drove around picking everybody up and went out to the 16th green. Tom and I and the two Brians (Slawnik and Sneider) were joined by Bruce (Hepner) and Eric (Iverson). Cold cuts, salad and chardonnay in a swanky dining room don't constitute lunch-time for these gentlemen. Rather a steady diet of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bottled water and golf talk along the edge of the hollowed out green instead. Tom checked in with everyone's morning work as he delighted in bouncing a few stones off the side of a digger, parked perilously close to the near vertical 500 ft drop Brian had been working beside just minutes earlier.
    
After lunch it was time for Tom and Bruce to get down to some serious business on the back nine. No plans ever came out and Bruce never took anything down. Little marker flags occasionally went into the ground or Tom would lob a clump of dirt somewhere, leaving Bruce to remember where it landed and interpret its meaning. Knowing Tom's criticism of architects who soften abrupt ground and jazz up the flat stuff, I asked on the 12th fairway if he was tempted to do something with the flat piece of ground we were standing on. He just directed me to the awesome green-site up ahead with the pacific ocean behind and said there was no need.

On the back nine other points of note would be the unusual course progression of 10 green and the 11th; the road hole tribute green at 14 - the only really short par 4 on the course; and the one that got away; the par 3 13th Tom was forced onto plan B with. Although Bruce said it was a done deal and that they were no longer taking people down there (not wanting them to see what they couldn't have) the three of us did go down to where the tee would have been. It was cover-your-eyes-scary-good.

By five o'clock I think even my eyeballs were sunburnt and it was time to go home. Plus I was being made aware that my car was in danger of becoming foundation for the maintenance shed. A few hours earlier it had been a grassed car park, but things don't stay still for very long when it come to golf Cape Kidnappers style.

My thanks to all the resort staff, Tom Doak and the rest of the Renaissance Golf team who just couldn't have been nicer. I hope all golfers can eventually make it there to play this thing. It was an experience I'll long remember.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:02 PM by -1 »

RJ_Daley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2003, 11:58:03 PM »
Fantastic report.  Mark, you are the envy of many of us snow bound sufferers of cabin fever here in the northern hemi.  Brian Schneider, I am proud to say comes from about 30 miles down the road from where I live.  ( I have missed meeting him now 3 times when he was home briefly from his travels). He is the ultimate golf nomad.  As I understand it, he worked right out of highschool at Lawsonia, then he made the rounds to long island, he got in on Sand Hills construction or grow in, and down to ANGC for a stint, over to Scotland, and everywhere but nowhere, and low and behold, there he is again at the scene of the best action.  I want to be Brian Schneider!!!  But rather than grow up, I would need to reverse the aging process considerably. 8)
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »
No actual golf rounds were ruined or delayed, nor golf rules broken, in the taking of any photographs that may be displayed by the above forum user.

Mark_Huxford

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2003, 04:56:54 PM »
Thanks RJ. I promise to spell his name right next time for you  8)

The experience all the guys have goes a long way to explain their confidence and also Tom's faith in them to create what he is envisaging. Both things came across very clearly to me. Bruce has a lot of latitude to throw in his ideas and seems to be able to read Tom's mind.

Bill Coore's Tribute To The Boys essay in the back of Geoff's book is right on the money. Its not like its an easy working environment either. The smell of rotting topsoil, broken irrigation heads, heat, sun, flies, dust... I can understand why some architects keep to the air conditioned office.  


« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

RJ_Daley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2003, 05:47:33 PM »
I'm sorry Mark, I'm a bit hard of hearing;  did you say Hepner has a lot of attitude? ;D

The one afternoon I spent with him riding around a charming old course in Brian's hometown, coincidently, that Bruce was creating a remodel-restoration plan, was a blast.  He is a witmeister to be sure.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »
No actual golf rounds were ruined or delayed, nor golf rules broken, in the taking of any photographs that may be displayed by the above forum user.

Mark_Huxford

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2003, 06:10:54 PM »
They have a different language RJ, I know that much. Everything is shoot this, fatten that, chunk this... this is hauling ass that way... I needed a Doak dictionary   :)
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Tom Doak

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2003, 10:29:58 AM »
Mark:

Thanks for your report; I'm just back from the 28-hour trip from NZ to TC yesterday, from 80 degrees and dust to 30 degrees and 15 inches of snow on my car at the airport!

Everyone on my team except for Don Placek (who's in the office) and Jim Urbina (who's rehabbing his knee) has been working on Cape Kidnappers, and they've liked it so much they have taken their wives along.  We've even got Dan Proctor headed down there to help with the finish work, as soon as we get him through the passport application!

The holes are now all shaped, and they are grassing the first two holes this week.  I did take some pictures in the dirt, and will try to post them in a few days once I'm over the jet lag.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

TEPaul

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2003, 10:40:20 AM »
What an exciting thing this sounds to be for the world of golf and architecture. Wonderfully described report Mark Huxford!
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

RJ_Daley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2003, 12:26:49 PM »
I just heard from Dan, and he is very excited to be making the journey, and calls it an adventure.  Good things happening to good people.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »
No actual golf rounds were ruined or delayed, nor golf rules broken, in the taking of any photographs that may be displayed by the above forum user.

Mark_Huxford

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #8 on: February 01, 2003, 06:34:08 PM »
This is roughly what I remember the front 9 looking like. Maybe Tom can post the routing for us when he puts up his photos. The back 9 is going in on the right hand side, north of the road (thick white line) that heads out to the gannet colonies.

Tom, my thanks once again for the invitation. Hope you and Michael like watching the video. As a golf architect I thought you might enjoy the military cunning of the maori, the landscapes of New Zealand and some of the history forming both cultures that prevented the 13th from going ahead.


  
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:02 PM by -1 »

Mike Duffy

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2003, 01:13:02 AM »
Mark,

Congrautlations on a very informative and well written post, with the addendum of the aerial and your insertions upon it.

I will look forward to visiting the Cape Kidnappers site later this year and hopefully by then it will be a lot nearer to completion.

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Tom Doak

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2003, 09:33:35 AM »
Mark:  Pretty good try on the layout.  Your scale must have been slightly off:  the first tee is further to the bottom of the picture, and the fifth green is just barely past the turning point as you've drawn it, with the sixth hole slid down accordingly.

I'll post a real drawing of the course as soon as we've got all the bunkers and tees in the ground -- probably by the end of February.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

ed_getka

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2003, 11:14:14 AM »
Mark,
 Thank you for taking the time to describe your day and posting the aerial of the property. It is fun to learn about these projects as they come along and then get out a play the finished project one day.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »
"Perimeter-weighted fairways", The best euphemism for containment mounding I've ever heard.

Danny Goss

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2003, 09:35:37 PM »
Great story Mark with plenty of detail. Are you intending to go back.......or even give up the day job to work on site?  ;D

This place might be worth a visit to NZ to see.....will it be open to the public?

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Mark_Huxford

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #13 on: February 03, 2003, 05:00:10 AM »

Kauri Cliff's remote location may lend itself to exclusivity Danny, but I believe it and Cape Kidnappers are similar models - open to the public and guests of the resort.

At the time I didn't know exactly why I was going so I haven't yet thought about asking to go back. Bruce suggested it was because I want to be New Zealand's Tommy Naccarato. No offence to Tommy but I'm pretty sure this isn't true  :)

If I am like Tommy in a way then I suppose it's because I'm curious about how we are going to use all this great land we have in NZ. It is painful to see courses like Formosa being built and it's even worse when I find members at established clubs like PB and Titirangi who are actually envious of rubbish like that. After opening day I have no doubt a lot of kiwis will try and lump Cape Kidnappers in with all the Formosas, Carringtons, Clearwaters and Gulf Habours we have built in the last decade. At best they will call it Kauri Cliffs 2. I'm hoping they will all be wrong.

It's a big ask for one course to start a redemption for an entire country but that's kind of what we need. If it's so obviously superior to those other courses it will become a concept people will actually study and learn from. Okay so I am starting to sound like Tommy  :)

Having the New Zealand Open there would obviously help.

You only have to look at the strength of New Zealand sailing culture to see what kiwis are capable of. If I've learnt anything in the last two years its that the spirit of that pursuit isn't a million miles away from the true essence of golf. As Captain Cook actually named Cape Kidnappers its probably an appropriate place to start.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Ran Morrissett

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #14 on: February 03, 2003, 06:09:13 PM »
Mark,

How good is the topography? Does it possess all the crumpled little wrinkles and folds and humps and bumps of a Paraparaumu or is the topo more abrupt and broadly sloping toward the sea? Is the soil sandy atop the bluffs?

Hopefully, this can be the first in a long line of quality courses that takes advantage of NZ's stunning coast and saves NZ from the dubious (though not catchy) title of COUNTRY THAT MOST FAILS TO LIVE UP TO ITS GOLF POTENTIAL. Especially with its strong British influence through the first half of the 20th century, things should have gone better there golf wise. Of course, the women are  beyond compare as my Kiwi wife reminds me most days  ;)

Cheers,
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Tom Doak

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #15 on: February 03, 2003, 09:54:30 PM »
Ran,

I'll help with your questions.

Cape Kidnappers doesn't have the same links-upon-a-cliff contours as Pacific Dunes.  It's not sandy, in fact the soils barely drained at all until Dave Wilber did his magic.  (He says "abracadabra" and spreads a lot of lime.)

The contours we started with on the course were quite abrupt.  There were valleys 50 feet deep between landing areas and greens in a couple of places, not to mention the 500 foot cliff if you stray to the left on the 15th hole.  In fact, I was thinking yesterday, on more than half the holes you can hit a bad shot so far down the bank that you probably wouldn't want to go play it; I don't know how many of those we'll stake as hazards and how many we'll leave to the lost ball rule.  (I'm sure many resort guests will play the irritating "desert rule" on a windy day.)

Nevertheless, the contours are quite good for golf, and there is usually a wind about.  Holes like the 1st and 2nd and 4th and 7th and 10th and 14th and 17th and 18th had excellent contour for golf so you'll play off every stance, and we've put some good wrinkles in other places, although they tend to be broad to fit into the landscape instead of small and bumpy as on a links.  We've melted dirt down into some of the deep valleys and bridged others, so that there aren't any terrible forced carries and so the golf course is extremely walkable; but there are a couple of holes where you get the thrill of driving over the tops of the tea trees hanging on the banks below.

In short, I think you're going to really like it.  Those with a fondness (dare I say BIAS) in favor of links courses won't like it as much as Pacific Dunes, but it wasn't a links site.  It is what it is, and that's quite different from most other courses.

There is indeed a lot of good land left in New Zealand, although it's a very tough place to make a buck in golf.  (On my last trip I visited a GREAT public venue in the South Island, Chisholm Park in Dunedin, an excellent links with a NZ$15 green fee.  How do you compete with that?)  But, I don't think Julian Robertson is finished there yet, and perhaps others will capitalize on his foothold and follow up.  Hopefully they'll contact us -- we would love to work there again!
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

A_Clay_Man

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #16 on: February 04, 2003, 07:46:40 AM »
Did you see Otago? It's in Dunedin too. Built by scots that emigrated in the late 19th century.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Tom Doak

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #17 on: February 04, 2003, 09:02:07 AM »
Adam,

For years "Otago" has been a puzzlement to me.  A friend in the States told me it was a great course so I put it in the "gossip" part of the Confidential Guide.  A friend in NZ told me there was no such course.

I looked at two courses in Dunedin -- Chisholm Park and a little 9 holes out on the Otago Peninsula, named "Otakau" or something like that.  (The latter was a 2 or 3 on the Doak scale.)  Just before I needed to catch my flight, I also drove by "Balmacewan" which may also be called Dunedin Golf Club or possibly Otago Golf Club -- it's a parkland course high up on the hill in the northwest of the city.  Didn't have time to walk it but it wasn't the reason to go to Dunedin, at a glance.

Chisholm Park, on the other hand, was the real deal.  It's not in very good shape, the last three holes are a letdown, and there's only one par four above 400 yards; but if it weren't for that it would contend as the best golf course in New Zealand.  There are some great holes and the character is terrific.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

John Butler

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #18 on: February 04, 2003, 09:04:23 AM »
I may have missed it, but where is Cape Kidnappers located on the North Island?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Tom Doak

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #19 on: February 04, 2003, 10:59:46 AM »
It's the point of land at the bottom of Hawke's Bay, just south of Napier.  (East coast, about 2/3 of the way around from Auckland to Wellington.)
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Mark_Huxford

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #20 on: February 04, 2003, 05:09:13 PM »
Otago is Balmacewan Tom. My grandfather learnt the game playing and caddying there as a youngster. Although Greg Turner now lives in Queenstown, I believe he grew up playing at Balmacewan too. Their most famous hole is #11, the glen hole.



I have never played Chisholm Park but I knew from the second tier Aussie tour event they have down there that it is on a great site. I love the lack of greenside rough.

9 tee


10 green


2 green


7 green


Tom, did you ever walk the Miramar golf links next to the Wellington airport before the Graham Marsh redesign? That was always my second favourite course to play in our province - after Paraparam.

Mike Duffey, did you play it?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:02 PM by -1 »

Tom Doak

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #21 on: February 04, 2003, 05:53:26 PM »
That's a Graham Marsh course by the airport?  I was wondering who the hell built all those mounds ... no, I never saw it before last year.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Ran Morrissett

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #22 on: February 04, 2003, 06:16:02 PM »
Mark,

Off the topic, but do you hold the course at Invercargill in high regard?

As Tom recounts, I remember paying next to nothing and  having a fine time thanks to some interesting/unique land forms (nothing dramatic but six/eight feet here and there can make for a great difference on a golf course) and the architect(s) capitalized upon them. It's one of those courses with a bunch of two shotters on the front and a bunch of non-two shotters on the back -  a sure sign that the architect let the holes fall where they may as opposed to worrying too much about any perceived importance of "balance". Plus, surely that's one of the windiest spots in the southern hemisphere?

Is there a better course in the South Island? Milbrook falls well short, I'm sure we agree on that.

Cheers,
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Mark_Huxford

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #23 on: February 04, 2003, 08:23:18 PM »

Must be the Scottish culture down there then Ran. If Otatara, Chisolm and Balmacewan are better courses it's because southerners seem to 'get' golf a little more than we 'townies' do in the north. If you read Greg Ramsay's piece on Ratho in GA6 you may have seen the reference to John Brown - the school teacher who helped bring the game here back in the 1880s as Adam eluded to above in this thread.

Tom, Miramar was partly based on land owned by the airport. As Mike Duffey can probably confirm, it had some fine holes, superb greens, a lot of old school charm, and was playable even in the worst southerly 'windy Wellington' could throw at it.

Then about 7 or 8 years ago the airport claimed the 1st and 16th FWs back for carparking in a deal that netted MGC several million dollars. Overnight it became one of the richest clubs in NZ but they then had the problem of finding replacement holes for the ones they lost. There weren't any obvious spaces they could go to on their own property to find the land so they hired Graham Marsh's team to do a complete reshuffle. They lost most of their better holes in the process and it became a cookie cutter. Its a real shame because as it turned out they would have been better off taking the 7 or 8 million from the airport, disposing of their land for several million more and building something 'all world' in the links up near us.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

John_D._Bernhardt

Re: A Day With Renaissance Golf - Cape Kidnappers
« Reply #24 on: February 04, 2003, 09:09:50 PM »
What is the number of months of play in this part of NZ at temp above 50 degrees
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

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