Tom: what aspects of the site excite you and what sort of course can we expect? I believe it will not be a championship course. Are there certain physical features which have to be incorporated into the design?
Ash: Mr. Kayne's desire is to build a great golf course for low-handicap players like his friends. He doesn't seem to care much about the Tour pros, as it's been made apparent from Julian Robertson's projects that the groups who run the New Zealand Open and PGA don't have much interest in taking their events outside Auckland, or occasionally Wellington.
We are excited to be working on +/- 300 acres of sand, that should be in good playable condition all year -- even in winter when many of the courses in Auckland are soggy due to their heavy soils. Our sense is that the climate is pretty similar to Bandon's, though perhaps a bit warmer in summer, so that the same turf will thrive here and bouncy links conditions will prevail.
There are two great features of the property -- the seafront, which we touch on holes 3, 4, 5, 6, 15, 16, 17 and 18, and a great series of dune ridges around the clubhouse, which are in play on holes 7, 9, 10 and 18. The natural punchbowl of the 9th green and the plateau/punchbowl of the 18th are two of the coolest green sites I've found.
There are many great holes laying there. Clearing more than 200 acres of pines and putting it all back together is not the easiest thing we've ever done, but it seems like a good way to spend the northern winter, in the southern summer.