Kenny,
I played the course about a year and a half ago on my first trip down to NZ/Australia. I was balking at the price of CK, which was at least twice the cost of Barnbougle, and I was thinking there is NO WAY CK is worth twice as much as Barnbougle. Fortunately, Ash Towe and Philip Gawith convinced me to add CK to the itinerary. I had a fabulous day and really enjoyed the course immensely. I never thought about it as a top ten course, but that is purely a subjective exercise based on what one prefers in architecture.
I did a long thread describing my thoughts about the course, I will see if I can find it.
The setting of the course photographs better from off the course than on it IMO.
I will never forget flying from SFO down to NZ and playing Paraparaumu my first day, which was to be followed by CK the second day. I had a late tee time assuming I would be VERY jet-lagged the second day. I woke up early and went out on the roof-top terrace and there in the distance was the magnificent setting of the course beckoning. I was up at the course 3 hours before my tee time.
CK has a funky finishing hole. Excellent tee shot into a crowned fairway that sits on a diagonal. However, the approach into the green doesn't seem to differentiate well enough between excellent shots and mediocre ones due to the gathering nature of the green and its setting. I thought #17 would have been a more traditional stout par 4 finisher.