Travel blog

Every trip we've shared since 2011—filter by where we went, when we traveled, or what we explored.

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Arriving at Kinloch Golf Club, the Jack Nicklaus design near Taupo, New Zealand

January 29, 20152 min read2015

Dateline January 29, 2015, Golf at the Jack Nicklaus-Designed Kinloch Golf Club

Thursday morning, one more goodbye to Pat and Russell at Ambleside, and on to Kinloch Golf Club. Kinloch was designed by Jack Nicklaus, about seven years before our visit, for a wealthy New Zealander who knew nothing about golf. Phil, the club's golf professional, joked that the owner probably googled 'best golfer in the world,' found Jack, and asked him to build a course. Whatever the path was, the result is exceptional. The land itself does most of the work. Nicklaus barely moved any of it. The course is links-style, with carries that punish the wrong club, but it is one of the most beautiful layouts we have seen on the trip so far. We chose the white tees at 6,500 yards. They were a little too much for our games, but we did not care. Of the four courses we had played in New Zealand by this point, Kinloch was the most interesting and the most challenging. For a low handicapper it would be a great test. For us it was difficult, beautiful, and worth playing again. After the round we packed up and headed for Hawke's Bay and Millhills Lodge, with Cape Kidnappers on the schedule for the next day.

#new-zealand #kinloch #kinloch-golf-club

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New Zealand

January 27, 20154 min read2015

Dateline January 27, 2015, Taupo and the Ambleside B&B

Out of Auckland and south to Taupo, with a stop at Rotorua along the way for the geysers and the mud cauldrons and the rest of New Zealand's small-Yellowstone thermal show. We arrived at the Ambleside B&B in Taupo and were met by our hosts, Pat and Russell Jensen, who poured us tea and wine and sat with us for an hour while we got to know them. They had raised two sons on a deer and sheep farm near Hawke's Bay and sold the farm twenty years ago to build this place. Russell's story of getting out of the venison business after Chernobyl, the Norway lamb paradox, the hawks that pick off the lambs at birthing time. Dinner at a lakeside restaurant down the hill at sunset. The next day we played Wairakei and came back to the hot tub — heated by the geothermal water that runs under the property, so hot it takes a hose of cold water to cool it down to soak in. Pat did our laundry for a nominal fee. Two nights here. Off to Huka Falls and then on to Kinloch and the Jack Nicklaus course.

#new-zealand #taupo #rotorua

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New Zealand

January 28, 20153 min read2015

Dateline January 28, 2015, Golf at Wairakei Golf and Sanctuary

A ten o'clock tee time at Wairakei Golf and Sanctuary, just up the road from Pat and Russell's place in Taupo. The course is owned by a wealthy Taupo dairy farmer the locals refer to as Smiley, because no one has ever seen him smiling. The course was designed by the British architect Commander John Harris, who routed it through one of the most active geothermal landscapes in the country. It was in the world top 100 in the 1970s, fell on hard times for years, and has been pristine since Smiley took it over. The entire course is fenced as a wildlife sanctuary, to keep out the rodents that would eat the kiwi birds and other native species. You drive your cart up to a gate, the gate opens, and you are in. Beautiful entry, beautiful Maori totem at the gate, and a round of golf with pheasant, quail, and the occasional mother bird and chick wandering across the fairway. Back to Ambleside for another evening with Pat and Russell.

#new-zealand #taupo #wairakei

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