The Wakatipu Basin in New Zealand’s Southern Alps is rugged terrain encompassing numerous natural landmarks – The Remarkables, Coronet Peak, Crown Range – all of which provide a spectacular backdrop to the region’s many fine golf courses. One of the latest to become part of that landscape is The Hills, an expansive, privately owned layout set in a stunningly beautiful natural amphitheatre and encircled by mountain ranges.
It is the brainchild, as well as the pride and joy, of high-profile jewellery entrepreneur Michael Hill, who bought a 138-acre deer farm on the site in 1991. He built a home on the property and over the years snapped up several neighbouring blocks of land. Hill, a keen golfer, then commissioned a Queenstown-based course designer, John Darby, to design and build him a putting green to practise on. Soon this was extended to a pitch-and-putt course, with three greens.
Today Hill has one of the most spectacular and best-presented 18-hole layouts in New Zealand – right at his front door. The Hills has been home to the NZ Open since 2008, and at the time of publication he was negotiating to host it for a few more years yet.
No expense was spared in creating The Hills, which covers approximately half the entire property. It boasts 10 lakes and a host of smaller water hazards. Native and exotic trees are another impressive feature: Lombardy poplars, golden and tortured willows, flowering hawthorn, maples, sequoia and red oaks stand alongside well-established pine trees. Visiting golfers are even treated to various Michael Hill artworks. There’s a five-metre-tall weta (a New Zealand insect that looks like a grasshopper) beside the 1st fairway; sculpted dragonflies nestle in the water hazard in front of the 6th green . . . just to name a couple.
The closing six holes incorporate the layout’s most dramatic elevation changes and offer the round’s most exhilarating moments. A favourite is the 310-metre, par-four 15th, where a birdie awaits the brave golfer. The tee towers more than 60 metres above the fairway, and in the prevailing breeze the green is within range of long hitters. Five deep pot bunkers protect this three-tiered, right-to-left, kidney-shaped green, while both sides of the fairway are lined with tall fescue grass.
If the 15th tee feels high, it is nothing compared with what awaits you at the 18th tee, with its sweeping views of Lake Hayes and the Wakatipu Basin. The S-shaped fairway of this 450-metre par-four demands a perfect drive through the saddle of a hill to find a plateau. Two large bunkers are cut into a ridge on the left of the fairway and surrounded by long fescue grass; find one of these bunkers from the tee and bogey is the best you can possibly make here. Protecting the green are four pot bunkers to the left and one cavernous bunker short and right. So your approach must be as precise and well struck as your tee shot.
Not until you walk on to that 18th green do you spot the award-winning clubhouse for the first time. It is three-quarters buried in a hill, with the bar area peeping out over the final green. The clubhouse roof is covered in turf and if a wayward ball happens to finish up there the rule is play it as it lies.
Until a few years ago, the only way you could play at The Hills was to be personally invited by Michael Hill or to qualify for the NZ Open. Tee times are now available to visiting golfers willing to part with NZ$500 a round.
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MEMORABLE HOLES 4th, 6th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th WHERE TO GO Rapid 164 McDonnell Rd, Arrowtown BOOK A ROUND (03) 409 8290, www.thehills.co.nz OTHER 120 GREAT COURSES NEARBY Millbrook Resort (2.9 km), Arrowtown (3.1 km), Queenstown (20 km), Jack’s Point (25.1 km) WHERE TO STAY Millbrook Resort, a short drive from The Hills, has beautifully appointed rooms, suites and villas. BEFORE/AFTER YOUR ROUND Go on a guided fly-fishing tour out of nearby Queenstown. South Island Trout Stalkers will show you crystal-clear rivers and streams, where you can sight, stalk and fish large brown and rainbow trout in a setting best described as God’s own. |