The final two golf courses that I played on my recent trip to New Zealand have now been added: Cape Kidnappers and Kinloch. This duo of golf courses, more than any other I can remember, illustrated the difference between the cerebral golfing experience and the emotional one.
On paper, Cape Kidnappers is one of the Top 100 courses in the world, and folks will carve out an entire day in New Zealand to find it and play it. Kinloch is far less famous, brand new, and in a small town north of Lake Taupo. I didn't know about Kinloch until 2 weeks before my trip when I randomly found that it was 20 minutes from where we were staying. I was looking for an option to play with my son and this seemed to fit the bill. Cape Kidnappers I had researched, planned and "drooled" over playing for well over a year and knew it was too pricey and tough for my son to join.
I must say that neither golf course disappointed, but Cape Kidnappers I played by myself on a dreary day. This ended up being fortunate for my golf score as the normally blustery winds that make scoring so challenging laid low to a light breeze and I was able to squeeze in a round in the 70s. However, the stunning vistas that help make the course so memorable were hampered by a horizon that melted grey sky into grey ocean. So, I knew I was playing a great golf course, which it is, but I can't say I fell in love with it.
On paper, Cape Kidnappers is one of the Top 100 courses in the world, and folks will carve out an entire day in New Zealand to find it and play it. Kinloch is far less famous, brand new, and in a small town north of Lake Taupo. I didn't know about Kinloch until 2 weeks before my trip when I randomly found that it was 20 minutes from where we were staying. I was looking for an option to play with my son and this seemed to fit the bill. Cape Kidnappers I had researched, planned and "drooled" over playing for well over a year and knew it was too pricey and tough for my son to join.
I must say that neither golf course disappointed, but Cape Kidnappers I played by myself on a dreary day. This ended up being fortunate for my golf score as the normally blustery winds that make scoring so challenging laid low to a light breeze and I was able to squeeze in a round in the 70s. However, the stunning vistas that help make the course so memorable were hampered by a horizon that melted grey sky into grey ocean. So, I knew I was playing a great golf course, which it is, but I can't say I fell in love with it.
Kinloch, on the other hand, I played on a sunny day, in the morning, with very few clouds and very little wind. My son was with me, was granted a great junior discount by the nice staff, and off we went as a father-son duo on a nearly empty course. We did not wait for any golfers and none waited on us. I played very well (breaking 80) and my son had his second best score ever, breaking 100 as a nine year old. In my mind, yes, the course exceeded expectations, even if it is not as spectacular or heralded course as Cape Kidnappers, but the joy of playing Kinloch was so complete from the perfect weather to the bonding with my son, to the scoring, that it actually went down as one of my favorite memories from the trip as a whole, and possibly one of the best all around golfing experiences of my life.
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