Golf vacations — New Zealand golf

Over the past few years, New Zealand has become a darling of the golf vacation world, with daring and fantastic golf courses hugging cliffs and bursting with imagination - not unlike those movies that put New Zealand on people's minds a few years ago - the Lord of the Rings.

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Free New Zealand golf guide

* Best places to play, stay and dine

* Secrets resorts don't want you to know

* Tips known only to locals and a few

New Zealand golf vacations

Best golf vacation operators

Australia New Zealand Golf - a respected package provider based in New Zealand. Its US office can be reached at 1-800-622-6606.

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New Zealand golf courses and resorts

New Zealand

Jack's Point; incredible design beneath the Remarkables mountains (Lord of the Rings) on the cliffs of Lake Wakatipu

Cape Kidnapper's Golf Club; Napier, 180 miles south of Auckland - stunning Tom Doak design on 500-foot-high cliffs jutting into Hawke's Bay; one of the most spectacular-looking courses in recent memory, if not in history

Kauri Cliffs; 120 miles north of Auckland - owned by the same folks that built Cape Kidnapper's

Titirangi Golf Club; Auckland - designed by Alister Mackenzie in 1926, rated Top 5 in New Zealand

Terrace Downs High Country Resort; remote, but spectular setting on Rakaia Gorge below Mt. Hutt

Kinloch; Lake Taupo - Top 10 New Courses in the world in 2007 by T&L Golf; a Jack Nicklaus gem in a links style

Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club; 45 minutes from Wellington

Wairakei Golf Course; Lake Taupo

Kaitaia Golf Club; Ahipara - on 90-Mile Beach

Arrowtown Golf Club; Central Otago - spectacular location; host of New Zealand Open March 12-15

Secrets and Tips for New Zealand golf vacations

Cape Kidnappers ranked #1

Cape Kidnappers Golf Course, the Tom Doak creation that has wowed golf travelers since its 2004 debut, even if they haven't seen it personally yet, won the world's No. 1 course by the Daily Telegraph for 2008.

We like that the Telegraph’s list circled the globe and broke some "tradition" more than we've seen other magazines', including Ireland (No. 2 Royal County Down and No. 9 Doonbeg), South Africa (No. 4 Leopard Creek), Barbados (No. 5 Green Monkey), Scotland (No. 6 Turnberry), The Grenadines (No. 8 Canouan) and Australia (No. 10 Royal Melbourne).