Outstanding club2026

The best golf courses in New Zealand (2026)

Find the top golf courses in New Zealand, with rankings based on verified golfer reviews. Tara Iti is the reason the conversation about New Zealand golf has changed. Tom Doak's design on Pacific dune terrain north of Auckland sits in world top-twenty rankings and belongs there. A country of five million people should not have a course at that level. It does.Read more
Based on 107 verified reviews

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The highest-rated clubs based on the combined score of course quality, facilities, and hospitality. Read more
21
Club image Lakes Resort Pauanui - Golf

Lakes Resort Pauanui - Golf

8.06
North Island18 holes
fromNZ$110
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fromNZ$110
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22
Club image Royal Wellington Golf Club

Royal Wellington Golf Club

7.97
North Island27 holes
fromNZ$195
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fromNZ$195
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23
Club image Otago Golf Club

Otago Golf Club

7.93
South Island18 holes
24
Club image Arrowtown Golf Club

Arrowtown Golf Club

7.86
South Island18 holes
Great hospitality
25
Club image Tauranga Golf Club

Tauranga Golf Club

7.76
North Island18 holes
26
Club image Terrace Downs Resort

Terrace Downs Resort

7.73
South Island18 holes
Great hospitality
fromNZ$120
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fromNZ$120
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27
Club image Hastings Golf Club - Bridge Pa

Hastings Golf Club - Bridge Pa

7.72
North Island18 holes
Great surroundings
28
Club image Wanaka Golf Club

Wanaka Golf Club

7.71
South Island18 holes
Great hospitality
29
Club image Redwood Park Golf Club

Redwood Park Golf Club

7.67
North Island18 holes
Great surroundings
30
Club image Howick Golf Club

Howick Golf Club

7.57
North Island18 holes
31
Club image Waikanae Golf Club

Waikanae Golf Club

7.53
North Island18 holes
Great hospitality
32
Club image Harewood Golf Club

Harewood Golf Club

7.50
South Island18 holes
33
Club image Southland Golf Club

Southland Golf Club

7.48
South Island18 holes
Great value for money
34
Club image Napier Golf Club

Napier Golf Club

7.48
North Island18 holes
Great value for money
35
Club image Chisholm Park Golf Club

Chisholm Park Golf Club

7.47
South Island18 holes
Great hospitality
36
Club image Te Aroha Golf Club

Te Aroha Golf Club

7.46
North Island18 holes
Great value for money
37
Club image Poverty Bay Golf Club (Gisborne Golf)

Poverty Bay Golf Club (Gisborne Golf)

7.39
North Island18 holes
Great maintenance
38
Club image Rotorua Golf Club 'Arikikapakapa'

Rotorua Golf Club 'Arikikapakapa'

7.38
North Island18 holes
39
Club image Tairua Country Club

Tairua Country Club

7.37
North Island18 holes
40
Club image The Dunes Matarangi Golf Club

The Dunes Matarangi Golf Club

7.36
North Island18 holes
Great surroundings

Everything about the top golf courses in New Zealand

The best golf courses in New Zealand make a case for the country at the very top of global golf that its geography and population make genuinely improbable. New Zealand's top courses sit alongside the best in the world rather than below them. Tara Iti Golf Club leads this list, and that positioning reflects serious assessments by serious observers. Tom Doak's 2015 design on coastal dune terrain above the Pacific north of Auckland has appeared in world top-twenty rankings and is assessed by golf architecture critics as among the finest courses built anywhere in the world this century. Its restricted private access means that securing a round requires genuine effort and connection, but the golfers who have played it consistently place it among the best rounds of their lives. Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club provides the links dimension and the most publicly accessible top-ranked course. Alex Russell's 1929 design on coastal duneland above the Tasman Sea north of Wellington is the finest links in the southern hemisphere and the course that New Zealand's golf reputation is historically built on. Its New Zealand Open hosting history, the quality of its duneland terrain and the Tasman wind give it a playing character that golfers from the British and Irish links tradition find immediately and completely familiar. Cape Kidnappers Golf Course in Hawke's Bay, Tom Doak's clifftop design above the Pacific with its ridgeline holes above the sea, handles the visual dimension of New Zealand golf that most appears in international golf travel media. Titirangi Golf Club in the Auckland bush, the only Alister MacKenzie design in New Zealand, rounds out a list whose most important distinction is this: the country does not have a large golf market, which means its top courses were built by designers who came specifically for the ground rather than the commercial opportunity, and that ground-first approach is visible in every course here that belongs in the serious global conversation.

How we rank the best 18-hole golf clubs in New Zealand

This ranking of the best 18-hole golf clubs in New Zealand is based on the overall score from verified golfer reviews and represents the total experience at a club. The ranking is calculated by aggregating scores across all categories, including course design, maintenance, hospitality, facilities, surroundings, and value for money. To be included in this list, a club must have a sufficient number of reviews to ensure a reliable and representative average.

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