The Hills ****1/2
Considered New Zealand's most exclusive club, The Hills is the brainchild of Sir Michael Hill, a one-time concert violinist who went on to amass a fortune in the jewellery business - and like the rest of his products, this course sparkles.
The course started life in 2002 as just one hole after Hill asked John Darby to build him a par-4 on land close to the family home in Arrowtown. But so bitten by the golfing bug was Hill that before long he called in Darby to construct another eight, before broadening his horizons yet further with instructions for a full 18, one that was capable of hosting the New Zealand Open, which was played on this splendid layout for the first time in 2007.
The setting is breathtaking - located in the Wakatipu Basin, surrounded by those wondrous Remarkables - but what puts this course in the upper echelons of Australasian golf is its design and fabulous conditioning. The course flows over the rolling terrain like it has been there for decades. While perhaps more conventional in both look and feel than Jack's Point, the course continually asks questions of strategy and execution.
Most people's favourite holes at The Hills come during the final stretch, starting at the 15th, a short par-4 with a tremendously elevated tee, and moving on to the signature 17th, a par-5 that plays through a canyon, and the 18th with its stadium-style green. These are all fine holes for sure, but my particular preference is for the fifth, which was only the second built here. At only 303 metres this par-4 looks like a pushover on paper - as it does from the tee, with a generous fairway protected by just one solitary bunker. But its genius lies with the narrow elevated green. Guarded at the front by bunkers, the putting surface falls away on either side requiring laser-like accuracy with the short-iron approach.
The Hills is really a one-off. The understated clubhouse sits mostly submerged underground to blend in with the natural surroundings, while a collection of weird and wonderful sculptures appear throughout the course, often at the most unexpected of times. My habitual over-fade from the 18th tee came to nestle among a sword-wielding warrior fending off the vicious advances of 110 wolves. This, it turns out, is the work of the Chinese sculptor Liu Ruowang, one of Hill's favourites.
A round at The Hills, for the moment at least, can be had for the extraordinary green fee of NZ$500 (approximately HK$3,000). That's nearing Pebble Beach prices. Is it worth it? Well, no course is really worth that amount of money, but if you want to try it for yourself then hurry. Once The Hills reaches its membership quota (which is thought to be 500) visitors will no longer be able to make bookings.
The Hills Golf Club
Yardage: 7,213 Par: 72
Green Fee: HK$3,000
Designed by John Darby
Contact: www.thehills.co.nz
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