Peter Williams: Cape may cost but experts can't be wrong

I'm now convinced.

Before this spring and summer is over, I will now make a serious effort to play Cape Kidnappers.

My only look at the place was from a golf cart during a guided tour by a greenkeeper on a cold and windy Sunday morning over a year ago. It looked damned hard and not very enjoyable. But if a credible international golf magazine can rate the Hawke's Bay course better than such world renowned major championship layouts as Bethpage Black, Royal Birkdale, Muirfield Village, Baltusrol, Sunningdale and the TPC at Sawgrass then it must be good.

That's the rather startling conclusion to be drawn from this week's Golf magazine's new list of the top 100 courses in the world. Cape Kidnappers comes in at a remarkable number 27, as judged by a sizeable panel of professional players, course architects, administrators and media.

Cape Kidnappers only opened for play early last year. It isn't easy to get to (around 45 minutes from Napier), it's expensive (not much change out of $300 for a round) and there's every chance you'll lose a wad of balls if you miss the fairways or fail to carry the gulleys and gulches off the tee.

But there's no doubt about the setting. Golf reckoned it might be top of their list if a spectacular location were the only criteria. If Galileo were a golfer, he might "stand on the 15th hole and wonder if it's possible to fall off the end of the world". This is a reference to the elevation of the course on the high cliffs of the natural landform after which the course is named.

The rating by this magazine, and its associated publicity, is pure gold for the man who's paid for Cape Kidnappers design and construction, Julian Robertson. The Wall Street tycoon's original New Zealand course, Kauri Cliffs, is the only other layout from this country in the Golf Top 100. It comes in at number 58, down nine places on two years ago.

Many in the 'international jury' who make these selections have serious reputations. The original Big Three of Palmer, Nicklaus and Player are there. As is Sir Bob Charles, Frank Nobilo, Annika Sorenstam and Tony Jacklin. There's also a swag of course architects, including the man who conceived Cape Kidnappers, Tom Doak.

One could be cynical and point out that the only two new entries in the top 50, Kidnappers and Barnbougle in Tasmania, are both Doak designs. How many of the others on the panel actually made the trip Down Under to play these courses ?

But for this country to have two courses rated in this company would've been unthinkable a decade ago. Even now Australia has only five on the list - Royal Melbourne's Composite (which only tournament professionals ever play), Kingston Heath, New South Wales, Barnbougle and Royal Adelaide.

All of those courses, except the new and remote Barnbougle, have hosted significant tournaments. Cape Kidnappers and Kauri Cliffs will never host a New Zealand Open or PGA unless Julian Robertson himself picks up the tab. They are simply too inaccessible for television and sponsors.

But that's not to say there shouldn't be some serious competitive play there. New Zealand Golf must make efforts to get a New Zealand Amateur to Cape Kidnappers or Kauri Cliffs. Our elite players need quality competition on quality courses to improve.

As for us, it's time to plan a weekend of Hawke's Bay Chardonnay, sunshine and a round at Cape Kidnappers. Look at it this way: even at $250, or whatever it is, it's still cheaper than St Andrews or Pebble Beach.