Hawke's Bay's new Cape Kidnappers golf course has been declared the best course built anywhere in the world in 2004 by an international golfing publication.
The judgment, made by the Travel and Leisure golf magazine, is expected to have a beneficial effect on tourism to the area.
The magazine's writerBrian McCollen said there were fewer international quality golf courses built in the United States last year due to the high cost and economic uncertainty following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre.
"Cape Kidnappers is not only the golf course of the year, it's now the new eighth wonder of the golf world," McCollen wrote.
"Perched on fingers of land nearly 500 feet above Hawke's Bay, this vertigo-inducing course, creased by ravines and patrolled by gannets, belongs more to heaven than to earth."
The course designed on a 2024ha sheep farm by Tom Doak and developed by another American, Julian Robertson, provided good shot value for golfers and superb aestetics.
And the "understated" clubhouse featuring extensive use of corrugated iron and recycled timbers was in harmony with the working farm, the magazine said.
Robertson's other New Zealand golf course, Kauri Cliffs on the Northland coast, designed by David Harman, has been voted the 49th best course in the world.
Only six other courses built since 1936 have made the top 50.
- NZPA
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