Formosa

The up-market golf resort of Formosa is a 45-minute drive (or a short ferry hop) to the east of Auckland. As a member of the Best of Golf New Zealand group of premier resorts, it can be taken for granted that golf will be great at a venue considered good enough to host the New Zealand Open in 1998.

Laid out on a large 440-acre cliff top site and modeled on Augusta National by course architect Bob Charles, the 18 holes at Formosa are the centerpiece of a resort that includes 50 villas, a conference centre, pool, spa, tennis and squash courts on the property.

The course runs along cliffs above Hauraki Gulf so some sensational sights out to sea can be guaranteed to raise your spirits even if the dozens of bunkers and hundreds of Pohutukawa and palm trees planted around the course are hampering your golf game!

The feature holes at Formosa are those between the par threes at the 11th and 15th, along the edge of the cliffs. The best of these holes is probably the 540-yard, par five, right doglegged 12th, where a waste bunker down the left of the fairway and two greenside bunkers short right of the offset green are formidable protectors of par.