Darius Oliver provides insight into his course routing for new seaside layout an hour’s drive north of Wellington
By Richard Humphreys |
Construction has started on the new Douglas Links golf course on New Zealand’s North Island.
The site for the new course is sandy duneland near Waikawa Beach – within the village of Ōhau – around an hour’s drive north of Wellington.
The project has taken several years to begin due to planning setbacks related to the degraded site and the country’s planning and consenting rules. It eventually received approval in late 2025.
“We have an opportunity with Douglas Links to use some beautiful natural features in the project, and to restore large swathes of degraded coastal land,” said Oliver. “We needed to achieve that fine balance between coastal restoration and pure golf – which took time to gain approval for. The project is as much about ecological restoration as golf creation. Almost 200,000 native plants will be planted throughout the dunescape once the massive macrocarpa trees and other exotic species are removed.”
Darius Oliver’s routing for Douglas Links (Image: Darius Oliver)
Oliver developed his course routing in early 2020 following several days of walking the site to identify how he would create the best holes and sequencing. “The property has some key features that were essential to include in the final routing, and in many ways these features made the overall layout puzzle less complex,” he said. “There are good holes all over the site, and I feel like we were able to include the best ones in the final 18, and to balance the use of duneland, riverfront and beachfront land.
“I think when people play the course, some of the ‘must-have’ holes will seem pretty obvious, specifically the dune and the riverside holes, along with the beachfront area and its multi-green focal point. Others may be a little trickier to identify. For example, the first and sixth holes were essential to keep the layout walkable, while the likes of the second, third, fifth and eleventh were necessary to connect certain sections of the site, and to enable us to create an authentic links golf experience.”
The clubhouse and first tee will sit on an elevated dune with panoramic views of the Kapiti coastline. Holes four, fourteen, sixteen and seventeen will play right alongside the beach, while others will have views of the Ōhau River, Tararua Range and Kapiti Island.
Preliminary shaping is underway, with construction expected to take up to two years (Photo: Darius Oliver)
Oliver is teaming up again with shaper Lindsay Richter on the project, having worked together at Cape Wickham and The Cliffs at Kangaroo Island.
“There aren’t many pure links in New Zealand, but our aim with Douglas Links is to create a genuine throwback experience,” said Oliver. “The developer is a passionate advocate for true links golf, and we feel there is an opportunity to build an authentically old-school golf course on the property. Firm fescue playing surfaces allow us to conceive of fun, bouncy holes, and to inject genuine links characteristics into the layout.
“I’m a big fan of the nearby Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club, and hope that we are able to complement that old links with our new golf course. It would be nice to help create an alternate, links-like destination for visitors coming to New Zealand.”
A rendering of the par-four fourteenth, which plays towards the Cook Strait (Image: Darius Oliver)
Construction is likely to take two years, with opening expected in 2028.