Formosa Golf Resort

Overlooking the Hauraki Gulf on the Pohutukawa Coast, forty-five minutes from downtown Auckland.

Formosa Golf Resort is overlooking the Hauraki Gulf on the Pohutukawa Coast, a 45-minute drive from downtown Auckland. A young course built in 1997, with Sir Bob Charles on the design team, it is positioned as one of New Zealand’s top courses.

The New Zealand Open was hosted here in 1998 only a year after opening its doors. It has a resort feel with villas and a conference centre attached to the course.

The Course

A golf tee framed by a lone pine tree with the turquoise waters of the Hauraki Gulf spread out beyond the fairway and bunkers — Teeing off toward the turquoise waters of the Hauraki Gulf

A golf bag beside a cart path on a palm-lined fairway with water visible on both sides leading out to the gulf — A palm-lined fairway with water on both sides

A fairway bordered by the resort's own villas on one side, with a harbour glimpsed in the distance under a blue sky — Fairway running past the resort’s own villas

A still pond reflecting the surrounding trees on a clear day, framed by a fern in the foreground — One of the course’s quiet ponds, mirror-still

A pond in front of the clubhouse, its orange-roofed buildings and palm trees reflected in the water — The clubhouse and its lake, seen from the 18th

A red wooden footbridge crossing a pond with a cabbage tree beside it and the clubhouse visible beyond — A footbridge over one of the resort’s ponds

A sunlit fairway with palm trees and the clubhouse on one side, the Hauraki Gulf and a distant island visible in the haze — Looking out over the gulf from the course

A green with a white FORMOSA GOLF RESORT flag beside a tall pine tree, a palm-lined fairway and township rooftops beyond — The resort’s own flag flying over the green

Get to Know the Holes

Formosa’s own on-course signboards are the richest yet in this series — each one lists a distance for four different tee colours rather than just one or two. Only two of the resort’s eighteen boards made it into this photo set, but between them they give a good sense of how much the tees can vary hole to hole.

A signboard for Hole 2, a par 3 measuring between 128 and 199 metres depending on tee, with the fairway and greenside bunkers visible beyond — Hole 2 · Par 3 · 128–199m across four tees

A signboard for Hole 18, a par 4 measuring between 321 and 408 metres depending on tee, mounted beside the cart path — Hole 18 · Par 4 · 321–408m across four tees

Local Character

The grounds double as an outdoor gallery — bronze sculpture is scattered around the clubhouse lawns, a distinctly resort touch not seen on any of the smaller rural courses in this series so far.

An abstract cubist bronze sculpture of a golfer, set on the lawn near the clubhouse with villas in the background — One of several sculptures scattered around the grounds

A weathered bronze statue of a golfer bent forward over his club, standing on the clubhouse lawn near a flight of steps — A second sculpture, closer to the clubhouse

Club History

The Formosa Golf Resort sign mounted on an entrance wall — The resort’s own entrance signage

The clubhouse's covered entrance, with palm trees and cars parked under the portico — The clubhouse entrance

A practice green with several flags and cups, a palm tree behind it and a pond to the side — The practice green, well used ahead of a round

Ken’s Visit

Formosa Golf Resort – In need of some mouth to mouth

Formosa Golf Club – The Back Nine

PHYSICAL ADDRESS:

110 Jack Lachlan DriveBeachlands, New Zealand