Ruakituri Golf Course

Ruakituri sits deep in the hill country of northern Hawke's Bay, a long drive from Wairoa along a river valley that most travellers never venture into. This is genuine backcountry New Zealand — the Ruakituri River cuts through dense native bush, the land is steep and sheep-grazed, and the sense of isolation is total. Golf out here isn't about prestige or polish; it's about community, and a course like this exists because a small rural settlement decided it should.

What you'll find is almost certainly a compact, volunteer-maintained layout that makes the most of whatever flat or gently rolling ground the valley floor allows. Fairways trimmed from farmland, greens that reward local knowledge, and the kind of relaxed, unhurried atmosphere that has largely disappeared from courses closer to provincial centres. You're playing golf the way it was played in rural New Zealand a century ago.

Hawke's Bay is known for sunshine and a strong regional golf culture, but Ruakituri is as far from the manicured courses of Napier or Hastings as it's possible to get — which, for the right kind of golfer, is exactly the appeal.