Ben Ohau Golf Course

Few golf settings in New Zealand match the sheer drama of Ben Ohau. The course sits in the Mackenzie Basin, that vast, tussock-covered high country bowl flanked by the Southern Alps, where the sky feels enormous and the light shifts constantly off the surrounding ranges. The namesake Ben Ohau Range rises directly to the west, and on clear days — which are frequent in this dry, rain-shadowed inland climate — the views toward Aoraki/Mount Cook and the glacier-fed lakes of Pukaki and Ohau give the round a grandeur that has nothing to do with difficulty.

This is a rural, community-style course typical of small South Island towns, maintained largely through local effort and affection. It won't challenge low handicappers the way a championship layout would, but it rewards those who stop to take in where they actually are — which is one of the more remarkable high-country landscapes on earth.

Twizel itself is a base town for Mackenzie Country tourism, and golfers passing through on their way to Mount Cook or the local salmon fishing often find the course a genuinely worthwhile detour.