NZ: Cape Kidnappers appoints new Head Golf Professional
NAPIER, New Zealand — Cape Kidnappers GC, the iconic Tom Doak design that celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2024, Director of Golf Ray Geffre announces this month the hire of a new head golf professional at Cape: Eric Smith, freshly imported from the estimable Kiawah Island Club.
Located just 20 km from the seaside, art deco community of Napier, Cape Kidnappers GC resides in the heart of New Zealand’s wine country and directly beside The Farm at Cape Kidnappers, a luxury boutique hotel routinely ranked among the finest in the world. Doak, for one, is a fan: “It’s the nicest lodge in the country. Maybe on Earth.”
Cape Kidnappers, the landform, is equally distinct. Its Western name eventuated when locals attempted to abduct a member of Captain Cook’s crew aboard the HMS Endeavor, after making landfall there on 15 October 1769. As is often the case, however, the Māori appellation for this sandstone headland, Te Kauwae-a-Māui, is far more evocative. And sacred. According to Māori teaching, the peninsula represents a fishhook used to pull the North Island itself out of the sea.
The golf course and lodge occupy an extraordinary 6,000-acre property protected by more than 10 kilometers of protective fencing — meaning the barrier extends nearly as far below ground as above it, to protect endangered species from predators. As a result, golfers and guests may avail themselves of superb hiking, ATV adventures all over this working sheep and steer farm, and all manner of exotic bird and wildlife tours. The tip of Cape Kidnappers is, indeed, home to the world’s largest gannet colony.
“I had heard of the golf course here at Cape Kidnappers; I’d seen the pictures and pored over all the rankings,” says the American Smith, who grew up outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “But pictures and videos honestly don’t do the place justice. The lodge here, the natural setting: They are nothing short of wondrous — off the charts. And let me tell you a secret: PGA professionals have bucket lists, too.
It’s a privilege to be working at one, to be playing this golf course on a regular basis.”
Smith hasn’t exactly led an insular golfing life. He comes to Cape from Kiawah Island Club, a premier private club within a golf Mecca. After graduating from California University of Pennsylvania with a Sports Management degree, he split his first working seasons between the Vineyard Golf Club on Martha’s Vineyard, off the Massachusetts coast, and The Breakers Resort in Palm Beach, Florida. His professional journey eventually took him to Sankaty Head Golf Club, on the island of Nantucket, and The Preserve Golf Club in Monterey, California. But Smith’s lot was ultimately cast in 2017, when he spent three months traveling the length and breadth of New Zealand.
“I fell in love with the diverse landscapes, the kindness of its people, the core values that make this such a welcoming country. When I saw the opportunity to join the team here at Cape Kidnappers, as the head golf professional, well, I jumped at it. Everything about The Farm relies on impeccable service standards. It’s another privilege to meet those standards and extend them to guests who come here to play golf.”
