Windross Farm's gates open

When the gates opened at Windross Farm in September 2016, golfers got their first look at what Tataurangi Golf, working in collaboration with Brett Thompson, had shaped from open Ardmore farmland — 60 hectares of rolling countryside turned into a modern, links-style golf course with uninterrupted 360-degree views in every direction. The brief was simple in ambition and demanding in execution: build a course that felt like it had always belonged on this land. Long before any shaping began, the Tataurangi Golf team, alongside Brett Thompson, spent months walking the property, tracing its natural swales, ridgelines and shelterbelts, and letting that existing landform dictate the routing rather than forcing a layout onto the site. The result is a course that moves with the contours of the farm instead of against them — firm, fast-running fairways, low-profile bunkering, and green complexes built to reward a ground game as much as a high, soft approach. Exposure to the open Ardmore sky was treated as a design feature rather than a challenge to hide from. Holes were routed to play in different directions relative to the prevailing wind, so no two holes feel the same and no round plays the same way twice. Where possible, existing farm dams and natural drainage lines were retained and worked into the course as hazards and water management features, keeping the build sympathetic to the land it came from and reducing the long-term footprint of the finished course. Getting from paddock to playable golf course took sustained work on the ground — hand-shaped greens and surrounds, a full grassing and grow-in programme suited to the local climate, and close agronomic attention to establish turf that could handle both member play and championship conditions. That attention to detail paid off quickly: within a year of opening, Windross Farm was chosen to host the LPGA's McKayson New Zealand Women's Open, putting a course still finding its feet in front of the best players in the women's game and holding up to the scrutiny. A decade on, Windross Farm remains one of the clearest early statements of Tataurangi Golf's design language — work with the land, build for genuine playability, and create a course that earns its reputation on the ground rather than on paper. The course welcomes visiting golfers on weekdays and weekends, with bookings required in advance.