A full course rebuild will take place at The Hills over back-to-back winters starting in April 2026. Photo / Ricky Robinson Photography
A full course rebuild will take place at The Hills over back-to-back winters starting in April 2026. Photo / Ricky Robinson Photography
Plans have been revealed for the multimillion-dollar redevelopment of The Hills golf course near Arrowtown with current members getting the first offer to be part of the new private members structure.
The Herald understands members at The Hills were earlier this month given the first opportunity at the lowest price option to join the new structure.
US private equity investor Ric Kayne and business partner Jim Rohrstaff, the duo behind Tara Iti and Te Arai Links near Mangawhai, have joined in partnership with Sir Michael Hill and daughter Emma Hill as part of redevelopment plans at The Hills. Along with Tara Iti, The Hills is one of the most exclusive courses in the country, opening in 2007, and will remain so under the new private members structure.
A full course rebuild will take place over back-to-back winters starting in April 2026. The development plans also include a golf training facility, fitness centre, on-site accommodation, cottages, and clubhouse renovations.
Financial details of the new partnership have not been revealed but Sir Michael Hill famously told media on the club’s opening in 2007 it was more than his life is worth to divulge how much he had dipped into his fortune to finance the project, which started as a 200ha deer farm in the early 90s before taking more than five years to be turned into a world-class golf course.
“If I told you what it cost me I would have a divorce on my hands,’’ said Hill in 2007.
“Christine doesn’t know. It’s one of my best-kept secrets. For God’s sake, don’t mention any more than that otherwise I’ll be in serious trouble. I’ll have to sleep in the clubhouse tonight all by myself,” he quipped.
Part of the new partnership is to extend the legacy for the Hill family and ensure the property remains as a golf course in years to come.
“The family have looked at this as a great way to make sure that legacy exists and doesn’t get sold as a real estate development and the golf course doesn’t exist anymore,” Rohrstaff told the Herald. “By changing this model, the owners will be the members and the members will be the owners, this will perpetuate the club into the future and erase any uncertainty. A lot of the members will like the fact they know they have certainty now, that their club will be there forever.”
Ric Kayne and business partner Jim Rohrstaff alongside Emma Hill and Sir Michael Hill.
The extensive redevelopment of the course will be led by Australian golf architects OCM (Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Cocking and Ashley Mead) and will involve work across both the front and back nine. The iconic clubhouse, designed by Andrew Patterson, will also get a much-needed golf shop.
As well as being a highly-rated course, The Hills is also known for its art across the grounds with massive sculptures, such as the three-metre high warrior surrounded by 110 wolves designed by Liu Ruowang and the equally impressive Paul Dibble piece dubbed ‘The Calici Scythe’. They will all remain as part of the new course with only a small number moving from their original spots. An annual walkabout day open to the public will continue.
“The art there should be celebrated,” Rohrstaff said.
“If you’re a golfer and you visit The Hills, a big part of what the people remember is the sculptures. We’re certainly not moving away from the sculptures. It is part of the personality of The Hills, it works really well in that environment and we want to celebrate it. OCM love it, they’ve never really seen anything like it.”
'The Wolves are Coming', an installation by Liu Ruowang. Photo / Neils Koevers
Redevelopment details at The Hills
OCM are quickly making waves in the golf architectural world with The Hills being their first project in New Zealand. They were praised for their rebuild of the two courses at Peninsula Kingswood in the Melbourne sandbelt region. Golf fans will get a closer look at OCM’s work over the next few years having redeveloped the famed Melbourne course Kingston Heath, which will host the Presidents Cup in 2028 and just opened up a complete rebuild of Medinah no.3 in Illinois, which will host the 2026 Presidents Cup.
Working with OCM, the initial brief was to change three or four holes and make The Hills a more walkable course. But it turned into a much bigger project and with the irrigation nearing its end of life, it also meant having to trench up and replace pipes all over the golf course.
The OCM team look over The Hills where they will create a routing that is a significant step up. Photo / Supplied
Like an addition to a house the challenge is to ensure any changes tie in with the setting and general theme.
The current course is set up for cart golf and has lengthy distances between the green and the next tee, often scaling upwards to give spectacular views from the start of each hole. The redevelopment will aim to keep those views but also make it a more walkable routing. A few holes like the par three 16th will be shifted 150 metres from where it currently sits.
Many of the new holes will play over similar ground while some will be in the opposite direction, fixing the distance between green to tee and ensuring a more pleasurable walk for those ditching the cart.
“It’s a major construction project no matter what. As they walked around they started throwing some ideas out there... I saw straight away as huge value-adds not only to the golf experience but views from the clubhouse,” Rohrstaff said.
“By the time they [OCM] flew out of town we thought, ‘oh boy, sounds like we’re building a new course here’ but I think that’s where we got to pretty quickly. And we’re really excited about what they’ve come up with. They love the land, the scenery is out of this world and they’ve created a routing that is a significant step up.”
Because of the relatively tight growing seasons in Queenstown, the development will be done over back-to-back winters starting in 2026.
On the iconic clubhouse, Rohrstaff added: “We love that building. We’re looking at adding on a little bit to that. I’ve always joked the thing about The Hills is that it’s a golf course without a golf shop, so we’ll be adding things like a concierge, a golf shop and refreshing the entire interiors.”
Outside of the course work, a golf training facility, fitness centre, onsite accommodation and clubhouse addition will be built along with real estate offerings.
The Hills clubhouse will get a golf shop as part of the redevelopment. Photo / Ricky Robinson Photography
