Sweet Spot, from experienced journalists and golf nuts Michael Donaldson and Phil Hamilton, delves into the history and unique attractions of 36 courses around the country.
Accompanying photos from Arno Gasteiger highlight the good fortune New Zealand hackers are blessed with when it comes to finding a course.
The book is split in two with, appropriately, 18 courses in a volume that focuses on the North and another 18 for the South.
The authors said their mission was simple.
"Why? Because they’re fun."
Donaldson and Hamilton said they wanted to focus on courses that were challenging and fun, while also "showing a sense of place, a sense of Aotearoa".
"We debated, consulted, travelled and read widely before eventually landing on our 36 courses, which represent barely 10% of clubs in the country, but they are all courses that we’d play again and again, and happily recommend to others."
Twelve of the 18 courses featured in the South volume are south of the Waitaki River.
Three Dunedin courses — Otago Golf Club (Balmacewen), Chisholm Links and St Clair — make the cut.
Balmacewen, the oldest course in New Zealand, "is about as steep a course on which golf can be decently played, tiptoeing that line between an enjoyable walk and tough slog, and staying just on the right side"; Chisholm has "rugged character" and a "varied and quirky layout"; and St Clair is "a cut above the typical New Zealand club course".
Naturally, the boom in golf in the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes regions is warmly represented.
Wānaka, The Hills, Arrowtown, Queenstown, Jack’s Point, Cromwell and Roxburgh all feature.
• Sweet Spot can be ordered from sweetspotgolfbook.com for $95.
