OCM design team to renovate The Hills as New Zealand heavyweights form new partnership

The developers of highly ranked Te Arai Links and Tara Iti golf clubs in New Zealand announced this week that they will partner with the owners of The Hills course near Arrowtown to redevelop the property.

The design team of Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Cocking and Ashley Mead – OCM – will rebuild the course. Plans also include the introduction of a golf training facility, fitness center, on-site accommodations, luxurious real estate and a remodel of the clubhouse.

The Hills was opened in 2007 by Sir Michael Hill, one of the most successful businessmen in New Zealand. The course was designed by Darby Partners and included a nine-hole par-3 course designed by Darius Oliver in 2019. The main course is notable for its inclusion of sculptures around the course, which will remain throughout the renovation.

Jim Rohrstaff and Ric Kayne, the developers of Tara Iti and Te Arai, will partner with Hill and his daughter, Emma Hill, on the work at The Hills.

Ric Kayne, Jim Rorhstaff, Emma Hill and Sir Michael Hill at The Hills (Courtesy of The Hills)

The private Tara Iti in Mangawhai was designed by Tom Doak and opened in 2015, and it ties for No. 9 on Golfweek’s Best list of top courses outside the U.S. The South Course at the resort-based Te Arai Links just down the beach from Tara Iti was designed by the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and opened in 2022, and it ties for No. 23 on the list of best international courses. Doak also designed a course at Te Arai, the North, which should appear on the list of top international courses as soon as it receives enough votes.

As with Tara Iti, The Hills will be redeveloped as a high-end equity club with limited membership. The renovations, including a new routing, will take place over to the winters of 2026 and 2027, and the project should be completed in 2028.

OCM has been busy of late with a rapidly expanding portfolio of international work, having recently completed a redesign of Medinah No. 3 in Illinois. Based near Melbourne, Australia, the firm has done renovation work to such Sandbelt stalwarts as Kingston Heath, Peninsula Kingswood and Victoria. The team also renovated Shady Oaks in Texas, longtime home of Ben Hogan, and it also has a new course named Tepetonka Club under construction in Minnesota in partnership with broadcaster Jim Nantz.

Check out a selection of photos of The Hills as it currently sits, including two architectural sketches that show what the OCM design team have in mind.