Around 27,000 years ago, a supervolcano at the center of New Zealand's North Island erupted, shooting debris dozens of kilometers into the air, covering the entire island in a thick layer of ash, and forming one of the largest calderas on the planet. It was the most violent volcanic event of the past 75,000 years. The resulting crater eventually cooled, filled with water, and created what's today known as Lake Taupō.
Earlier this year, the Spa Park Disc Golf Course not far from the site of the ancient supereruption caused some tremors of its own when it became the first disc golf course in Oceania – and the first outside of North America or Europe – to make the top 100 of our annual World's Best Disc Golf Courses rankings.
The course is in the town of Taupō on the northeast end of the lake, a place about 25,000 Kiwis – a common nickname for New Zealanders – call home. Ken Harris, president of the Taupō Disc Golf Club (TDGC), said the town's name is hard for outsiders to pronounce but trying to say "toe-pour" without the "R" (so, "toe-pou") might get you close.
A native of Chicago, Harris lived and worked in Taupō, New Zealand, in 2009, where he met the woman who's now his wife. After several years residing in Canada, the pair and the first of their three daughters returned to New Zealand permanently. It wasn't until a walk through Taupō's Spa Park in 2019 that Harris felt a compulsion to create a disc golf course.
"I look back and I'm not actually sure what possessed me to push so hard for a course," said Harris. "I wanted to feel connected to my friends back home, connected to something that reminded me of my childhood, to make Taupō feel a bit more like where I grew up."
Though it opened in 2021, the beginnings of Spa Park Disc Golf Course – currently the best disc golf course in New Zealand as well as anywhere south of the equator – go back over two decades. The person who first envisioned a course in Spa Park is Disc Golf Hall of Famer and Kiwi disc golf legend Bob Gentil.
From Temping to Full Time
"It was 1999," said Gentil. "I'd just got back from playing the Santa Cruz Masters Cup in California. A couple of major things in my life and my sport happened at this event. Firstly, that's where I found out that disc golf had been added to the schedule for World Games to be held in Japan in 2001 and what the criteria to qualify was. Secondly, I spent time with Ed Headrick and he gave permission to make his DGA baskets here in New Zealand."
Originally, Gentil hoped to found a course at Maungakiekie, which is also called One Tree Hill and helped inspire a hit U2 song. Gentil had played object disc golf there in the '70s, and he knew it had the potential to accommodate two or three world-class courses.
"Dealing with the Cornwall Park Trust, the Auckland City Council, and the Iwi [Māori tribes local to specific areas of New Zealand], it became obvious a permanent course in this stunning park was sadly never going to happen," Gentil said.
Later that same year, Gentil visited his brother Brian, who lived in Taupō.
"I was talking about my dream and he suggested a park that might be suitable just up the road from where he lived, Spa Park," said Gentil. "The more he talked about it, the more excited I got. The following day we went for a visit and the seed was sown."
After a series of council meetings went nowhere, Gentil wasn't too optimistic. He was, however, given permission to set up a pop-up course in Spa Park for the 2002 New Zealand Disc Golf Championships. The event was seen as a massive success and helped elevate the profile of disc golf in New Zealand.
Gentil followed it up in 2003 with another Championship tournament at Spa Park and eventually began running an event called the Gentil Sport Taupō Classic annually on a temporary layout. Though the tournament was popular and well-received, getting approval for a permanent course seemed unlikely.
But then a friend of Kiwi professional disc golfer David Keene started work in a key position for Taupō District Council.
"It was around this time that I got in touch with Bob about what it would take to set up a course in Spa Park," said Harris, the Chicagoan-turned-Kiwi. "I had googled New Zealand disc golf contacts and Bob's name was top of the list at the time. Bob put me in touch with David, and then David and I stayed in touch while we both talked to the local council and while David drummed up sponsorship interest and grant funding from his home base in Auckland."
Through lots of phone calls, emails, and perseverance, Harris, Keene, Gentil, and Simon Feasey (co-founder of New Zealand disc golf equipment manufacturer RPM Discs) secured the funds and permissions necessary to build the course.
"As Good as It Could Be for the Sake of Disc Golfers Everywhere"
When you understand the setting of Spa Park, you also understand why the prospect of a disc golf course there excited so many. The area offers majestic views of Mount Tauhara and the Otumuheke hot stream that empties into the Waikato River at the far western and northern ends of the park. There is also a mix of terrains ideal for creating a great disc golf experience.
"It is challenging and beautiful in all the best ways," said Harris, describing the Spa Park course. "It has open holes, tightly wooded holes, holes with beautiful feature trees, holes that look like the putting green was purpose-built for a disc golf basket."
In Harris' recounting, creating one of the world's best courses in this setting was more unavoidable than intentional.
"I wouldn't say there was a concerted effort to make it a high quality course," Harris said. "The park lends itself to being high quality the moment you install baskets. We, as a club, saw early on that we have this incredible asset at our fingertips, and I think we felt responsible for making it as good as it could be for the sake of disc golfers everywhere that would eventually come to play it."
An initial design by Gentil that Keene refined and embellished sought to highlight the area's natural wonders and make the course feel in harmony with its stunning surroundings. Haydn Shore of Disc Shop NZ, whom Harris called "one of the hardest working people in New Zealand disc golf," kept those goals in mind as he installed the course's original tees and tee signs along with carving out its first fairways. The unique, curved cages of the RPM Helix baskets that Feasey personally put in also please the eye.
Though the TDGC started after Harris "begged" friends who'd never played disc golf to join up, the sport's popularity grew quickly. As more people got interested, some of them donated their time and skills to improving the course. Harris said that "trade discounts and free expert labor" from club members have helped expand Spa Park from two layouts to five, improve player experience, and enhance the course's aesthetic appeal.
"We have intelligently placed mandos, elevated baskets, and beautiful log-lined paths through the woods," Harris said. "A steep rammed-earth and log-retained tiered green on hole 17 dug and laid by hand, a basket installed on top of a toppled tree that came down during the last cyclone, death putts, and rollaway chances."
Such updates are ongoing and paid for in large part by funds raised through events run by Steve Lawson and Richard Atkinson, respectively the vice president and secretary and treasurer of the TDGC. The upgrades are often planned at the club's Annual General Meeting. The group is also sensitive to balancing its ambitions with ecological conservation.
"Spa Park is getting more and more traps for invasive animals, which is a huge focus in New Zealand," said Harris. "And we are working with the council on managing weed species and shaping fairways by allowing meadows to grow and trees to be planted in strategic areas."
The TDGC has also proposed a nine-hole pitch and putt course in an underutilized green space near the front of the park where complete beginners and young children could learn the sport and players of all abilities could practice their short games.
Beyond Disc Golf
The "spa" part of Spa Park derives from the Otumuheke hot pools, natural and free-to-use geothermal pools that are a treat for sore muscles after a round of disc golf. There are also walking and mountain biking trails that run between the park and Huka Falls, a tremendous cascade waterfall downriver from the course.
Lake Taupō is a big attraction, too.
"It is the best place in the country to go for a swim," said Harris. "The water in the summer is just the right temperature to cool off on a hot, sunny day, and you get out without the stickiness of being in the ocean. The water is very clear and there are so many great swimming spots, rock outcrops, and floating pontoons, so you never get bored of the place."
Other activities within one hour's drive include trout fishing, geothermal mud pools and geysers, skiing on Mount Ruapehu, and the Tongariro Alpine Crossing – considered one of the world's premier day walks.
"Because of our central position within the North Island, we're a great gathering place," explained Harris. "We are considered the event capital of the country, hosting Ironman world championships, a Supercars race, and hundreds more. That means our facilities are punching well above their weight for a town of only 25,000 people."
Taupō's man-made infrastructure and natural blessings have established it as a major tourism destination, and the growing renown of its disc golf course cements that reputation even more.
"Having the Spa Park Disc Golf Course enter the top 100 courses only adds to the amazing assets the town already has and hopefully brings a few more international visitors to our district," said Harris. "It's a beautiful place to spend your time, no matter the reason."
