Where Does Kelly Slater Go When He Wants To Escape?

There are places in the world where time and space fall away. Where schedules blur, phones are tucked away, and the only real decision is whether to surf or tee off. For Kelly Slater, that place sits on a quiet stretch of New Zealand’s North Island coastline, an hour north of Auckland, where rolling dunes meet the Pacific and links golf run parallel to empty beaches. Te Arai Links isn’t loud about what it is. It doesn’t need to be. If you know, you know.

The insatiable wander, Slater was hipped to the zone before Te Arai Links even existed, back when the land was still being shaped into what many now consider one of the great modern golfing destinations on the planet. “I met Ric Kayne through a mutual friend and work associate years ago,” Slater says. “Ric invited me to play a member/guest tourney at Tara Iti, years before Te Arai was built. As the courses were being shaped and laid across the first dunes, Ric drove me and a few others around to show us the design and views and beaches.”

It’s not lost on us here at SURFER that Te Arai’s founder shares a name with one of the most legendary Hollywood surf characters — Rick Kane (himself a wave pool innovator of sorts). But I digress, even in those early days, the potential of Te Arai was obvious. “A couple pros there agreed it would turn into one of the great golfing destinations in the golf world,” Slater told SURFER. They weren’t wrong. Today, Te Arai Links features two world-class links courses—the South Course by Coore & Crenshaw and the North Course by Tom Doak—threaded through massive sand dunes, native grasses, and wide-open coastal exposure. Walking-only. No carts. No distractions. Just wind, terrain, and decision-making.

But as much as Slater loves the game of golf, the 11-time world champ also has to keep his gills wet. The surf around Te Arai is a study in patience and payoff. “As far as surf and golf, the surf is inconsistent,” Slater admits, “but can get really good at a variety of spots nearby.” The crown jewel is Mangawhai Heads, a short drive away, where a sand-bottom left can spin down the beach when conditions line up. “It has a really nice long left sandbar,” he adds. “But there are plenty of empty beaches around with nice little waves on them.”

Empty is the keyword. No crowds. No scene. Just secluded peaks, shifting sandbars, and the occasional day that reminds you why you bothered to check the forecast at all. “In the four or so times I’ve been there, I only got one day that was almost up to scratch for what it can offer,” Slater says. “And that was super fun.” 

Reuben Brown, a longtime caddie at both Tara Iti and Te Arai Links, has seen that balance play out firsthand. Brown has been working with Ric Kayne’s properties since 2015 and started at Te Arai Links when the South Course opened in 2022. He drifts between both courses throughout the year and has looped for Slater more than once.

“I was lucky enough to play the South Course with Kelly and two mates from the Gold Coast,” Brown says. “‘That might have been the best golf course I’ve ever played,’ were the words Kelly uttered to me towards the end of the round.”

Brown isn’t surprised by Slater’s connection to the place. “Anyone who has set foot here can attest to the tranquility of the region,” he says. Te Arai doesn’t feel curated. It feels discovered. The accommodations—suites, ocean cottages, villas—sit low in the landscape. Meals stretch long. Sunset comes quietly. It’s the kind of place where high performance melts into presence.

Golf-wise, Slater won’t claim expertise on favorite holes. “I’ve only played each course once, and I think it takes a bit more than that to find the character of each hole,” he says. But one moment stuck. “There is a drivable par 4 right next to the road heading towards the ocean. A friend playing with me nearly aced it and had a tap-in eagle. Amazing risk-reward hole I remember quite well.”

Brown has his own favorite Slater memory, and it perfectly bridges surf and golf—the stress of competition followed by release in the ocean. During a Tara Iti member/guest shootout, Slater faced a brutal double-breaking putt on a par 3. “As we walked to the ball, Kelly turned to me and said, ‘I’d rather take a 20-foot Waimea closeout on the head than three-putt right now,’” Brown recalls. They three-putted. They got knocked out. And shortly after, they surfed a nearby barreling left to wash the round off.

That’s Te Arai in a sentence: humility, humor, frustration, joy—often in the same day. When Brown dropped Slater at the airport after that trip, Slater handed him his flight-winner trophy, a giant bronze Tara Iti bird. “Here, this is for you. I don’t really do seconds,” he said. It still sits in Brown’s family garden.

For Slater, Te Arai Links isn’t about chasing perfect waves or shooting career rounds. It’s about space — mental, physical, and emotional. A place where the surf might not fire every day, but when it does, it’s empty. Where the golf is demanding, but the setting softens the edges. Where an 11-time world champion can disappear into the dunes, walk 18 holes, and paddle out without the glare of his celebrity.