The Lakes Golf Club - Mascot, NSW, Australia

It was my second time playing The Lakes and the course is a notch above the others around Sydney in my opinion.  I was lucky enough to have played The Australian the day before so I both are fresh in my head to compare.

The Lakes stands out due to its hole layouts and green complexes and is my favourite course that I've played in the Sydney area thus far - even though I've never scored well there.  The green complex on the par 5 14th is a) the largest green I've ever seen and b) has multiple tiers with severe slope.   Enjoy putting on that one.  The course is challenging and will test ever club in your bag.  There is a good mixture of short, medium, and long par 4's sprinkled amongst short to mid par 5's and par 3's.  You don't need to be a long hitter of the ball to score well here, but you do need to play smart.

The Emirates Australian Open was just played at The Lakes in November.  

Hole 11 - Par 5

Contact details:

Office	+612 9669 1311
Fax	+612 9669 6206
Golf Shop	+612 9669 3544
Starters Hut	+612 9669 5107

The Lakes Golf Club, PO Box 545, Mascot NSW 1460

Golf Bookings	match@thelakesgolfclub.com.au
General	info@thelakesgolfclub.com.au
Functions/Events	ann@thelakesgolfclub.com.au

The Australian Golf Club - Sydney Australia

It was a hot day on the links today.  Mid 90's for the fahrenheit loving Americans out there, mid 30's for the rest of the world.

The Australian Golf Club is nice and has a lot of history; however, the course itself is a bit of a let down.  I contribute this to being told by numerous of my golf mates that The Australian is the best course in Sydney.  Yes, it is a nice course, but I wouldn't say it is the best.  Many of the holes are straightforward, and the green complexes are relatively unchallenging, aka flat.

I will take my hat off to the staff at The Australian.  The staff go out of their way to ensure that you are having a good time and to make sure that all of your needs are met.

This post about the course is a bit negative, but I don't want people to get the impression that it is a bad course.  It is a topnotch course, it is just that I wouldn't call it the best.

One final note on the course, The Australian sends off the competition groups with 3 golfers in each group.  I found this absolutely wonderful as we finished our Saturday mid-morning round in less than 4 hours.  I wouldn't have thought it would have made much of a difference going from 4 golfers down to 3 in a group, but it did.  I would highly recommend that other golf clubs do the same thing.  I'm a very fast golfer and when rounds start creeping past 4 hours, it is frustrating.

Hole 18 Green

Thirteenth Beach - Beach Course

Thirteenth Beach has 2 18-hole championship golf courses; the beach course and the creek course.  I rate the beach course higher than the creek course due to the landscape and hole design being a bit better.

The beach course is a links style course with plenty of bunkers that will catch wayward shots.  The course is designed to reward quality golf shots as few, if any, poor struck shots will be left unpunished by the course.  The beach course is not overly long, but does place emphasis on attack angles into the greens.

There a lot of beautiful holes on the beach course but two that stick out are

• number 5 - a par 4; and
• number 12 - a par 3.

Both these holes are stunning from the tee.

Hole 5

Hole 12

Bonnie Doon Golf Club - Pagewood, NSW, Australia

Bonnie Doon is situated in Pagewood, NSW; which is a suburb south of Sydney.  Currently being renovated, only 15 holes are in play.  In March 2012, the entire course will be reopened with new practice facilities as well. 

Clayton Ogilvy golf design company is undertaking the renovation.  I double checked and yes, Clayton refers to the infamous Michael Clayton who had the strangest putt ever caught on camera.  See the following on youtube.  The one where he flipped his putter in the air on the green only to drop it, hit the ball, him diving towards it, and hitting the ball himself as he lay facedown, motionless on the green probably thinking to himself, “What the hell just happened?”

As for the course, it is a challenging layout with numerous sets of tees to satisfy all golfers.  The course is fortunate to have very sandy soil so drainage is never a problem.   After heavy rains that would have some courses closed for weeks, give Bonnie Doon 10 minutes and you’ll be able to continue play.

The greens are quick, but hold iron shots.  The course’s par 3’s are its strength in my eyes demanding a range of shots: both uphill and strategic depending on where the pin is located.  The old 17^th hole (current 14^th hole) is one of the best par 4’s in Australia.  It is a great risk/reward hole where a well-struck drive will leave you with a short pitch to a difficult green and a layup off the tee will demand a very precise mid iron shot.  Two bunkers guard the front of the green, native bush and grass up to your knees guard the left, and going long or right will provide a near impossible up and down.   

The course is well manicured with views to the city on some holes.  The clubhouse has cold beers available after the round with a full kitchen.  

Mount Broughton - Southern Highlands, NSW, Australia

A weekend away was needed, so we booked Peppers Manor House in the Southern Highlands.  The accommodation was conveniently located on the Mount Broughton Golf Course.  The golf course boasts it is a links course; however, it doesn't quite fit into my definition of a links course as it is not on a coast.  Putting that aside, Mount Broughton is a challenging course that requires quality golf shots to be hit to strategic locations if you want to score well.


Review of Mount Broughton

In full disclosure, research prior to playing the course yielded that it is regarded as one of the longest courses in Australia and I found out that they weren't lying.  Consistently having to hit long irons into every green will make anyone's score skyrocket.  

550 meters = 601 yards

My ratings out of 100

• Tees - 37
• Fairways - 43 
• Greens - 40
• Overall -  40

Pros

• Variety in the holes that could be played different ways depending on your shotmaking ability.
• Friendly, knowledgeable, and well-stocked proshop

Cons

• The tee boxes were not kept up compared to the rest of the course
• While this isn't a reflection on the course, there is a very active railroad that borders on a few holes.

Pictures of the course

Notice the train on the right

Mount Broughton Golf and Country Club
Kater Road
Sutton Forest, NSW, Australia
http://www.mtbroughton.com.au/np/contact.php

Cape Kidnappers - New Zealand

Cape Kidnappers is one of those courses that you’ll never forget that you’ve played.  If you’re a golfer and ever find yourself in New Zealand, you will not regret making time to play this course.  It is often voted by numerous “golf authorities” in the top 10 courses of the world.  

This course hugs the coastline on the southeast side of the north island of New Zealand in Hawkes Bay.  Besides a world renowned golf course, the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand is known for wine and relaxation. 

The course itself is built on a bunch of what I would describe as plateaus that stretch out into the pacific.  See the following picture taken from their website:

When I did research on this course and looked at the pictures, I figured I’d better bring along about two dozen golf balls as looking at the photos, I was sure I’d loose a bunch of them.  I was happy to show up and see that the fairways are more than generously wide and the greens are enormous.  I’m not what one would call very straight off the tee, but I actually found the fairway on all of my drives. 

I golfed here over the Christmas season in 2010 and I felt like a billionaire.  I had the entire course to myself.  Just me and 18 holes with amazing views.  It was the most relaxing round of golf I ever played.  To say that the course was manicured well is a gross understatement.  It was hard to find a blade of grass out of place.  

We stayed at The Farm and it is true to its five star luxury rating.  We were on an all-inclusive package.  The food was plentiful with numerous options to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters.  If you end up staying, make time to take a stroll to see the gannet colony.  

Glenmore Heritage Golf - Mulgoa, NSW, Australia

Glenmore Heritage Golf Club is a bit of a drive from Sydney, about an hour west, but worth it.  The rolling hills make for a naturally beautiful course.   Given it’s relative remoteness, getting tee times (even on weekends) is generally easy. 

The course makes good use of the parcel of land it is on and actually has 27 holes.  However, in my experience the new third 9 holes they put in are of considerable lower quality than the original 18.  I would not recommend the third 9, but the original 18 are a must. 

After the round, one of holes vividly sticks in my head; the par three, ninth hole.   A medium length (160 yards / 146 meters) hole that requires a solidly struck shot to a smallish green that is guarded by overgrowth on the left, right, and behind the hold with the front guarded by a water hazard that stretches all the way back to the tee box area.  Yes, 100% carry; else…better tee another one up.  There is a drop zone, but unfortunately it too requires the next shot to be over the water hazard. 

At the turn, I’d recommend getting a bite to eat at the outdoor BBQ as the back nine is a bit hillier to walk. 

Overall, the course is manicured well with most holes presenting various ways to play them.  The par fours are not overly long, but do present long hitters with an easier second shot if they can find the fairway.  

Glenmore Heritage Valley Golf Club

690 Mulgoa Road NSW 2745

Phone 02 4733 1230