Blog 210 – Coraki GC

Nomadic_golfer : May-July 2022

Par 72, 6055m, slope 114 $15

4 par3s 132-163m, 10 par4s 304-396m, 4 par5s 442-492m

This 9 hole course 20 minutes SE of Lismore in the Northern Rivers region of NSW is worth a 1/2 drive if you are up on the Coast. It has some length, some tricks and you will need to play well to score well here. The course suffered from the Feb/ March floods that devastated this local area and while the course is still soft underfoot in early July, the locals have done a great job in getting it back up in good playing condition.

The greens are thick and even, but not the quickest and the broad leafed fairways don’t give you much run, so the course plays its full length. Fairways are lined with trees, including some decent sized gums and whilst there are lots of them, you do get to have some attempts at recoveries from missed fairways. The courses defences are its length (needs full carry), a number of bunkers and those ever-present gums.

As far as holes go, the 380m first is a very tough opener and my favourite hole on the course. From a beautiful rectangular tee set amongst flowers and hedges, this long 4 looks wide open off the tee but 2 strategically placed large gums, play a much bigger part in the hole than it appears. One is centre-left of the fairway at just over 200m and the other is right-side at about 240m – they demand your attention and play a part in just about every golfer’s approach here. Both par 3’s face West (163m 3rd and 158m 6th) and require well struck irons as the targets are both small, bunkered greens. That 3rd is probably my other favourite hole with trees encroaching from the left, meaning an accurate, right to left mid iron is favoured here.

They are a tough bunch at Coraki, having endured a lot over recent years but they are very hospitable and most deserving of your patronage. Go and give them a visit.