Course 36 for 2022 – Mossman, Qld
The 344m 14th, amongst the Rainforest
Nomadic_golfer : August 2022
Par 72, 5879m, slope 122 $40
5 par3s 123-175m, 8 par4s 303-406m, 5 par5s 438-473m
This course, 20 minutes North of Port Douglas, on the outskirts of the Daintree is a tale of 2 contrasting hole-types. The majority is set on a flat, square-ish piece of land that looks like it might have been an old cane-field. It goes up and back, has a fair bit of length (2 of the first 3 holes are 400m par4s) but has a bit of sameness about the 11 or so holes within. There is no rough as such, lots of individual trees border these fairways but no scrub and you would have to try hard to lose a ball.
Then there are half a dozen holes that are set amongst Tropical Rainforest – these are shorter, tighter holes protected by patches of Rainforest, and really capture the essence of the local area and contain some quality. Within this domain there are a couple of pretty par 3s, 3 shorter par 4s under 350, and the 375m 5th. These 4s all demand accuracy and thought off the tee, with harsh penalties for taking too many liberties, or poor execution. These holes (5&6, 14-16) are the highlights for me.
The Greens are TifDwarf, looked a little patchy but played better than they looked. Fairways had some couch in them, among a heap of natural, broad-leaf tropical-region grass. All the greens are elevated above the flat-lying fairways, not overly undulating, medium in size and protected by a moderate number of small, pot-like bunkers with a thick dark-grey sand.
There is an interesting story told by the locals that the course initially consisted of only 14 holes and they had been looking to extend amongst the rainforest, but were not allowed to cut into it. A cyclone ripped through the course and ‘may’ have done some damage that enabled members to clear some land and install these quality holes – you make your own luck I s’pose!
Overall, condition is ok, layout is a mixed bag and there is enough challenge to keep you focussed. Its worth a round to experience the rainforest holes alone.
