Blog 216 – Innisfail

Nomadic_golfer : September 2022

Par 70, 5533m, slope 108 $20

4 par3s 122-190m, 12 par4s 272-372m, 2 par5s 460-465m

This is a lush 9 hole course an hour South of Cairns in a large banana and sugar region. Its a lovely tropical setting once you leave the side of the racecourse after the first hole. There are lots of different plants and trees, including some pines amongst a few tropical favourites, the ubiquitous cane fields can be found on the right of the 4th too.

The trees are generally quite well spaced so there is a chance of recovery on most missed fairways but the small-ish elevated greens mean you want to play your approaches from the fairway. There’s not too much length with the longest 4 at 372 and the 2 par5s at 460-ish.

My favourite holes are 2 that have slight changes from their front 9 to back 9 direction: the short par3 2nd (122 / 130m) over a creek and a handful of palms is probably the most spectacular while the 4th (320/ 360m) has two different tees and fairways so one favours a slight fade and the other a slight draw. The tee shot on the 372m 5th through a tight chute of Tropical trees is also a bewdy.

Surfaces are pretty well grassed with natural broad-leafed grasses on the fairways and rough, while the greens were only moderately paced and a little tricky.

Overall, this is a decent country track in a pretty setting and was in good condition at the end of dry season.