Course 15 for 2023 – Quilpie GC, Qld
Approaching the par4 10th green at sunrise
Nomadic_golfer : May 2023
Par 70, 5368m slope 104 $25
4 par3s 85-127m, 12 par4s 253-394m, 2 par5s 480-492m
The 3rd ‘out-back’ course of this year’s trip
The 18-hole Quilpie course is an interesting, quirky and varied 18 hole sand-scrape course with 3 of the 18 tees watered, fairways of a deep red dirt/ stone/ prickles that require you to tee up ‘through the green’ and plenty of narrow, tree-interrupted tee shots that make scoring more difficult than it first appears. A number of holes with OB fences and some unique ‘Quilpie-style’ water hazards and there is plenty to keep you on your toes. You need to be alert from the very start, as the opening tee shots on both 9s (from 2 of the 3 grassed tees) look to have some width on offer. Don’t be fooled though, as that width disappears much closer to the tee than it appears on both of these holes.
The most intriguing holes are the 2 par 5s (492m 9th and 480m 17th). On first attempt, you have no idea where you are going – they both snake their way left and right and back again and present narrow slithers of fairway if you opt for the driver/ 3-wood off the tee, with 17 throwing in a blind water hazard as you approach the green – a lot of local knowledge required on both of these. I also enjoyed 2 drivable par4s: the 286m 13th with 1 lone tree and OB right; and the 253m par4 4th, which is a classic risk/ reward with OB all the way down the left, and trees & water down the right. You can’t be put-off with all those hazards though, it opens up down the right after about 220m so you must attack this one.
The finish is a super, super-short par3 of 85m with water short of the green (say 10-15m) and an OB fence 10m long. It would be very interesting keeping your ball in play on this little terror with a strong following breeze on these firm surfaces.
Overall, this is classic outback golf. Rough surfaces, quirky stuff everywhere but enough features and legitimate hazards to keep you honest and for you to derive a lot of fun from. And she is very photogenic on sun-up with the photos below of the back nine taken on the 2nd day of my split round, showing this off. The deep, earthy reds of the barren fairways against those multi-coloured horizons is spellbinding.
