Blog 29 – Gundagai

Nomadic_golfer : March 2020

Par 69, 5438m, slope 113 , green fee $25

6 par 3s from 111 – 180m, 9 par 4s from 302 – 390m, 3 par 5s from 432 – 446m

Now, there’s a track …….

I initially assumed there was no need to give any background on the town of Gundagai as all Australians would have knowledge of this country icon. However, you may not realise that it has a population of less than 2,000 people, is 390km southwest of Sydney and the dog on the tuckerbox now sits out of the town on the Hume.

The golf course looks like a typical country track but it has a few unique characteristics (perhaps not as unique as the said dog), views of the local township, and its pretty quirky ……but I found it fun. It’s very flat, set on the banks of the Murumbidgee in natural floodplain and has 2 creeks running through the course which come into play on almost half of the holes. It does not have bunkers, but plenty of trees (gums throughout and poplars lining a couple of fairways). There are a handful of very narrow fairways, which call on your shotmaking/ shaping abilities. Fairways are kikuyu and were a little patchy in March (preferred lies) and the bent greens were a decent surface but very soft.

It is a quirky start, with the character in the first 3 holes setting the scene for the course: 1 is a short par 5 of 432m with water down the right for the length of the hole, it looks like you have about 2 yards of width to hit your tee shot through overhanging branches and if you do, you are then required to hit a very high and /or slinging hook with a mid iron to hybrid for a very risky go at a green tucked way around to the left; 2 is 110m to an almost island green; and 3 is the signature hole (330m with water all the way down the left, then cutting across in front of another, almost island green).

In terms of the good, 12 (176m par 3), 13 (416m par 4) and 15 make a stretch of really strong holes. The 15th is my favourite hole. It’s 390m with the tee shot through trees, then turns right with water down the right which reaches across in front of the green. And in terms of the unique, I have never played any other course where you hit over effluent ponds!

It’s not your run of the mill golf course but it is worth taking that track, winding back, if you are in the area.