Course 18 for 2024 & 386 all-up: Pambula Merimbula GC, NSW
Beautiful green complex on the end of the 390m 25th
Nomadic_golfer : February 2024 – Pambula Merimbula Golf Club, NSW review
27 holes – I played 10-27: Par73 , 5992m, Slope 133 $58
4 par3s 127-183m, 9 par4s 290-402m, 5 par5s 444-482m
On the main drag between the 2 mega holiday towns of Pambula & Merimbula on NSW’s South Coast is this beautiful 27 hole track, set in Aussie bushland, with plenty of native fauna (roos everywhere and plenty of bird species). 9 holes opened in ’74, another 9 in ’79 and the last nine in ’89 with the newest holes being 6, 13-15, 19, 21-23, 27
It was pretty quiet on a Monday in md-Feb but I believe it gets very busy over Dec/ Jan. Club pro Glen Warne, (who is a top bloke and helped me out with some history and other info) tells me comp numbers are down over the holiday period but overall round numbers are steady – more visitors playing outside of comps.
First thing that hits you as you walk from the carpark is the amount of grass here. From the carpark to the practice green, to the starting 3 tees, beyond the last greens – acres of grass off of the course-proper, all kikuyu and all in fantastic (tight) nick. Extra ‘heavy-scarifying’ takes place in November each year and ensures these fairways and tees are the best kikuyu surfaces going around.
Greens surfaces are bent/ poa and were also in excellent nick – not sandbelt firm, but very receptive, true and of nice pace. They are medium-large in size, have subtle breaks without much tilt, and the vast majority are guarded by medium sized greenside bunkers. There are a few fairway bunkers and a couple of water hazards too. Those water hazards don’t come into play as much as you would expect (the snaking, short par5 17th had an excellent opportunity for a scary water carry to reach the green in 2 but the green starts 50m or so beyond the water). The 173m 27th has a similar trait – water carry for the first 50m – these features are increasing the difficulty level for the hacker but having no impact on the scratch golfer.
As per Lakes Entrance, those kikuyu surrounds and swift greens again make for difficult, but one-dimensional recoveries from missed greens. Bump and runs are not at the top of the agenda. After the amount & quality of the grass, the next thing that hits you (especially on holes 10-27, the layout I played, which is the ‘Championship layout’) is the amount of tall, straight, white stringybark gums. They are everywhere, and in a number of pockets in the newest part of the course, you could be forgiven for thinking you are in Bonville – winding your way through these giant gums, via generous fairways, and unable to see any other holes (holes 13, 14 and 21 come to mind – 13 and 21 are both short right to lefters with doglegs at or under 200m, with wall-to-wall gums and they each feel like a lone-hole in the forest).
In some places, the ground is cleared between the gums and in some (most of the new holes) it remains adorned with native vegetation, including a fair bit of bracken-fern which gives it a sub-tropical feel. It is pretty gnarly out way-wide.
At its heart, this is a driver’s golf course – it is not long, and it is not too tight. If you can get those drives out there between the massive gums, then the nice fairways and receptive greens should have you hitting a lot of greens. There isn’t that much strategy re choosing sides of fairways etc, the decisions on the tee are more about whether you have confidence in hitting your driver into narrower pieces of fairway or laying back to fatter landing areas and having a longer shot in.
On this 18 holes, the par 4 lengths are at either end of the spectrum; 5 of the 9 are less than 330m and 3 over 390! Memorable holes for me on this 18 were: 14 (short 4 at 330m left to right with table-top fairway flanked by mounds rising on the left and a drop off into the rough on the right), 16 (a very tough 402m par 4 with a tee that sits in the open and is met by rows of trees 100m off the tee. It bends slightly left and the long approach is to a tilted green with bunker short left), 22 (a beautiful, short par 3 of 130m to a tilted, small green set in an ampi-theatre of gums); and 25 (a 390m dogleg right that plays shorter than its yardage. The dogleg is at quite a distance off the tee, turns downhill and the trees disappear and you are met with a green sitting in sunlight, with a large bunker short left.
Overall, this is a quality golf course. It is very ‘easy on the eye’. First impressions are true with lots of grass, lots of trees and it is honest: hit it solid and you will score well here. Hit them wide and you can’t.
