Blog 293 – Newcastle

Nomadic_golfer : February 2024 – Newcastle Golf Club, NSW review

Par72, 6349m, Slope 136 $140

4 par3s 151-214m, 10 par4s 331-406m, 4 par5s 419-489m

This, indeed, is a magnificent old track, as you would expect of a course that has been ranked in the country’s top 30 since the ranking era began. It was established as 9 holes on its current Fern Bay site in 1915, before Eric Apperley designed an 18 hole layout that was opened for play in the 1930s. It is about to go under some redevelopment, (including the loss of 4 current holes) under the trusted hand of Bob Harrison. Pleasingly, the holes being replaced are not its strongest holes, though I did enjoy the 390m 1st and the green at the 400m 17th, which are both earmarked for extinction. New holes will be built on rolling, sandy land, closer to the beach, while a re-routing will also occur, perhaps some tweaking of existing holes, while all green surfaces will be resowed with another variety of bent.

Greens are currently bent/ poa, with couch fairways which both had excellent cover but were soft due to recent heavy rains. I am reliably informed that this is quite unusual, with surfaces normally firm and running. This would bring a different mindset apropos playing conditions, with the majority of greens being elevated. Misses weren’t penalised too heavily on my round but bounces from missed greens when turf is firm would make this tougher still.

The layout itself is challenging; 6350m off the back, with 2 par3s over 210m and 5 par 4s over 380m. Fairways aren’t narrow, but this is typically a windy site which, combined with the length and need to hit driver a lot, make them play narrower. The initial cut is not too penal but out wide is generally dead, and on a lot of holes this is the case on both sides. The thick stuff out wide (typically native eucalypts and angophorahs of medium height) separates holes from each other and on numerous holes it gets pretty thick, where you can’t see any other players or any other holes on the course. It feels like you are on a lone hole cut out of the woods rather than in suburban/ industrial Newcastle.

Set on a sandy base amongst dunes, the terrain is magnificently undulating and there are some stand-out holes, where the manner of these undulations plays a major part in defining the hole. Most memorable of this ilk to me are: 5 – a 372m par4 that moves slightly left over some wild mounds each side that act as a huge funnel, channelling your ball back into the middle of the fairway if you don’t go wide of them, to a wide, shallowish green protected by bunkers on each front side, and drop-offs everywhere else; 6 – a 389m par4 with a severe slope in the fairway from high left in the rough, down into the centre of the fairway where it flattens out for the right side; and 10 – a 480m par5 that resembles a roller coaster, as the fairway goes up and down 4 times over the length of the hole.

There is a good mix of hazards on the ground (prominent greenside and lead-in bunkering, though not over-endowed with fairway bunkers) and in the air (some of the trees nearer the tee blocks encourage specific subtle shot-shape and on a couple of holes (5 is the classic example) deceive you into thinking you would be better off turning one around the corner, where a straight one will serve you well. Green complexes are quite varied; there are numerous elevated greens, a few quite small greens and a number of wide, more shallow -shaped.

Refreshingly, the layout seems to me to have been mapped at a time where the reigning attitude was one of ‘let’s make the best holes possible without moving too much land and worry about par after’ – evidenced by the 2 par3s over 210m and the 419m par5.

The stretch of holes from 5 to 7 is widely recognised as the stand-out patch here, and with 5 & 6 described above, this just leaves the exquisite 130m 7th. 7 requires a short iron to travel between gums, across a shallow valley from an elevated tee, to a narrow green that sits diagonally to the line of play from short left to long right and slopes away from you. It is pure magic.

While I agree that this is a super stretch of unique holes that will long stand in your memory as quintessential Newcastle, the quality of the layout runs much deeper than just these 3 holes. I would say the stretch from 3 to 15 is world-class and the sky is the limit once this new work is completed.

Overall, this is a classy, tough course that has stood the test of time. It is about to enter the next phase of its evolution and it will be exciting to see if the new holes match the quality & vibe of the current stretch from 3 to 13. To finish, I initially rebuked a comment from a well travelled, 10-handicapper friend of mine who said this was his favourite course in the land. He has played all the top ranked tracks but says for pure enjoyment, where you don’t feel overawed, where you can see what lays ahead of you and you get what you deserve – Newcastle would be his first choice. On reflection, I think the good Doctor would say you have something there Griff!

As a footnote, I was joined on my Newcastle debut by the train-driving photographer @scottcampbell33, who turns out to be a great bloke. And as it turns out, an even better bloke to have around when you need to capture a special moment as I managed to sneak an 8-iron to the bottom of the cup on the 140m 12th!