Blog 299 – Noosa Springs

Nomadic_golfer : July 2024 – Noosa Springs Golf & Spa Resort, Qld review

Par72, 6180m, Slope 128 $135

4 par3s 141-197m, 10 par4s 303-415m, 4 par5s 471-524m

This darling of the Sunshine Coast has a very flash name and is a pretty flash place. There is an ‘opulent’ vibe about the resort and surrounds as you drive down Oasis Dr and set eyes on the structures within the resort and those on the periphery, amid stunning sub-tropical forest and vegetation. My visit was on a very wet July day, which involved quite a bit of surface water and made for ordinary photos, of what would normally be a very photogenic subject matter.

The property is in Noosa Heads, about 3km from Noosa Beach and sits adjacent to Noosa National Park (which hits you at the start with great views, out the back of the first and left of the second holes) and alongside Lake Weyba (which you can spy between the trees left of the 2nd green and through thicker trees left of the 6th).

The Graham Papworth 1999 design is characterised by the need for accuracy off the tee and doesn’t have a heap of length, with only 2 par4s over 365m. There are lots of decisions to make off the tee and this is where the trouble is generally, more so than around the greens. You will find lots of tricky tee shots on those sub-350m par4s which mix a few penal holes (small targets with trouble on both sides), a couple of heroic carries (see 4 & 5 below) among the more numerous strategic designs (rewarded for taking on the riskier side of the fairway etc). While most of the hazards are on the ground (sand & water), there are numerous holes where lines are determined by those in the air.

Your enduring memory though, will be of the water, with multiple holes where water is in your face. There are 10 lakes within the course confines, and the stretch of holes from the par 3 4th through to the long par4 7th are dominated by them, with spectacular carries required on 4 (140m, redan-shaped) and the 330m par4 5th (multiple options to cross the water amid varied depths of landing areas on this left-to-righter with the line from tee to green all water), while 6 and 7 are flanked by the H2O. It doesn’t feel like it would be unplayable for the beginner however, there are safer & longer routes to take on almost every decision.

Condition was difficult to assess due to the amount of rain they’d had, but the Greenless Park Couch fairways looked very good, while the surfaces of the Tifdwarf greens were also in good nick but it was not possible to determine speed and firmness. The tees weren’t in great condition in mid-winter but it looked like they were doing some work on them.

I’m tipping those holes 4-7 might get most of the kudos here, they are spectacular and are all excellent golf holes. Others that caught my attention: 3- a 460/ 480m par 5 requiring you to shape one left off the tee, then water in play all the way down the left and heavy-wooded right for anyone having a crack in 2; 12- 406/ 390 with water all the way down the left and some bunkers on the right that start at about 180-190m from the green, so if you do opt to take some distance off your tee shot to give you a wider landing area, you have a very long shot in; 13- 160m par3, centre and right pins are so so, but the left pin is awesome. Over a front left bunker to the shallowest part of the green, anything turned over left could easily bound down a sizeable slope toward water which plays closer to the green than it is; 15- feature-filled start to this par 5 with a stream that cuts across the fairway 190-220m from the back 2 tees, before water down the left but not so much drama at the green; and 17-probably the most penal on the course, 340m right to left around a lake which requires a straight tee shot before it turns left late at the green, with that water abutting the green and water right off the tee also! Obviously, from the number of holes I have mentioned here, my view is that this is a well designed golf course that provides plenty of exhilarating moments.

Overall, this is a well presented and well designed golf course that has hung on the periphery of the nation’s top 100 for some time. There are lots of adjectives/ phrases one could use to describe this place, from classy to ‘plenty of wow’. I must also add that staff were most welcoming to this blue-collar hack in a land where the white-collar may outnumber the blue by a fair margin!!