Blog 37 – Yass

Nomadic_golfer : May 2020

Par 68, 5128m, slope 112, green fee $27

6 par 3s from 105 – 212m, 10 par 4s from 265 – 383m, 2 par 5s 458 & 520m

Course no. 9 (and final) of the Coolac leg of our tour, and I would like to give a big thank you to Coolac Cabins & Camping for their hospitality during the 3 months of NSW covid lockdowns; its a fantastic place, run by fantastic people. This May day’s adventure required just over an hour’s drive to Yass on the recommendation via Facebook of an Australian golf writer.

My assessment: some say ‘Yass’ but I would say ‘maybe’

The course wasn’t in it’s greatest condition after drought, then some heavy downfalls caused other issues. The fairways were very patchy, as were the tees and greens, and there were weeds throughout. The layout doesn’t have a lot of strategic content, with some undulating holes the memorable features. There are also some good views from the high points, across the Yass Valley. The undulations/ elevation changes are best represented by three of the par 3s, which were the highlight of the course for me: 8 (166m with a heavily left to right sloping green framed by pine trees and calling on a fade, main photo below); 15 (a steep downhill 158m to a small green with a steep drop off over the back); and 16 (105m across a valley between trees to a steep back to front sloped green that spins a lot).

I did enquire of the aforementioned golf writer as to why he would choose this course in the public domain, when picking a favourite Aussie courses outside the top 100. To his credit, he responded quickly and candidly and relayed that he hadn’t played there in a while, when it was in good condition. He remembered the elevation changes fondly. In racing tipping parlance (the flavour of today), I believe there is better value elsewhere.