Blog 76 – Bonville

Nomadic_golfer : October 2020

Par 72, 5920m, slope 130, green fee $170

5 par 3s from 138-176m, 8 par 4s from 312-404m, 5 par 5s from 447-474m

The 3rd course from our Mylestom base was Bonville.

Absolutely spectacular setting with the golf course carved out of a forest of monstrous tallwood, blackbutt and ironbark trees, mosty thin and extremely tall. It has been voted the most beautiful course in Australia multiple times and deservedly so. The ‘crack’ of the club against ball echoing within that natural ampitheatre and the sight of a well struck tee shot against the back drop of trees is breathtaking.

The 5 par 3 and 5 par 5 layout is pretty good too, with lots of bunkering and water hazards, many requiring careful plotting around. For how spectacular and dastardly it looks, its not that hard, with soft surrounds being a little forgiving and for all the menacing looking trees and rough, most fairways are pretty generous, whilst the course is not overly long with only one par 4 over 370m. The par 5s are all reachable too, but beware there are many wet penalties if you don’t succeed.

Greens are 328 Bermuda and were satisfactory on my visit in October, but probably the weakness of the whole shebang. The couch fairways were pretty good and there was some thick stuff around the place.

It’s hard to single out specific holes as they are all spectacular but for the golfing purist, some strategy etc, my favourites are: 8 (169m par 3 with trees left and bunkers right and short right demanding a draw or held up shot to a green that has some banks long and left to keep the ball near the green); 12 (my favourite hole; 404m dogleg right, downhill so doesn’t play that long. Bunker on the outside, bail-out side of the fairway and trees short left of the green, which also has water on the right, mean that those who take on the inside of the dogleg are favoured); and 15 (might be the signature tune, 352m dogleg right, with a rock-clad hazard on the right then cutting across the fairway at about 230m! Mounds and a fairway bunker on the left mean you need to keep your ball on the inside of the dogleg with a fade or lay well up to get a good line, but there is water dead in front and left of the green, so don’t lay back too far).

Overall, a great experience. Glass half-emptiers will have a crack at the less-than-perfect green conditioning, but enjoy the scenery and the test of golf here, it’s special. Torrential downpour for whole back 9 spoilt the view, but I am like the duck. Ranked 42 in Golf Digest latest national rankings.