New South Wales Golf Club

Unlike many courses where Dr. Alister Mackenzie improved upon an existing layout – New South Wales Golf Club was founded in 1926 and wisely immediately enlisted him to design their course.

At the time he was also busy working on Cypress Point in California, which Seth Rayner had started before his passing. Mackenzie laid out his design on a magnificent piece of land at La Perouse, as the NSWGC is often called.

It features breathtaking views overlooking the Tasman Sea and Bounty Bay, where Captain Cook on the Endeavor first sailed into Sydney. The area is part of the National Park Kamay Bounty Bay region.

As with Royal Melbourne, after laying out the routing and features he left the construction to an associate, in this case Eric Apperly, to complete his vision – especially his brilliant bunkering, as he returned to California and other projects.

The course is not a true links, as it traverses some rugged coastal features, but it is reminiscent of links golf in its style and character playing in constant wind with lightning-quick greens.

The best stretch of holes is 5 through 7, the 5^th requiring a blind shot over a hill as in many links courses in the British Isles. The par 3’s all play in a different direction, so no matter the day’s wind direction you are faced with cross, downwind, and into-the-breeze challenges. Accuracy and shotmaking more than brute strength are required to score well here.

As with many historic designs, through usage and weather, they eventually lose some of their definition, NSW is no different and has enlisted the talents of Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert to direct the restoration effort.

Mackenzie commented on the mission, “…(to) make the course even more interesting, fairer and playable for the members and, at the same time, more varied, strategic and challenging for the best players.” With their work at Royal Portrush, Turnberry, and other classics again the membership chose wisely for their course.

The refreshing of this timeless design should ensure the course’s inclusion in the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World for years to come.