New South Wales
I think New South Wales is pretty underrated. Royal Melbourne gets all the critical love and acclaim but I think NSW is the better course – well according to my way cooler way of ranking golf courses it is. I read about courses like Winged Foot that are top ten courses because they were cow pastures or swamps and the architects make something good out of them. Mind you, Winged Foot IS great and certainly a mark of architectural prowess, but a greater feat is giving a MacKenzie a great parcel to work with and let him maximize the golf, the views, the challenge.
NSW lets the great unwashed onto the hallowed grounds once a year – Christmas Day. So, with the family tucked away all snug in their beds, I was off to an early morning round at NSW as visions of birdies and ho-ho-hole-in-ones danced in my head. I got neither.
Now I rank NSW so high based purely on the merits of the course. Since it was Christmas day, the clubhouse was closed and there were no morning beers or after round cocktails nor could I even get a scorecard to keep score. I got teamed up with a local and his non-English-speaking father from China and while they were very nice, they weren’t likely to enjoy rocking out to some Uncle Ted (Nugent) so we played in the quiet of Christmas morning. We teed off from the tenth, which I don’t usually like as you don’t get the architect’s intended routing. I didn’t play well (again no morning nerve buster to enjoy). Finally, we walked without caddie. Usually all of this would sully my enjoyment of a course but not NSW.
MacKenzie, himself, said that NSW would, “present more spectacular views than any other golf course in the world, with the possible exception of Cypress Point.” The great thing about playing the nines in reverse order is that the 5th and 6th are now on the back nine and just before you finish up your round. The fifth is a par five with a blind tee shot that then presents one of the most spectacular vistas in golf as you crest the hill and play the approach shot down hill toward the South Pacific (I guess it’s actually the mouth of Botany Bay but who cares). The par-three sixth then rivals the 15th at Cypress. Not that I ever played Cypress but from what I can imagine.
While I played it as a public course the one day of the year they allow it, you could probably have your pro arrange to get you on. Definitely the course I would play if you’re in Sydney. For eats, the “O” Restaurant and Bar was really good and provided a 360 degree view of Sydney from the 47th-floor of some building in City Centre. Manly Beach was pretty cool. I got to hang out at a bar and watch the Eagles-Raiders Monday Night Football game while day drinking on vacation. Oh, did I mention that they won that game, clinched the number one seed and would win the Super Bowl that February!
No Miller Lites in Australia and Fosters is an American version of an Australian beer, mate. Carlton Draught is the beer of choice for those of us who enjoy a beer you don’t feel like you have to chew on to drink.
Golf Scrapbook 