COURSE REVIEWS
New South Wales Golf Club: Where History Surrounds You
By Cass Colbourne, PGA Pro & Director of Marketing, Golf Wine
Australia
"One of the world's most breathtaking golf courses"
SYDNEY, Australia - Our Australian golf expert and guide, Michael
Clisdell, picked us up at the Regent Hotel on Sydney Harbour and
asked us if we wanted to take the fast way to the Club. We were
in no hurry, but we should have been.
Twenty minutes later we approached the New South Wales Golf Club
located at Cape Banks on the northern headland of Botany Bay, overlooking
the Pacific Ocean and surrounded by a national park. Although I
had never been here before, I mentioned to Michael that a small
peninsula near the course looked very familiar. It was. Tom Cruise
filmed one of the scenes from Mission Impossible 2 right there.
Our mission impossible was getting on the course. In Australia,
private means private. However, thanks to Golf Wine Australia and
our guide, we were taken right into this breathtaking facility and
made to feel right at home by our hosts.
History surrounds you. The place oozes famous. In fact the week
before we played, former President Bill Clinton had played NSW yet
again after originally playing with Greg Norman a few years earlier.
The course reminds you of Cypress Point, on the Monterey Peninsula.
In fact, it was designed by the same man, Alastair MacKenzie. One
feels as if you are playing a part of history. More accurately you
are walking on history. The site of the club goes back to the birthplace
of a nation. On 29 April, 1770, Captain Cook dropped anchor just
inside the headlands on the southern shore of Botany Bay.
In seeking to replenish his water supply, he was unable to locate
fresh water on the south side of the bay, so he dispatched a boat
to the northern shores where suitable fresh water was located in
" Captain Cook's Waterhole". This soak is about 200 meters below
the 17th tee and is still visible more than 200 years later, particularly
after a rain.
We were greeted by the Head Professional, and escorted to the
first tee. As is true with most great opening holes, it is tight,
short, and right in front of the clubhouse where everyone is watching
you. Americans (Yanks) are welcome guests, but we still had the
first tee jitters. Fortunately, my partner and I both ripped it
down the middle, and the look from the local members was: "Welcome
to our home. Enjoy your day."
Enjoy it we did! The course is filled with peril, but it's exhilarating
peril with equal reward when you get it right. There are numerous
blind shots through the natural flora and fauna. If you hit a bad
shot, and you will, who cares when you are in heaven. I mean it.
Besides, golf is just a byproduct here. The natural setting, awe
inspiring, is just the way it was 70 years ago when MacKenzie laid
the course through it.
A guide is required and recommended and Michael always steered
us in the right direction concerning both the course and club customs.
We finished the day with a cold beverage in the clubhouse. We
told lies. We laughed, but most of all we realized that we had been
blessed today. Golfers do have dreams and some days they do come
true.
http://www.nswgolfclub.com.au/ New South Wales Golf Club
http://www.golfwineaustralia.com/GolfDream.htm Golfer's Dream
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