Golf Australia January 2022 - Issue #392

As you would have noted by the cover, this is the issue in which we biennially announce and celebrate the leading hundred courses in the land … the courses that might just find their way onto you bucket list. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Golf Australia’s biennial ranking, having started out as the nation’s top-50 courses before moving to theTop-100 a decade ago. And at no stage during the past quarter century has the ranking been so tightly packed with quality layouts (only 30 points separated No.100 from No.55), neither has the movement up and down in the list been so volatile. This volatility extended beyond the Top-100 to the courses laying just outside the century makers, with some courses – like the two courses at The Heritage…

Bonville Golf Resort is Australia’s most beautiful inland golf course. The evidence is right there in front of you before you have even struck a ball from the 1st tee. You need only stand on the clubhouse verandah and peer out across the Flooded Gum tree-lined 1st, 18th and 8th holes – with their near flawless playing surfaces and picturesque water hazards – to be convinced. It hasn’t always been such a strong case to argue. “There was nothing really striking about the property at all,” recalls Ted Stirling, who was commissioned to design Bonville in 1989. “There were, however, lots of big, beautiful trees because it was a re-forested property that had once been owned by Australian Paper Mills. Stirling, and course superintendent/builder Terry Watson, were brought into the…

ADDRESS: North Bonville Rd, Bonville, NSW. CONTACT: 1300 722 444; (02) 6653 4544 (pro shop) WESBITE: www.bonvillegolf.com.au DESIGNER: Ted Stirling and Terry Watson (1992). GREEN FEES: Tee times for social play available Monday and Tuesday only – $160 pp (September to May); $150 (June to August). Members and in house guest tee times are seven days. PLAYING SURFACES: Couch (fairways), Bermuda 328 (greens). PGA PROFESSIONAL: Daniel Dosen. COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Aaron Banks. MEMBERSHIPS: Single, couple, intermediate, colt, junior and sub-junior membershipsare available. Applications are available via the website or you can email info@bonvillegolf.com.au STAY, PLAY & DINE: Bonville features 30 well-appointed rooms including 17 Resort Rooms, eight Executive Spa Rooms and five Executive View Rooms, all overlooking the picturesque 1st fairway. Then there is the award-winning dining experience of the Flooded…

The announcement of Greg Norman as the CEO of LIV Golf Investments – the Saudi government’s golf arm – and a partnership with the Asian Tour, including sanctioning of the Saudi International likely didn’t go over as those parties had planned. Much was said and written about the ‘Great White Shark’ involving himself with Saudi Arabia, and plenty of players were written off as chances to go anywhere near what appears a precursor to an eventual Super Golf League model in the future. Especially given the PGATour’s inference of potential repercussions for players plying their trade on rival circuits. However, whatever Norman and Co. are doing behind closed doors appears to be working, with a list of “confirmed” players for February’s Saudi International including some of the biggest names in…

Having successfully hosted the 1998 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne, there was an air of excitement in Australian golf that more of the world’s best players would come here in the years that followed. That excitement was justified when the PGATour announced the 2001 World Golf Championships Accenture Match Play Championships were bound for Melbourne’s Metropolitan Golf Club. Then they revealed the date … January 3 to 7. What were they thinking? In the months leading up to the event, it became almost a daily procession of big-name withdrawals as players chose not to travel to Australia over the Christmas-New Year period for a tournament where they could, potentially, be going home after one round. Thirteen of the world’s top-20 players – including World No.1Tiger Woods, David Duval (3), Phil…

What is the thing about golf for Brett Lee? I think it is just being out in the open, I love the outdoors. Growing up I played a fair bit of golf with my uncle. That was through my teen years, then I didn’t play a lot of golf in my 20s or 30s because of cricket, towards the end of my 30s it was definitely a game I wanted to go back to and enjoy. Playing golf, you’re out there with two or three of your mates, playing some pretty amazing courses around the world and you are almost back to nature, so it essentially ticks every box for me. How did you get started? Having two brothers and all loved playing sport, we tried most things growing up.…