Bonnie Doon - New South Wales - Australia

The OCCM reimagining has elevated this sand based beauty to both regional and national prominence. I had not played the layout prior to getting 50 holes in here over two days. The abiding memory is of generally expansive playing corridors which provide a number of strategic choices from the tee. Little acknowledgments to the origins of the game, such as punchbowl greens, a number of blind approaches, heroic carries and most delightfully a number of short par 4’s ensures that the interest level is maintained throughout.

The course is on a compact piece of land, separated by a busy road, which must be negotiated on two occasions, as you move to and from the main paddock. My favourite holes include the short second , the 8th with its split fairway, the visually imposing par 5 14th and the short ultra strategic 16th.

Boundary issues and an unsympathetic council have forced the designers OCCM to create the 5th a hole that mixes opinion, effectively a layup is required from the tee with a long second to a semi-blind green, protected with bunkers to its rear. I really like the questions this holes asks of the golfer, however, I understand that this view is not universally shared amongst members. Notwithstanding the above, Bonnie Doon represents a welcome return to the best in sand based Australian golf with a bit of welcome quirk thrown in to spice things up. A golfing visit to Sydney would not be complete without ticking this one off your list.

For more information on my Australian golfing adventure, please click the following link: The Long Road to Van Diemen's Land

Founded in 1897 Bonnie Doon is a private golf club in and around two other outstanding courses, located in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Bonnie Doon GC is a quality track and once all the upgrades are done you will return to the Top 25 courses in Australia no question. The team led by Michael Clayton has been operating here with the 'refurb for a few years now and the course is almost fully completed. The course plays over rolling sand dunes and features large undulating greens similar to what was done at Royal Canberra. The new wasteland look to the course is outstanding and certainly enhances the course in the memorability category.

Views of the city and neighbouring courses can now be seen through tree removal which the course well and truly required. There won't be too many occurrences where a lost ball will occur now that shrub and bush like plants have made way to showcase the true sand dune area it was born to have.

Decent elevation occurs at Bonnie Doon given the sand dune base, as well as good routing for a course that isn't too long at 5909m

Tyson

I last played Bonnie Doon 25 years ago and she is somewhat changed from what I remember. That could simply be the passage of time playing tricks with my memory I thought at first, but no I was reassured to find out that in fact there was an extensive reworking of the course underway. Whilst works are not currently being undertaken, quite some works have been completed and more are yet to come I believe. In my opinion the course layout suffers somewhat from having thirteen of its holes playing almost exactly North-South, each being gun-barrel straight and therefore parallel to one another. The variety is provided by playing up and down over quite distinct rises and falls in the fairways. You do not want to arrive with an uncontrolled snap hook as the first three holes all run away from the clubhouse with a boundary fence hard on your left-hand side. What I perceive to be the original holes are extremely t tight and hemmed in by ti-tree and other scrub whilst there are other holes which have a more open links like feel to them. Some of these more open holes also play diagonally across the rises and falls of the fairways rather than just up and over which make them more attractive. The members tees at 5627 metres against a par of 71 appears short on the card but seems to play longer, probably because you are often playing uphill to the greens. The card is slightly lopsided with a par of 37 on the front nine and only 34 on the back. It seems almost unfair to rate the course at the moment, as some of the new holes are still very immature in their conditioning and there is quite understandably, some disconnect between what has been done and what might yet be changed. A 3 to 4 Ball course at the moment but as conditioning improves and changes are bedded In I expect a solid 4 Ball or maybe more.