Soon to celebrate its 100 years, Capel continues to be one of the better courses in South West WA. An old clubhouse sits upon the small hill with the tree-lined course sitting below. The huge majority of the holes run flat in a North/South direction, with only a couple of the shorter holes breaking this monotony. This, along with the simple green complexes is the only reason the course isn’t higher rated.

The rapid greens have a reputation of being the quickest in the area. They are in pristine condition, blemish free and gives a true roll up hill or down. They are consistent, big in area, but small in character. Usually only a modest gradient sloping one way. Get your speed right and it should be an easy day on the greens.

Bunkering is a simple, repeated mix of 2-3 greenside with another mid-way on the par 5’s. They are consistent in area, wall size and texture. The actual lips are small, sometimes you can merely putt your way back on. But like the rest of course, they are a forgotten memory. You will only remember the quick, true greens.

Fairways are flat, in good condition and pretty wide for a parkland course. The trees start close to the edge of the first cut and tree line is thick with mature natives. Any miss will most likely need a sideways chip out, but it would require a decent miss.

The best holes are the two hitting off the upper level next to the clubhouse, followed by the final two holes on each side, hitting back up. 1st is a short par 4 downhill and back up to a small green. Land somewhere near the fairway, almost anywhere and you can hit the green in 2, miss and it’s a high scoring start. The Entertaining 10th is a short downhill, 318m dogleg left. The aggressive line is well left of the big Tuart tree on the corner, but it’s a 250m carry over the trees, a wide fairway right welcomes the conservative player. The 9th and 18th are the only raise greens, and they standout merely because they are different to the rest. The remainder of the course almost blends into two holes. One hitting north, the other hitting south.

Sitting on the Bussell highway, Capel should be on anyone’s list of courses to play purely for the greens. It’s a good stop midway from Perth to the resort courses further south.