Gold Creek

Routed around a very large residential development to the northwest of Canberra, the course at Gold Creek Country Club is a Bruce Devlin design that opened for play in 1996. Featuring couch grass fairways and bent grass greens, the playing surfaces here are as good as you’ll find anywhere.

The course had only just opened when it hosted its first major tournament, the Australia PGA Seniors, with Lee Trevino winning the 11th edition of this national event – though he wasn’t the first American winner, as Orville Moody claimed the first two championships at Rich River in 1986/7.

The signature hole on the card is the 132-metre par three 7th; a short hole where distance control is essential to end up on the same tier as the pin. A bail out into the bunker on the left will leave a tough sand shot back towards the water hazard.

The 517-metre 14th is another great hole on the back nine. It starts with a spectacular downhill tee shot from an elevated tee to a fairway that double doglegs its way towards a long, narrow green with a protecting bunker to the right of the putting surface.