Macquarie Links

Macquarie Links sits in a gated golf and residential setting less than hour from Sydney city centre. Laid out on a prime piece of property between Ingleburn and Macquarie Fields, the estate was developed by the Monarch Investments Group of Companies.

Construction on the 375-acre site began in 1996 and the course opened for play five years later with open, forgiving fairways routed across a gently rolling landscape that features indigenous bush, native grasses, mature gum trees and wandering creeks.

Macquarie Links is marketed as an Australian version of a Scottish links but, in truth, the only design aspect that comes close to matching a Caledonian seaside course is the quality of the sand traps, with some fine examples of pot bunkers dotted around the course.

The inward half is considered to be tougher than the outward half and the two par threes on the back nine are real crackers. The 188-yard 11th (“Billabong”) plays across a ravine to the green and the 232-yard 15th (“Sheepdip”) demands pinpoint accuracy or a score of four or more is likely.