Moruya

Nestled in the heart of the Eurobodalla Coast, between the mountains and the seaboard, the Moruya Golf Club course lies inside the Moruya Showgrounds, occupying around 90 of the 110 available acres.

The racecourse was up and running from 1866, but the golf course didn’t get under way until 1925, when a 9-hole layout with sand greens was brought into play. Al Howard redesigned these holes in 1966, incorporating grass greens into the layout.

Additional land was acquired during the 1980s, allowing long-time member Jim Marsden to add another nine holes in two stages.

Things do get a little cramped in the northeast corner, with back-to-back par threes at #5 and #6 squeezed into that section, and both returning nines end on the same double green, but the routing certainly makes clever use of every square centimetre of land that’s available.

Racecourse Creek plays a part in the playing strategy on several holes, most notably cutting across the fairways on the par five 1st, the par three 6th, and the wonderful par five 16th, where the water hazard snakes in front of the green twice.