Mount Lawley

The Mount Lawley suburb in Perth is named after Sir Arthur Lawley, Governor of Western Australia for a short time at the start of the twentieth century. Mount Lawley Golf Club is actually located in the adjacent modern day district of Inglewood and it’s a long-standing, private club with plenty of old-fashioned charm.

Mount Lawley Golf Club began in the late 1920s when members cleared the original bushland, prepared the ground, planted trees and weeded the fledgling fairways over a two year period – all under the watchful eye of David Anderson, the Royal Perth professional.

Six greens with ten tees were officially opened in 1930 though within six years, the course was expanded to a full 18-hole layout. The two nines were reversed in 1951 and that configuration has remained the same ever since.

An eight year improvement program was completed in time for the hosting of the 2010 Australian Championship. Michael Coate, designer of Araluen and Kennedy Bay, changed all the fairways to Santa Ana couch grass and oversaw the refurbishment of green and bunker complexes.

Tree-lined fairways are routed over a landscape of subtle undulations with golfers playing to generously proportioned greens. One or two holes – like the doglegged 17th for instance – may feel a little tight to first time players but on the whole, Mount Lawley is a lovely parkland track, much-admired by first time visitors.

All four par threes are strong but the pick of the quartet is “Commonwealth”, the signature short 145-yard 13th, played from an elevated tee to a green shaped like a map of Australia, where half a dozen bunkers circle the putting surface.