Yowani - ACT - Australia

Yowani is one of the best 'inner city' courses you could hope to find. Reasonably flat, heavily tree-lined and with a good mix of length and tight short holes. For a long while it was one of the longest courses in Australia yet it has three challenging short par 4s that can each wreck a card. The fairways are almost always in great nick and while the greens are slower than most in Canberra, they are no gimme.

My favourite holes are the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 11th, 14th and 16th. Holes 2 and 11 are short, tight, dog-legs, 2nd protected by trees and 11th by the lake. 5 and 6 have rare elevation, the second shot to 5th is a beauty with the green cut into the slope, with a fence on the left and severe slope away on the right. 6th is a long par 3 from elevated tees to a well bunkered green below. 14th is a long par 4 requiring a good straight drive and slightly uphilll to the green which is deceptively wide and long. The last five holes are quite different tests but all require accuracy from the tee. 16th is my favourite hole, a par 3 alongside the lake which cuts into the front right of the green.

Yowani provides a great test and an enjoyable round without being overly taxing on the wallet or the body, and you shouldn't lose too many balls. Canberra has a lot of good courses to choose from, perhaps the on-site accommodation might sway you to choose this for a game.

Yowani Country Club is located just minutes from Canberra's CBD. Designed by James Heard Scott in 1954, Yowani has been under constant development ever since, with further work in the offing..

The course meanders around a couple of lakes, and features gentle undulating, tree-lined fairways. It is a flat course and an easy walk.

The understated greens blend well into the course surrounds, but it is the trees that dominate play throughout the round

While most of the holes are reasonably straight, there are a couple of testing doglegs at Yowani, including the demanding par- four 2nd hole, which turns at almost 90 degrees.

For me it is the water holes that are most memorable. The club’s renowned lakes first come into play on the delightful seventh hole, but then feature prominently on holes 11, 16 and 17. I think these holes define Yowani.

Canberra is a very good golfing destination with 5 quality courses and so much to see and do. Any golfing trip to Canberra must include a game at Yowani CC. The club also has 24 well appointed self contained units on site- a nice base for a golfing trip.

Peter Wood is the founder of The Travelling Golfer – click the link to read his full review.

This excellent course is only five minutes north of the city, on the main road. It even has the fairly new City to Gungahlin tram line running close.

It's a parkland course that is usually well watered and has plenty of old growth trees lining the fairways. Course condition was very good when I played, even considering the high traffic load it appears to have. The downside is that during autumn and winter it can become quite heavy underfoot: the sun in Canberra in winter doesn't have enough strength to dry things out. Signature hole is a fairly short par 4 that requires a drive over or beside a lake. In true risk/reward golf, the more lake you take on, the shorter the hole plays! A pleasant course.

The redevelopment plan looks quite interesting and may do good things for the clubs finances, but there are inevitable trade-offs in terms of reduced space for the course proper. Will be interesting to see how or if it progresses.