Yowani - ACT - Australia

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.