Pymble

Approaching the par five 7th from the right is preferable, but even here on the less claustrophobia-inducing area of the course, the trees are plentiful and never far from the fairway

You gain a better angle to the 13th from the right, but the dead ground behind the bunkers plays with your depth perception

Course name: Pymble
Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia
Four Word Course Review: Needs 30 more acres

Pymble is fairly representative of northern Sydney golf courses in that it's on some fairly good land - maybe tending towards too steep in places - but suffering from having 30 acres or so less than would be ideal.

The result is a lot of fairways side-by-side and too close together, several bending around one another, with trees the obvious and necessary but unfortunate solution to the safety issues presented by such an arrangement.

It's not surprising that the best holes are concentrated around the more spacious eastern and central areas of the course. The 7th through 11th and 13th are the stars of the show.

The 7th is a downhill par five with offset drive bunkers either side of the fairway that ask for a draw between them, or for a drive that nestles against the further right-hand trap for a better angle to the green. If laying up, a bunker just short and right of the green needs to be considered.

Next is a long par three playing from ridge to ridge over a deep depression, and offering some assistance to bounce one in from the right, followed by two par fours featuring drives in opposite directions over a diagonal ridge, with the 9th then playing uphill to a benched green and the 10th downhill for the second shot to a green that's surprisingly steep.

After the short-one shot 11th  -- made interesting by the bunkering and green-front slope -- the final standout hole is the 13th, a pick your poison short par four where a better angle in from the right is offset by a partly obscured green and dead ground that foreshortens the view, while the easier drive to the left means encountering a deep trap short of the green, but visability is far better. It's far from perfect, but given the boundary issues present it's a fairly smart, playable compromise.

The 16th has the potential to be a highlight, but the temptation of driving down the right and threatening the fairway bunker is destroyed by the tall gum tree that overhangs. On a course choked with trees, that's definitely one that needs to go.

The neighbouring 5th and 17th holes are good examples of the frustrations found elsewhere, doglegging awkwardly about 150m from the tee necessitating a snap cut from a right-hander who wants to hit the fairway without hitting a six iron off the tee.

The 14th also is overly narrow for any land, let along the downhill/sidehill is occupies, while the 4th is a long, narrow slog without any real interest.

Once you're at the green on such holes as the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 16th and 17th there is some fun to be had, but those holes present little else from tee to green.

There's also some awkwardness in the routing, with a walk of about 200 metres from the 14th to 15th that involves walking around the 8th hole and passing within about 50m of the 15th green before doubling back another 130m to the tee.

All things considered, there just isn't enough land here for an 18-hole, 6000-metre golf course, though the better holes are worth seeing.

Yale

The 2nd green introduced the boldness and grand scale, the putting surface set about 20 feet below the green

I love the way the 4th green slides naturally off the hillside

A look at the brilliant 8th from the tee

The Biarritz is every bit as amazing as you hope it will be - unfortunate about the front pin

Looking back from behind the green at the Alps hole

Far from a pure Redan, but the 13th is a great hole nonetheless

The Principal's Nose and Double Plateau unite at the 17th

Course name: Yale
Location: New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Four Word Course Review: The boldest you'll encounter

One of the downsides of the "family" of template holes Macdonald and Raynor built -- particularly their quartet of par threes -- is the ease with which those like holes are compared.

As a result, the discussion of some fantastic holes will be framed negatively because of a direct comparison to the Redan at National, Short at Fishers Island or Biarritz at Yale, whereas the same hole were it not a template would be discussed only in terms of its own merits.

An example of that is an analysis of Yale's par threes such as this from Darius Oliver's fantastic "Planet Golf USA" book:

"Interestingly, the par threes here are the same foursome found at the nearby Fishers Island Club, and again they show the limits of imitation versus creation. Although the Short, Redan and Eden holes are quite good, they are not among Raynor’s best and these replicas do get less interesting the more of them you see."

Were the Short 5th, Redan 13th and Eden 15th three unnamed holes by another architect, they would be discussed for their many strengths instead of compared to some of the best holes in golf.

When talk turns to underrated and underappreciated golf courses, Yale deserves to be the first topic of conversation. The course is filled with unique and memorable holes and features, and set on an enormous scale.

The two-tiered front right down to back left green at the 1st introduces you to the bold features that dominate the course and while the opening six holes might not contain the highlights of the round, the approach shot to an angled green flanked by extremely deep bunkers at the 2nd, steep and well-bunkered green at the 4th and small, elevated green at the Short 5th are other highlights of the stretch.

The gorgeous 7th presents a testing uphill approach to a ski slope of a green from a low valley fairway, before one of the best 1-2 punches in golf at the 8th and 9th.

The 8th bends left somewhat in the manner of a Cape hole and the second shot can be shortened by taking the risky left-hand line -- which also gives best use of the green's kickpad, but by driving down the right you can place your ball behind a channel (they call it Raynor's Notch) cut in a ridge that runs across the fairway, giving you a precious look at the green where otherwise the approach is blind.

The greenside bunkering is an even more muscular taste of what was presented at the 2nd hole. Undoubtedly one of the best par fours in golf.

And then comes the Biarritz 9th.

When I was about 13 years old and had just fallen for the game of golf in a big way my grandad had a book called "How To Play Par Threes". It featured 18 of the world's best one-shotters and the author played them with the club pro, who detailed the smart way to play the hole for different levels of player. I immediately noticed there was something cool about this hole and -- 10,000 miles away in country Australia -- lamented the fact I would never play it.

But then one thing led to another and lo and behold I was standing on the tee here with a club in hand and butterflies in my stomach. There's not much to say that hasn't already been said, but I will say there is no way a photo can do this setting or the green justice. It's a marvellous hole, with immense "butt pucker" factor.

Golf doesn't come more dramatic than the mid-length par four 10th. A drive over a ridge to a blind landing area, an approach 40ft or so uphill, a green with a steep slope between tiers. One I'd have described as "a love/hate hole" if I had ever met a single person who doesn't love it! One thing it certainly is is one of the most hard-earned pars on the course.

The quirk continues at the uphill par four 12th -- Alps -- two more blind shots and another green with a steep tier, but this time sideways, putting a premium on accuracy with what's likely to be a short iron.

The 13th might be called Redan, but played downhill and with a false front to the green it's no purebreed, but it's certainly a great one-shotter, with the green shifting the ball to the left as any Redan should.

The 14th (Knoll) and 15th (Eden) each ask for fun shots to the green, the former testing short iron accuracy like the 5th, but this time from an almost certain downhill/sidehill lie -- a great shot to be asked to hit as you enter the business end of the round.

The 16th is a regrettable low point after the incredible run from the 7th to 15th, but the final two holes return to the bold design that makes Yale such fun and such a sensory overload, the 17th teaming a Double Plateau green with a Principal's Nose bunker complex and the 18th a super long par five over the most dramatic terrain on the course.

I defy you to play Yale and not enjoy yourself. At the very least you'll get a handful of the best holes in the game and a heap of memorable shots that you just won't encounter elsewhere.

National Golf Links of America

Course name: National Golf Links of America
Location: Southampton, New York, United States of America
Four Word Course Review: The original and best

Charles Blair Macdonald's masterpiece. America's first great golf course. The birthplace of template holes. National Golf Links of America is among the most important golf courses in the world for a number of reasons.

Most importantly, National is as packed with thrilling and fun shots as any course I have played, is home to maybe the best set of greens I've seen, is built on fantastic land for golf in a beautiful location, is playable for any standard of golfer and is far from a pushover despite modest length.

That is a remarkable list of attributes.

And where criticism of the Macdonald/Raynor style often includes the words "unnatural" and "engineered", National is a perfect example of the fact that the two need not be mutually exclusive.

This really is golf at its absolute best. Disregarding the history, the exclusivity, the lobsters and the Southsides, the golf course is everything you could want. The rest is just extremely welcome window dressing!

The routing: The course begins in the bottom right of the above picture and heads towards the top of the frame, staying on the right of the course, before the back nine begins at the middle of the picture and snakes its way back to the 18th, seen sitting beside the water at the bottom.

Significant changes of direction come at the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th and 18th -- showing once more that an out and back routing needn't mean that the wind will be hitting you from the same predictable directions all day.

At the top centre-left of the picture is Shinnecock Hills and Sebonack Golf Club now occupies the wooded area on the right.

1st - Valley - 315 yards All yardages from the green "regular" tees, which measure 6505 yards. The "championship" course is 6935 yards and the "short" course is 5771 yards. From all three tees the course plays to a par of 72.
The opening drive may be the most unnerving on the course. It looks more narrow than it plays, but at such a modest length an iron is a definite option. The temptation is to drive down the left to avoid a blind second over the centre-right fairway bunker to maybe the most complex, wild green on the course, though that requires a longer carry over rough and blind bunkers. The yardage screams "birdie", but there can't be too many golfers who are disappointed to write down "4" as they walk to the 2nd tee.

2nd - Sahara - 290 yards
The first of several blind drives, with but ample room right for a safer tee shot. The green can be reached, but doing so requires a brave line roughly half-way between the sand and windmill in the picture below. Those trying their luck at reaching the green can't afford to err to the right, where the fairway falls away dramatically, feeding the ball towards rough, or at best an uphill half wedge from a sidehill lie to a slightly domed green that's largely sloping away from you! As with many holes to come, your potential for distance is only as good as your likelihood of successfully executing the shot, because while there are great benefits for bravery at NGLA, there is also tremendous punishment for a misguided display of brawn.

3rd - Alps - 407 yards
The first of the iconic holes. The drive is all about trying to get as far up the right-hand side as possible to reduce the blindness, or so it seemed to me. There was a little flat saucer in the right of the fairway about 270 from the tee (see second pic), leaving about 140 yards in from a level lie (rare in this fairway) -- about as ideal as you could want. About 250 yards off the tee is a little bunker to catch a ball that either doesn't fade or is drawn too strongly, and of course short and left of that is plenty of fairway for even the meekest bail-out. The boldness of the green surprised me, and unfortunately I didn't get a photo that did it justice, so you'll just have to look at the drama that leads to that green and imagine a surface in keeping with that!

4th - Redan - 181 yards
All the fantastic features of the original Redan hole at North Berwick, with the added feature of seeing your well-executed draw land at the front right and release towards the hole. While pictures of greens rarely convey a true sense of slope, I think the below image shows how the green is the perfect combination of sufficient tilt to do what a Redan should and flat areas to provide pin positions. And to those who categorise MacRaynor design as unnatural, just look how the hole sits on the the hillside as comfortably as you could want. I can understand why this hole is held as the ideal Redan.

5th - Hog's Back - 451 yards
Formerly a par five, this hole is now considered a two-shotter on the scorecard. Having avoided the central trench bunker off the tee, your long approach has every chance of running onto the green, which feeds nicely with an open front and right-hand (high) side. For me, the lion's share of the challenge is in picking and committing to the right line on the blind tee shot, with the braver line left of the bunker to a narrower finger of fairway improving the angle to the green.

6th - Short - 123 yards
Short has one of the most interesting greens on the course, with front right, front left and rear segments connected by a central bowl, where you see the pin cut below. With a wedge in hand, the demand is for precise execution. The green edges feed into bunkers in several areas, reducing the actual green area to aim at. The wind is also likely to be a factor, blowing across as you play down from the elevated tee. A great example of challenge being created without reliance on length and without stopping a golfer earning a birdie with strong play.

7th - St. Andrews - 467 yards
One thing the best courses I have played -- Royal Melbourne, Pine Valley, NGLA -- have in common is great tee shot interest courtesy of diagonal hazards that offer incremental reward for the golfer who knows his limitations, but is willing to demand all of his ability -- or savvy enough to shape a drive that turns along the length of the hazard to steal precious extra distance. They also have wonderful greens that combine artfully with tee shot strategy. Nowhere is that combination more successfully achieved than on this hole, with a natural rise providing the blindness created by the tram sheds on the original Road hole, with bunkers and tall fescue replacing the out of bounds on the 17th at The Old Course. The green is a perfect recreation of the Road Hole green's features -- severe front pot bunker, steep rise, dastardly hazard at the back of the green (a 10ft-deep bunker in this case) to demand that even if your brave drive down the right brings you in range of the green, you need to be absolutely precise to be putting for eagle. It's an ideal "par 4.5" hole with modern technology.

8th - Bottle - 385 yards
Do you thread your tee shot down the tree line on the right and come in from an angle? Do you take on the diagonal bunkers entering from the left for a flatter approach to the green? Do you split the difference and cosy up next to the central hazards? It seems to me that this is as much of a "pick your poison" tee shot as you can get and the daily conditions will contribute to your decision as much as what's on the ground. The approach is pure fear, playing over the deep front cross-bunkers to a green with a gigantic false front that is all you can see of the putting surface from even 80 yards short. With the slight uphill nature of the hole it's likely you'll have a mid iron at least for what appeared to me as one of the two or three most fearsome shots on the entire course, though putting is generally easier than elsewhere on the course once you've found the green. On a hole many will fail to reach in regulation, I also enjoyed the downslope from 60 yards and in that creates an awkward half-wedge and rewards the player who lays up smartly further back.

9th - Long - 534 yards
Another great question off the tee courtesy of the diagonal bunker that allows the player who drives down the right to avoid having to fly "Hell" bunker on the second shot. Though technology allows us to get past that deep expanse of sand more easily than in years gone by, it is still a hazard best bypassed. From the elevated tee you also see the varity of bunker styles employed at National: the deep, narrow trench bunker to carry; steep-faced expanse of sand on the left and, cutting off the fairway up the right, grade-level areas of exposed sand. All three are used well throughout the course. The approach is one of the easier wedges on the course provided your first two strikes were true, though as the sedate green slopes slightly away from you, distance control becomes tricky to a back pin.

10th - Shinnecock - 420 yards
And so, having snaked to the far reaches of the property with changes in direction after the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th, we turn for home and find the hole's namesake course through a narrow grove of trees to the right. The drive is to a wide fairway with a carry bunker easily flown to set up an approach to an enormous two-tiered green, its high back platform occupying perhaps just 20 per cent of the surface and that epic front portion blind from many points in the fairway. We are on the flatter land of the course from here until the 12th and to hold the golfer's interest, Macdonald built three of the most fascinating greens on the course. Making that small back section easier to hold, there is a steep backboard that keeps balls from running long if they are struck slightly too hard.

11th - Plateau - 418 yards
A brilliant Double Plateau green here on a flat piece of land, obviously built by man, but when it creates such interesting shots you'd be a hard marker to complain. Adding to the approach shot interest is that the target will be blocked by the mounds that protect the road crossing the fairway (which you also hit across with your drive at the 8th). The entire near side of the green is free of bunkers, so you can choose an approach -- aerial or running -- to suit the distance, pin and daily conditions.

12th - Sebonac - 427 yards
The final hole in the trio of lengthy two-shotters that begins the back nine asks for a drive over a gentle slope with a greater kick forward provided to balls that flirt with the bunkers up the left. The green is domed, with a ferocious deep bunker long and a false front short, while the golfer's approach view is unbroken until the far side of Bullhead Bay, making depth perception tricky. Like the 5th, 8th and 15th greens, there is little internal contour, but the steady slope ensures anything left above the hole will be far from a comfortable two-putt. False fronts feature on a good number of holes on the course, perhaps best at the 8th, here and the 15th -- in all three cases you feel you have far less target area than you do in reality.

13th - Eden - 159 yards
A fantastic recreation of the original hole at TOC -- a steep green, well-placed Hill and Strath bunkers, a deep trench bunker behind the green substituting for the Eden estuary and ample space on the right to cut the pin behind Strath. You can even see Shell bunker just over the maintenance road. As with the other two par threes at National, this hole turns perpendicular to the general out and back direction and plays in a prevailing crosswind. The back bunker wraps right around the right-hand side of the green.

14th - Cape - 341 yards
The major challenge here lies in choosing a line off the tee that is neither too far left, where it will find leavy rough, nor too far right, where water lurks along with sand. The fairway is the most "linksy" on the course, almost certainly making for an uneven lie and/or stance on the delicate approach. The built-up green juts out into the hazard that wraps around its right-hand side, but an open front allows for a running approach, something thankfully provided for by the conditioning.

15th - Narrows - 368 yards
The name doesn't lie. After playing to generous fairways for most of the round, this one -- still not narrow by modern standards -- feels like a single carriageway and the severity of the green means you're keen to cover every possible yard of the journey on the tee shot. The green looks like it is 90% false front, though in reality there is more room up top than it seems. But playing on your mind is a 10ft-deep bunker at the back, with the green sloping away from it -- a shot you don't ever want to leave yourself. The result is a shot like those at the 8th and 12th where both long and short are bad results and you're just trying to gentle one to any part of the green that will hold the ball.

16th - Punchbowl - 394 yards
A chance to open the shoulders, though accuracy is paramount if you want to tread the tightrope of the high ground in the centre of the fairway that separates deep bowls both left and right. The greensite, set down low over a dune as the name suggests, is subtle and understated and with the windmill set above it on the hillside it might be one of the most idyllic spots on the entire course. Of course it also provides that great thrill of hitting a solid approach and then cresting the dune in front of the green minutes later to find out where your ball settled. A great example of Macdonald (and Raynor) using the natural movement of the land in siting their templates.

17th - Peconic - 342 yards
From a high tee with an expansive view over the bay, you have to decide whether you can carry the partially-obscured trench that runs down the left at a diagonal, or if you're going to veer right and navigate over or between the central bunkers in the fairway. Either flank will afford you a view of the green, but by splitting the difference you're left behind a dune of exposed sand with just the top of the flagstick in view. With the deep bunker that sits behind the green, it's really a shot -- although only a wedge or even a pitch -- that you'd like to undertake with a clear view of the target. And with no shelter from whichever wind is blowing, your tee shot line is as dependent on the day's conditions as any shot on the course.

18th - Home - 483 yards
The drive is exciting, with two cavernous bunkers on the left and a steep drop on the right-hand bay side of the fairway, leaving an uphill, blind second to an area that is wide, but dotted with sand -- though it is more visible if you have successfully challenged the bunkers off the tee. The green provides a stern test for your final full shot of the day, running to a cliff on the right and far deeper than it might seem. To make the back pins even tougher, the green narrows at its rear and a miss to the "safe" left-hand side is no picnic either. This and the penultimate hole pair well with the opening two to create a start and finish that play far tougher than the card distance indicates.

Magenta Shores

The par three 4th is a great example of the highs Magenta Shores reaches

The short par four 6th has an interesting green and bunkering scheme, but for most players it is more interesting from the ladies' tee, from which point the drive options are maximised

This view of the 13th green gives an idea of the expansive bunkering around many greens

The short iron 15th is the last in a quality set of one-shotters

Course name: Magenta Shores
Location: The Entrance, NSW, Australia
Four Word Course Review: Fun, despite significant annoyances

I hadn't heard or read much about Magenta Shores before my round there, other than that a lot of people have quite enjoyed it with a caveat or two and that Golf Australia magazine rated it #25 in the country. Having now played it, I'd agree with both those sentiments. I'd place it well behind the likes of Peninsula (North) but ahead of, say, Yarra Yarra and I enjoyed myself with the exception of a few factors that grated on me.

The things I liked and disliked were fairly systematic throughout the round and it seems to make sense to break the course down into drives, approaches and greens:

Drives: The course repeatedly asked for a draw off a distant bunker on the RHS, either around or near a LHS bunker - often with the land assisting that shape. The driving zones also seemed to lack much benefit for hugging the hazard, with the man-made undulations equally severe in the "ideal" spots, reducing the benefit of hitting the ball there.

The holes were also generally quite narrow, with three holes squeezed into a parcel suited to two, or two in a 1-1.5-fairway corridor, almost all the way through the front nine, while the back is largely one-hole corridors through what will eventually be a residential area (glad I got there before that happened) and is wider.

Ross Watson doesn't really seem to believe in building drive bunkers that the golfer can challenge/attempt to carry heroically, it's more a case of sidling up to them as the ball rolls out. Between Royal Sydney, Bonnie Doon, Concord and now Magenta Shores, I can't think of more than three or four examples.

At Magenta, it seems often driving near the fairway bunkering is both formulaic and not greatly beneficial.

Approaches: This is the course's major strength. The par threes are all quality holes, IMO, offering great variety - which is probably just as well given the course was largely man-made. As with Watson's work elsewhere - courses mentioned above - the par threes are probably the highlight.

And at Magenta Shores, if we disregard the drives on the par fours and fives, they almost all present an approach shot that is at the very least extremely appealing visually. They are fun shots to play and to look at. There is some advantage to be had from lateral placement.

The bunkering at the greens is huge in scale and is extremely appealing. The size looks great, the shaping is pleasant to the eye - another highlight of the course, but there can be little argument that the course is overbunkered, particularly for the wild shaping that has been created throughout.

Greens: The greens are quite wild in places and will present some challenging and adventurous putts, but it seems they haven't really been designed with consideration for the hole at large.

In lots of cases, the wild undulations don't seem to take into account the shot you'll be playing into the green and don't set up so that the golfer who has played the riskier shot off the tee is rewarded. In isolation they have some great features, but those features don't seem all that well combined with the rest of the hole.

There's also some fairly over the top greenside runoff shaping that I might start another thread about because it is best looked at alongside comparisons from other courses.

Reading that back it seems a bit overly negative. Magenta Shores has some fun holes and a heap of really attractive shots, and looking back at the course guide it seems some of my criticism of the fairway bunkering might have been addressed by playing the middle tees, as someone who carries a driver about 215-220m.

But there's the feeling throughout of something lacking from the experience.

Among the frustrations is the fact that the golf course has just 500 metres of ocean frontage, which is entirely used up by one par five that, after the drive, plays away from the coast. It seems a perplexing way to utilise the site's major natural feature.

All told, there's enough annoyances that I'd be unlikely to make the 90-minute drive from home and pay the $99 greenfee, and when the homes are built throughout the back nine that feeling is only going to increase.

Newcastle

The 376m 1st is a sturdy opener - a good drive leaving this mid-iron approach to a dunetop green with few places to miss

The 3rd is an interesting hole of 217m that will force most plays to decide whether to play it as a two-shot or one-shot hole, with the short left bunkers adding interest

Call it a par four or call it a par five - what won't change is that a long iron or hybrid approach to the green at the 414m 4th is a fantastic shot. There aren't enough holes that present such a shot for the average player

There are many drives on the course similar to this at the 368m 5th

The ideal drive at the 367m 6th challenges the left-hand dune to earn an approach that need not carry the fearsome front right greenside bunkers

The superb 148m 7th hole, showing the exposed sand and ferny vegetation found in many rough areas of the course

There's great benefit to driving right at the 326m 11th

The 14th, measuring 391m, is the first of two consecutive long par fours with low-profile greens

One of the most challenging shots on the course is the long iron to the 17th green - another tough two-shotter measuring 385m

Course name: Newcastle
Location: Stockton, New South Wales, Australia
Four Word Course Review: Defines 'natural' and 'understated'

Newcastle is a little bit of a sleeper in Aussie golf, at least that's what I have found. In Sydney (2hrs to its south), when talk turns to top golf courses nearby people will rarely mention "Newie", but any time it gets mentioned, everyone in earshot will mention how much they love it and how great it is.

It's a remarkably endearing place, an extremely friendly club and the course is as idyllic as you'll find - other than on 17 and 18, which flank a fairly busy road. The sea is only a few hundred metres away from the course, so wind is generally a factor.

Above all it uses some very good land extremely well, playing over the sizeable undulations with a good variety of greensites, and accepting the blind (or blind-ish) drives (1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 11, 15, 18) with generally ample room to accommodate the reduced visibility.

As well as being really natural, the course is fairly subtle - particularly at the greens, which don't feature many large undulations but have enough going on that there aren't many straight putts. Even inside five feet.

For the most part the greens use steady slopes and very slight ridges and gullies to create challenge. In a lot of ways Newcastle's greens remind me of The Valley Club of Montecito. At both courses it's hard to see much in the greens from 100 or even 50 metres away, but the movement is there and it's critical that you keep your ball below the hole.

In and around the greens there is no superfluous shaping. What's there is there for the golf - effective and simple.

I also really like the natural and low-key bunker aesthetics. The course could perhaps handle some bolder bunkering on the wilder land, but in some ways I think the bunkering sums up Newcastle GC: understated, not showy, but effective and well thought out.

The most famous stretch of holes is the 5th through 7th, two mid-length par fours and a mid iron par three.

At the 5th, a draw down to a blind saddle sets up a mid iron approach, unless your length allows you to run down a steep ridge to about 110m from the green. The green is pressed up fairly severely, making a lateral miss an almost certain bogey, while the front of the green is set just beyond a slight upslope - another feature of the course.

The 6th heads back up the hill - also doglegging slightly to the left. A draw is again the best shape, with the ideal driving position down the left beyond the dune. There has been some tree clearing here recently and if the left were opened up a bit more I could see merit in a drive bunker set into the dune on that side, perhaps. The depth of the green is hidden from the driving zone and it uses steady slope to make putting tough.

Finishing the loop, the 7th is slightly downhill to a green defended front right and middle left with sand and behind with a steep run-off.

The three holes are all tremendously challenging and offer really different, interesting shots. That's largely a strength of Newcastle - the approaches are all different and test different shots.

The course doesn't feel long, yet it measures 6200m and the par threes will generally require a wood (217m), a mid to short iron (148m), a long iron (173m) and another hybrid or wood (212m).

The par fives only measure 414m, 473m, 485m and 445m, but the 4th and 9th play up steep hills to the green and both the 9th and 10th play over heavy fairway undulations.

The fours are a varied set, with seven between 361m and 391m, another at 352m and the last couple at 325m and 326m - but with such a variety of land very few play similarly.

Lastly, the vegetation - mostly native species including ti tree, eucalyptus and some ferny heath - is well managed and makes the course feel undoubtedly Australian in character.