New South Wales GC

[Matt_Cohn]

I am so excited to see NSW on TV this week! I think you guys will love the golf course and the conditions, and it should look stunning on TV.

The Golf Channel times for those of us in the States are 9:00AM-12:00PM EST, Thursday-Sunday mornings. It is NOT on at night like the Heineken Classic was!

On a personal note, I think my website is finally "finished". I've worked lots on it so I'd love for you all to have a look. It's about 1/3 golf and 2/3 the rest of Australia (with a few pictures from the Grand Canyon too).

http://www.student.unimelb.edu.au/~macohn

Finally, a picture of New South Wales just to get you all thinking!

[Steve Lapper]

Matt,

Great web site....Glad to see you really took it all in! Nice job...As a guy who used the excuse of a honeymoon to get in 2x rounds at RM, KH, CW, and NSW, and RS....I am officially happy to see the terrain once again.

Steve

[Brian Walshe]

Matt,

Hope you are adjusting to life back in the US.  Just saw an interview with Stuart Appleby and he was asked why he was playing at NSW this week instead of Pebble for 5 times the purse.  His answer was that he wanted to play a great golf course and not a "bog hole".  Interesting point of view :-)

Got to watch Norman and Adam Scott play a 10 hole exhibition on the National Moonah today.  For an old guy Greg sure does give it a ride, in fact he out drove Scott a couple of times.  You don't realise what a different game they play until you watch them on the same course you were playing on an hour earlier.

Brian

[David_Tepper]

I saw a little of the golf from NSW this a.m. on the Golf Channel. WHAT A GREAT LOOKING GOLF COURSE!!! The breeze was up and the ball was bouncing. Hope you all get to see some of it.

[NAF]

I think NSW GC may be the most underrated course in the world top 50 that I have seen.  The course is on some of the most unique terrain I have ever seen for a golf course, completely exposed to the elements and I saw it in full fury when a front came through.  Furthermore, the fairways have tremendous movement and are routed over sand dunes and rocky headlands.  I did not find an indifferent hole and the only complaint I could see one having with the course is the bunker style which they have changed to links type.  I think it is fine although when you look in the clubhouse at the original pictures and see more lacey type bunkers as invisioned by Dr. Mac you wonder what could have been.  In fact those pictures I saw look awfully like Cypress Point in spots regarding the dunes (which are now covered by scrub and vegetation) and the bunker style.

The stretch of golf as NSW from 4-7 and 13-16 are some of the most inspirational you will see.

The course for some may be Australia's answer to Pebble Beach.  Well if it is, then since Pebble is rated Top 3 in the world, NSW should be near the top 10.  I think it is the 2nd best course in the country after Royal Melbourne and this is after 2 weeks playing all of the Sandbelt.

[D. Kilfara]

One thing I've noticed about NSW from watching a bit of Day 1 is that some of the holes with crowned greens are actually more difficult during tournament week than they are otherwise - the galleries have trampled down the rough around the greens, which means that some balls that would stop in the thin rough just keep going right on down to the base of the hill. A pleasant contrast, methinks, to all the times that pros have errant shots kept from becoming even more errant by hitting people in the crowd!

I agree with the other posters - the course looks fantastic on TV. Not that Royal Melbourne didn't look great last week, mind you. I've got to say, it's a real shame that NSW and Pebble have to be played on the same weekend...really, shouldn't it be possible for a top pro to play all of the best courses available to him?

(BTW - Mike Clayton has made a nice start...+9 points, I believe, in the stableford system, good for a place in the Top 20 or thereabouts. Go Mike!)

Cheers,
Darren

[corey miller]

Was not aware it was even in the world top 50.  My favorite golf in Australia.  Not sure what is going on in the "rankings" when this course is compared to the parkland courses, certainly personal preference/bias/non-objectivity.

My favorite hole on the course and perhaps my favorite short par 4 anywhere is #14.

This course goes in my elite grouping of about 20 courses i have played where if someone were going to say it is "their favorite course in the world" they would get no arguement from me.

[Chris Kane]

NSW is generally ranked no.3 or 4 in Australia: with Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath coming ahead of it.

Kingston Heath is undoubtably the better design achievement...a Doak 8 on an essentially flat 125ha piece of land, while NSW is routed on an incredible site.

I don't know which is the better course, but if I had to play one of them tomorrow, it would definitely be NSW.

Mike is now at +17, following a pair of 69's.  In the modified stableford format, he is the equivalent of three birdies and a bogey behind the leaders.  

[Richard_Macafee]

Now that you've edited, I'd better too

Was pretty funny though