I wrote a profile of Eric Apperly with John Lovell for our 'Great Australian Golf Course Architects' series in issue 8 of our Golf Architecture magazine. Here is the text of the section on NSWGC. Hope this assists with the discussion. Neil
New South Wales Golf Club
Perhaps Eric Apperly’s greatest enduring legacy was his redesign of the New South Wales Golf Club’s course at La Perouse, located on the headlands overlooking Botany Bay. The common perception today is that the course is a purebred Alister Mackenzie design – although that may have been true at one time, the reality is that today’s course owes its stature predominantly to Eric Apperly.
A company was formed to develop this new course at La Perouse and initially commissioned Dan Soutar to provide a report and a design. In 1925 the site location moved slightly and they required another design, and as Soutar was unavailable, his old partner Carnegie Clark, assisted by James Herd Scott, prepared the layout that was included in the prospectus. Whilst clearing was being undertaken, the Club learned from Royal Melbourne that Alister Mackenzie was available for consultation and in 1926 Dr Mackenzie was engaged by the Club to review their plans for the new course. A publication prepared by the Club for their golden anniversary in 1978 quoted the recollections of Brigadier-General Sydney Herring who was involved in the Club’s formative years and acted as its Secretary for some time. These recollections are of interest:
“ …Dr. Mackenzie, a world-famed golf architect, was being brought out from Scotland to alter the layouts of several Melbourne golf clubs. As well he was to report on the Royal Sydney Golf Course. Mr. Magney suggested we get hold of him to give us a report on whether our suggested Course was as good as we thought it was. His favourable report would be a wonderful boost for the Company.
We got in touch with the doctor in Melbourne and he agreed to make the report for the sum of £250; his offer was accepted.”
“When Dr. Mackenzie came to Sydney he stayed at the Royal Sydney Golf Club, and he got the then Secretary, Colonel Bertram, interested in the new course. The Colonel used to drive the Doctor out to La Perouse and very often spent most of the day helping him decide on the best layout for one or two difficult holes. Dr. Mackenzie gave a wonderful report and a splendid layout. He also recommended that Colonel Bertram be retained at a nominal fee to keep an eye on the formation of the course; this with the consent of his committee he undertook to do. He had discussed every hole with the Doctor and his advice to the Club in its early days was most valuable. Work then started in earnest and contracts let for the clearing of the scrub.”
Mackenzie’s plans, although conceptual, showed an 18 hole championship length course, together with a nine hole Short Course. In 1928 the course was finally completed, although unbunkered, and ready for play. In the following few years the Club struggled to ride out the effects of the Depression and during the years 1929 and 1930 the committee sought any plans and sketches that Mackenzie might have left. It was resolved that his bunkering plans be tabled at a meeting in May 1931, however, as finances could not be allocated for their construction, they were not built. It is understood that Alex Russell, Mackenzie’s Australian partner, was called in by the Club in 1931 to inspect the course, still unbunkered and critique the bunkering plan and primarily dispense with the Short Course. He did this when he came to Sydney later that year to play the Australian Open and Australian Amateur Championships. Russell presented a detailed report that highlighted the fact that the golf course was too short - he also made some suggestions about remodeling some of the greens, but these were never taken up by the Club.
In November 1932 the Club felt in a position to undertake some remodeling and Eric Apperly was engaged by the Club to finally implement Mackenzie’s bunkering scheme – how much of this was to Mackenzie’s design and how much was Apperly’s own ideas will most likely never be known. Alex Russell’s suggestions from his 1931 report were also in the mix. At this time, Apperly was also asked to suggest means of toughening the layout, which he achieved by extending some holes and converting the 3rd from a par 5 back to a par 4. One of Apperly’s most significant changes came at the 5th. In April 1933 the Sydney Morning Herald advised its readers that “the crown of the hill has been cut down, and a plateau formed”, explaining that “the new tee is 40 yards further back. Previously, with a following wind, an average drive finished within 100 yards of the green, owing to the steepness of the hill. This made the par five ridiculously easy. The new tee and plateau have had the effect of making it more difficult as two exceptionally long woods are now required to reach the green.”
Eric Apperly was listed in the Club’s Annual report as its “Hon. Architect” every year from 1933 until his death in 1951. It is interesting to speculate whether the ‘Honorary’ title meant that Apperly did not charge the Club for his services. In 1933 the Club awarded him Honorary Membership as a mark of appreciation of his service to the Club and to golf in general.
By 1935 the Club’s newly modified layout was settling in well, but the Army had its sights set on some of the land that the Club leased from the Government for its fortifications. Herring recalls:
“…I heard a rumour that the Army intended to put some guns on the hill (Cape Banks) and as well, were going to run a road through a couple of the fairways. I made some enquiries but found it was a very hush hush affair; officially I was told there was nothing to it. However, I had a friend at court who told me that plans had actually been drawn up and that we had better get in early before they were finally approved….
...after a good deal of negotiation a new agreement was drawn up in which the Army moderated its demands as far as the roadway was concerned. We were given some more land and a rebate of rent to offset the cost of altering the layout. The Greens Committee was then given the job of altering the course, under the advice of the Golf Architect, Mr. E. L. Apperly….After a lot of hard work and considerable delay the new layout was finally put into play and the Club continued to increase in popularity.”
The land changes forced substantial modifications to the north-east corner of the course. The short fourth, a ‘drop down’ one shot hole playing towards the cliffs, was lost, along with the tee at the fifth. Apperly moved the tee back up and across into its current position and most inspirationally, replaced the lost par three with a new hole, the sixth, playing along the clifftops. Later in 1972 the famous island tee was added to this hole.
It is recorded that Apperly implemented some of the suggestions made in Alex Russell’s 1931 report, but mostly the ideas were his own. Apperly’s revised layout then opened for play in May 1937. From 1942 to 1946 the course was surrendered to the Army and when handed back it was completely overgrown and bore little resemblance to a golf course. Apperly advised the Club on the restoration required to bring the course back to its former condition and in the summer of 1948-49 he proposed some further modifications to lengthen some holes and reposition some of the greens and tees on the outward nine.
So what remains of Mackenzie’s routing at La Perouse, and what did Apperly remodel? Given that some land was lost and new land acquired, Apperly had to design a number of new holes as well as modify some existing ones to fit into the new layout. According to Gary Dempsey, the golf course superintendent at La Perouse, only nine holes of the current New South Wales course bear any similarity to Mackenzie’s layout. These holes are:
> Hole 3 – tee position similar and green moved to increase dogleg
> Hole 4 – tee position altered, otherwise hole is the same
> Hole 7 – virtually unchanged
> Hole 9 – tee position altered
> Hole 10 – tee position altered
> Hole 12 – similar to original
> Hole 13 – virtually unchanged
> Hole 14 – new tee, new green moved 60 metres back
> Hole 18 – tee position altered
The remainder of the holes were new or substantially modified holes to Apperley’s design. As the course stands at present, there is not one green or tee that has not been changed.
It is interesting to note that two of the most renowned holes on the course, the tumbling par 5 fifth that runs towards the Pacific Ocean and the heroic par 3 sixth across an inlet are both Eric Apperly holes. In fact all of the par 3’s are Apperly’s and these play to all points of the compass, as do all the par fives – an important consideration given the windswept nature of La Perouse.