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 100or 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 course doesn't feel long, yet it measures 6200m (6820yds) 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.
1st - 376mThe drive is over a slight hill, with longer hitters able to steal extra metres down the steep slope in the foreground of the picture. The green sits up high and demands accuracy, with a slightly angled ridge through the middle making putting tough. A fairly ballsy opener, all things considered.
2nd - 361mAnother semi-blind drive back over the same ridge that is traversed on the 1st. In a theme that is repeated a few times later in the round, the ridge requires less distance to reach (and less height to climb in some cases) if you play away from the ideal line - a great example of how Eric Apperley used the land to create the strategy and challenge here.
3rd - 217mPlays a lot like a smart short par four (which it will be for many), with a short bunker about 170m off the tee guarding the mouth of the green and the angle worsening the further right you err.
4th - 414mBunkers guard the inside of the hole (ugly modern ones, it must be said, built into geometric mounds that really make you appreciate the bunkering elsewhere on the course) and most golfers need to flirt with them to have a hope of reaching and holding the green in two shots. If you find yourself laying up, the third is a tough wedge to a green you can't see, set on an angle and tucked between bunkers.
5th - 368mThe start of the three-hole stretch Newcastle is best known for. A draw down the 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 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.
6th - 367mDoglegging left back in the opposite direction, 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 DZ and it uses steady slope to make putting tough.
7th - 148mA great par three and not bad to look at, either. More downhill than it appears and the green runs off fairly steeply at the back. A little cut off the LHS bunker is ideal for those who can hit one.
8th - 325mA clever little par four, where the drive is over a ridge and the modest length leads those who can go deep to favour the right, when the approach demands to come from the left, where the green mouth points. More great use of land not just in the ridge you drive over but also the green set on a high point that repels anything mediocre.
9th - 473mA large ridge in the drive zone will kick you forward if you melt one, but for most golfers will render the second shot blind, before an uphil iron to another deceptively deep, and steep, green.
10th - 485mPlays over a steep, high ridge on the drive - the successful negotiation of which will earn you the ability to clear a second ridge on the approach and have a simple pitch to set up a birdie. But if the drive isn't straight, you are likely to find that you can't get past the second ridge with your second and you approach way be blind to a strongly bunkered green. A really intriguing hole.
11th - 326mMore great land-inspired design. The left side of the fairway is much more visible from the tee, but offers a less than ideal line to the green, set on a high point with steep slopes front and back. If you take on the blindness (and fairway bunker ) on the right you get the A1 line in.
12th - 173mThe short right bunker keeps you honest if you elect to bounce one in to the "speedhump" green that slopes down at the front and back and is set from about 11 o'clock to 5 o'clock, with bunkers both sides. A simple challenge, well excecuted.
13th - 445mI'm upset I didn't get more than the one picture of the green. The drive is one where the right presents a longer carry up and across the ridge, but a successful shot down that line brings the green within reach. But the left is a less taxing shot and from there you're playing it as a three-shotter. Smart (and gorgeous) bunkering 60m short on the left guards the lay-up really well and the green has a few separate sections that are a real test to putt between.
14th - 391m Maybe the most continually undulating fairway on the course that will present plenty of awkward stances and another green that plays a lot tougher than it looks.
15th - 382mAs blind a drive as you will find, where hitting the middle of the fairway is really all you can shoot for. The green is a great sidehill effort that falls out of the dune on which the 1st green is set and gives a good opportunity to run the ball in and use the slopes to your advantage.
16th - 212mDoesn't have the intricacy of the 3rd, but a tricky understated green that slides off the hill on the left gives the hole a little something to hang its hat on.
17th - 385mAnother hole where driving down the centre to left is ideal, before a demanding long iton up the hill to a green that is steep in front and runs hard from left to right. The bunkering on the left there, blending into the heath, is some of my favourite on the course.
18th - 352mA coy little two-shot hole to finish. The drive is over a dune and you can get a nice boost if you flush one. The green is on a steep back to front slope over a valley and makes the final approach - likely to be a short iron - one you'll still have to think about and execute well.
