Australia's Oldest Club - Nicklaus at his best

[Josh Stevens]

This was posted on an Aussie site and give some good pics of the recent work done by Nicklaus at the Australian Golf Club in Sydney.

Bear in mind this site was once a sandy dunescape with an open links course, until Jack got his hands on it in the late 70's

I have an opinion on this work, but I will keep it to myself

.https://www.aussiegolfquest.com/the-australian-golf-club/ 

[Ronald Montesano]

Is the Jack Architect of then the same as the one we have now? I doubt it, so the AGC was unfortunate to catch him so early in his development as an architect.

[Josh Stevens]

Well he is older, if not wiser

All before my time, but I can sort of understand if not forgive the destruction of the old course in the 70's as that was the flavour of the time.

Not sure however why they paid him to do it again.  Although I have not played the recent effort so perhaps it plays better than it looks.  Or at least I hope so.

[Jon Wiggett]

Are there any photos of pre Jack?

Jon

[RichMacafee]

This was posted on an Aussie site and give some good pics of the recent work done by Nicklaus at the Australian Golf Club in Sydney.

Bear in mind this site was once a sandy dunescape with an open links course, until Jack got his hands on it in the late 70's

I have an opinion on this work, but I will keep it to myself

.https://www.aussiegolfquest.com/the-australian-golf-club/

Why keep it to yourself Josh?

It's awful. A golf course devoid of interest and fun - and any hint that it could be in Australia. Bunkering is straight from Dubai, you need good sunglasses to avoid getting blinded by the white sand

Hopefully someone will post an old overhead of The Australian - I've seen a few and it's hard to believe it is the same site.

[Josh Stevens]

I didn't want to be rude. Or at least ruder than I normally am.

I have looked for old pics, but no luck. I presume the club has archives but those aren't available so I am just going on stories from my dad who played it often in the 60's and early 70's

I am told it actually plays better than it did pre the latest fix, but I confess the aesthetics jar me.  Its a private club and they do as they please, but given the lovely sand dune base, it does seem so out of sync with current design trends.

Perhaps they just don't want to be trendy?

[Peter Pallotta]

I can picture Adam Scott strolling those fairways, but not Geoff Ogilvy. Greg Norman, with his trademarked wide-brimmed hat, I imagine chipping and putting those greens, and Stuart Appleby with him; but I can see neither Jason Day nor Aaron Baddeley doing the same.  Ian Baker Finch - yes, Steve Elkington - maybe, Robert Allenby - no. I definitely can't see Peter Thomson there (though maybe it works for the older gentlemen, so it might've worked for Kel Nagle too), but I can imagine Karrie Webb and John Senden being members.  Jack Newton or Peter Senior, no, not so much.
Well, anyway, horses for courses, as they say...
Peter

[Bill Brightly]

Where in Florida is this course located?

[Kirk Gill]

I just searched for "Historic Australian Golf Club, and here are some aerials dating from 1937 that came up. There are more of them, but some of the images are too huge to post. I'm hoping this is the correct course.












If this is the right course, is that The Lakes in the background?

[James Bennett]

Kirk

good sleuthing, but the first and third pictures are of Royal Sydney at Rose Bay.

I am not sure which course the second picture is.  Still trying to work it out (I don't know Sydney well enough to work out the racecourse).

edit - something suggest Concord to me for the second picture, but I don't know for sure.

Royal Sydney is also blessed with sand but is more parkland today than it was.

James B

[Kirk Gill]

I didn't feel confident about those pictures !


Sorry about that !




Not much sleuthing done, just a quickie internet search...........in error..........


Here's the URL......


https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=australian+golf+club&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Go&uselang=en

[Terry Thornton]

The 2nd picture is labelled 'Kensington' (i.e. where The Australian GC is) in a photo collection of the Library of NSW

[James Bennett]

Terry

if it is indeed Kensington, then the road was more devastating than I realised.
The ground in the bottom left hand corner is suitable for the par 5 fifth at Kensington (The Australian), but that hole isn't there then - there are two holes on this land.

And the old 18th now 9th fits on the run to the clubhouse, and the location of the Clubhouse high on the dune also makes sense.

Far more holes seemed to be played north-south then.  perhaps I just can't remember the course pre 1976 or so when Nicklaus remodelled it.

The absence of any road, and that racetrack is what has thrown me.

James B

[Josh Stevens]

yes no 2 is the Aus as viewed from the north.  Those lakes in the distance top left  is The Lakes Golf Club

But gosh not tree to be seen on either the Aus or Royal Sydney, and look at them now.  someone on the old committees obviously had shares in a nursery

[Terry Thornton]

More sleuthing reveals 'Victoria Park Racecourse (NLE). Look for Tote Park in google maps for location, which makes the aerial definitely The Australian

[Josh Stevens]

Its all a bit sad really.  Wonder if the members yearn for what may have been had they resisted the temptation to fiddle with it

[Mike_Clayton]

Great photos. The Australian had a 9 (I assume it was 9) hole Ladies Course in the middle which is why there look to be a lot of holes on the site.
I caddied in the 1975 Open on the last version of the pre-Nicklaus course. It was much different and being a windy site allowed for a lot of the golf to be played along the ground - but no one does that now.

[Josh Stevens]

At least they cut your pine tree down.

[Josh Stevens]

I am curious however as to the thinking

This little spot around the Australian, Lakes and Bonnie Doon is or was  gorgeous undulating sand dune country with pure free running beach sand as far as you could possibly dig.

99% of the world's golf courses would kill for it.

In a city otherwise dominated by sandstone and clay, why would you not expose that sand as an integral part of the course?  Ye Gods, they even imported the bunker sand, when all they had to do was dig a hole and expose the natural stuff?

[Mike_Clayton]

Having dug up The Lakes (where we exposed an awful lot of sand) and half of Bonnie Doon (to date) I know how perfect the soil and land is for golf. These early pictures show off how the early founders of clubs and the game in Australia understood the nature of the land and how to best use it to make for golf suited to those sites.

[James Bennett]

Thanks Terry re the racecourse, and Mike re the ladies course in the middle.

I recall 1975 OZ Open before Packer/Nicklaus remodelling (the 18th hole and 'Dunk's hill' in particular, which is the 9th hole) and have a faint recall of the ladies holes in the middle (Riviera had the short 9 in the middle between 1 and 2, and 2 and 10 I think).

I suspect some maintenance is required to keep the sand exposed in Sydney - the weather is ideal for growing the greenest and lushest of grasses.  The Lakes and Bonnie Doon (and NSW GC) show that it can be done.

James B

[Mike_Clayton]

James


The old 1st at Royal Sydney is much different to the current hole. It looked like the strategy made perfect sense - and uncomplicated question with a not so uncomplicated answer.

[Josh Stevens]

YEs, a bit like Victoria's opener, but in other direction.
But the 18th at RS is such a contrast to the tree lined bowling alley we see today

[Matthew Delahunty]

Here are some pics of the old Australian which are from the NSW State Library:






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[Matthew Delahunty]

Something happened with my post above.  They are photos of the old Australian in the NSW State Library archives.