[Kevin Pallier]

The 15th is one of the toughest drives one could hope to play. There is also a championship tee at back left of that taken by Kyle.

I think the ti tree on the left could do with some clearing - I think I've always seen at least one in a 4ball have to reload off the tee.

[Wayne Freeman]

This is a great spot to have a good round completely ruined.  Just too tough a tee shot especially with any kind of wind. 
We were playing behind 4 pros and only one guy put it in play off the tee. And only 1 guy in our group could match that. Too bad they can't hack out a bunch of the overgrowth.  Part of a spectacular set of par 4's though.
 

[Kyle Henderson]

Pup and I each required two cracks at the drive on #15. I would love to see the stats from this hole during the Aussie Open

[Scott Warren]

It doesn't play too tight if you a) hit a draw, and b) know the hole.

But obviously that excludes a fair percentage of people who're playing it.

The chute is narrow, but the offset tee makes it play a bit wider, as does the half-pipe shape of the land.

I do concede it could do to be widened by 7-10m.

[Mike_Clayton]

Into the wind this is the hardest and most penal tee shot i have ever seen.
The original hole had none of the suffocating bush that makes for unplayable lies and lost balls down both sides of the hole - and it would be much better if that was still the case.

[Kyle Henderson]

Somewhat reminiscent of the 13th, the 16th tee shot – constricted as it is by bilateral bushes – looks very intimidating, but widens considerably in the landing zone as the fairway begins to curve left toward the sea.


This view from outside the dogleg gives a better sense of the hole’s shape.


These little valleys seemed to be custom-made for golf long before the arrival of Europeans.


A missed approach to the low/left side of the green must contend with bunkers while vegetation will gobble anything pushed right.

[Kevin Pallier]

I find the 16th one of the more difficult holes on the course. The drive has to favour the middle / right side of the fairway to have any realistic chance of hitting the green in two. The trees are so tall on the left that it almost forces you to go that way.

It's almost the reverse of the 15th in a way which has a tough drive and open approach v the 16th which has an open drive and tight approach.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 11th hole is a par 3 approached through a small channel that hides the steep drop-offs at either side of the green (there is no visible pin because the hole was out of play on the day of my visit).


The putting surface is quite tiny and I imagine the safest play is to the wide swath of short rough at the front of the green.

[Kyle Henderson]

When the regular 17th is not in play, this little par 3 (19th?) joins the rotation


While the approach is short, a topped shot will not be recovered.


This view over the green’s right shoulder depicts the raised character of the port-side putting surface.
 

[Kevin Pallier]

Both 17 and 19 are great P3's.

Kyle's picture on 17 doesn't show the massive falloffs on the right side somewhat "Calamity" like where if you miss the bunker you could be playing your shot from the 16th fairway. The left side is a little more generous but still has a falloff.

I love the 19th - it's only 100m+ and is a tricky little shot to judge either downwind or into you with such a small target.

[Kyle Henderson]

The par 5 finisher creeps between the 10th hole (right) and the practice fairway (left) to a green set beneath the stately clubhouse.


Fairway bunkers exact appropriate penalties on inaccurate drives.


Reaching the green in two shots is possible for those able to place a long runner that threads the gap near the green’s left edge.


A right-side profile of the green’s front suggests a back-to-front tilt and the possibility of a devilish pin location on a small shelf at the rear..


The hillside wide of a swale along the green’s left flank offers a comfortable resting place for onlookers.


Back to the 1st tee anyone?

[Kyle Henderson]

[Kevin Pallier]

Thanks Kyle for the photo tour

A couple of pics from where the MI II film was shot at Bare Island for good measure ?

[Patrick Kiser]

Good show on the back 9 Kyle.  A little slow in responding again, but the Woodland's thread is prompting me.  Can't see Mike's pics for some reason.

The barometer seems a little more even on the back.  Maybe not as many highs though.  Enough blindness on the front as well and less on the back.

10th green approach looks good.

I like the par 3 11th's exposure to the wind like that.

Not too sure about the 12th's green fronting trench.  It does not seem to be consistent with the rest of the course and feels somewhat out of place for my taste.

Wish some bush trimming could happen on the 13th, but I like how it's somewhat of a breather when compared to what comes up with the 14th and 15h.  Awesome looking approach too.  What a view!

The wow! hole is the 14th for me with the natural ridge cutting across the line of play.  That's a really neat feature and functional.

The 15th certainly does feel intimidating and I'm not too surprised to hear about the tee ball getting in trouble there.  The green looks pretty good though and seems to fit into the land nicely.

16th does remind one a little of the 13th and I agree with Kyle there, but that approach certainly appears to be more of a challenge from what I can tell.

17th seems pretty scary actually.  A little harsh perhaps?  If you're going to go blind ... need more green in my opinion.

The 18th seems like a nice finisher.  I'm kind of torn by the bunker to the left of the green.  That seems to be killing what would otherwise be a sweet swale to run a left to right shot to a middle / front right pin.  Then again, the bunker seems like a pretty good challenge.  I'd prefer the thrill of a running shot getting the swale's turn though.

19th looks pretty good, but the lack of any recovery does seem kind of tough.  Too much of a card wrecker?  I like how it's a real short though.  Can one go long and see the ball hit the back slope that allows the ball to come back?  Tough to tell from the pic.

[Scott Warren]

Remarkable the change that occurs to NSWGC when they burn off the native areas.

I hadn't played the course for a couple of years before a round late yesterday and I was shocked by how much more playable 15 and 16 are with the bush a couple of years removed from a burn.

I didn't photograph 15, but here's a comparison of 16 between Kyle's March 2011 photo and mine from last night. Much less intimidating and a bit more ocean view is never a bad thing, either.





And the benefits are not just to how the course plays.

In Kyle's picture from March 2011 you can see how high the bushes are right of the 17th tee. If you looked right, all you'd see was bush.



Now, post-burn, this is the view that awaits:

[Greg Gilson]

Scott, thanks for posting. They are doing a good job but need to stay on top of it, don't they. They need to remove a heap more to help me out on 16!


Gotta love La Perouse on a still day!

[David McIntosh]

Glad to see these updated photos. I played NSW in 2014 and it's one of my all-time favourite courses. The bush was similar to that in Kyle's photos at the time of my round but the removal appears to have made the course play and look even better now. Can't wait to get back someday.

[Thomas Dai]

Anyone able to post or provide a link to a source of photos of what the course was like in the period not long after Alister MacKenzie's visit?
Atb

[Matthew Mollica]

A B&W aerial, taken around 1941 if memory serves.


Well after MacKenzie visited (1926), and after course work done by Eric Apperley (1932-37)

[David Wuthrich]

Still one of my world favorites!  The brush was up when I visited a couple years ago.  Must get back to see it now.

[Tim_Weiman]

Among the top 2-3 that I haven't played that I would most like to play.

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