A country club but not a private one...
Gold Creek is one of the best public access courses in Canberra. It can be argued justifiably that is the best conditioned golf course in Canberra. Clients have said to us, “I thought I might be going to a goat track but it is smick”. Others from the illustratrious sandbelt courses of Melbourne have been “surprised” by its quality. But what started off as rock featured series of paddocks surrounding the new northern suburb of Nicholls in the early 1990’s, has matured into a championship layout.
A beginning of great hopes, stagnation and challenges, then renewal
Gold Creek Country Club was opened for play in 1996. It is a championship length course (6444m) designed by Australian great, Bruce Devlin and it immediately held the Australian Senior PGA championhip with the American legend, Lee Trevino playing. The restaurant in the clubhouse still bears his name. Originally owned by the ACT Government it was sold in 2006 to the K Group, a property development company and the operators of the Club Lime chain of gyms. With competition from three other golf courses on the northside of Canberra, membership and usage stagnated or even declined over the next 10 years.
In 2018, the K Group annouced a “reimagining of Gold Creek” where part of the course was to be converted to housing but a nine hole course would remain. A resident action group formed which fought against a the development and succeeded in forcing the owners to shelve the plan. Now the K Group seeing an increase in usage following COVID, is beginning to invest in the course.
However in late 2023 the K Group annouced another tilt at development with a plan to build 700 dwellings on the practice holes at Gold Creek but with no access road going through the golf course. Again it is facing community opposition to this . However upgrades to the course and facilities continue such as improvements to the car parking areas.
A different golf course design for Canberra
Bruce Devlin was an Australian amateur champion who as a professional won 19 times on the Australian circut and 8 times on the PGA Tour. He has designed over 150 courses throughout the world and designed such courses as Ocean Shores and The Lakes in Australia. His design at Gold Creek is almost links like with mounds, undulations and openess being a feature. It gives another option from some of the tight tree lined courses that feature in the capital.
The course starts innocuously with the 337m downhill par 4 1st. The hole sweeps down to a bunkerless green. The 2nd ups the ante from the back tees with a par 4 of 37om to a green surrounded by bunkers which has a subtle spine running down the middle which diverts balls on either side of it. These spines running down greens are a repeated design element at Gold Creek. The longest hole on the course, the par 5 3rd of 537m illustrates Devlin’s design emphasis with Gold Creek. This dog leg can be played with a high fade around the corner , a straight drive to the right of the fairway bunker or a draw that will still land you on the fairway. You can still get a par from all these positions but the better placed drive will make it a far lot easier than the others.
The par 4 4th demonstrates the shot making that Devlin enthuses about. Though the fairway is wide and there are plenty of paths to the green, the left hand side gives you a better angle to hold the green as a draw will have your ball tipped off the left hand side. The rest of the front nine is pleasant and challenging golf with the par 3 7th of 138m a highlight. A large green surrounded on the right by a lake and a waiting bunker on the left give you little options for bail out. The green size gives plenty of options to make this hole always interesting whether you have a wedge or a mid-iron in your hand.
Holes 9 and 11 can be considered rest holes for the course really doubles down on the back nine. Probably that is my major criticism of the design of the course in that the back nine is significantly harder than the front. Long par 4’s like the the 10th,11th and 13th are the Amen Corner of Gold Creek where hitting the right part of the fairway is critical. If you don’t then you are going to have to do something with the ball to get near the green.
Often holes 14-16 play often into the prevailing wind so when you turn around for 17 , you can really be looking forward to a downwind shot. The 18th is a long uphill par 4 of 399m which is a bit bland for the finishing hole. A great feature of the course is that there is always three sets of tees for players to choose from to play, white,blue and black. For clients who hit the ball less than 200m we are always recommending the white, to make it as enjoyable round as possible for them.
Changes have happened and are continuing...
Like many clubs, Gold Creek has seen an influx of members since COVID first struck. But also social golf rounds are way up due to growth in the area and a better pricing structure for rounds. Golfers are enjoying some of the best turf conditions in Canberra golf . Under course superintendent, Simon Snedden and his team, the Bent greens and the Transcontinental Couch fairways have recovered magnificently from the recent La Nina weather and are looking as good as when they held Australian Junior Amateur Championship in 2021 . Simon likes to keep the greens on the faster side of things but with forgiveness for an approach shot.
Also during the past year, former elite coach and master club fitter Craig Smith has moved from Director of Golf role to General Manager. Damon Welsford formerly from Royal Canberra, has moved into the Director of Golf role . Trackman has been installed on the 300m driving range and there is a new team of instructors operating under the name of the Gold Creek Golf Academy. Also there has begun a program of bunker renewal. Previously that was the only criticism we received from clients about the course in that the bunkers flooded easily and the sand quality made the bunkers difficult to hit out of. Kruse Golf has already redesigned the bunker by the par 5 14th and higher quality bunker sand has been placed in the bunkers.
The profile of the course continues to grow and we have noticed that after Royal Canberra and Federal Golf Clubs it is often mentioned next by clients who want to do a Capital Bucketlist Tour to Canberra. See how we include it as part of our sample itineraries on our Canberra golf tours page.
Great article 🏌🏻