More than a list of the best South Coast golf courses
This is our list of the best 18 holes of golf on the NSW South Coast, not necessarily at the most noteworthy golf courses. Some of the courses have other strong holes, for others this is the most noteworthy hole of the whole round. But we challenge you to try this eighteen out yourself, perhaps on one of our golf tours of the South Coast.
Like any golf round, the sequence of holes enhances the experience and I have tried to keep them in the order of 1-18 as they appear on their respective courses. With a few notable exceptions which I just had to include. So beginneth the list:
Hole 1: 1st Hole Bermagui Country Club
Most courses start off with a gentle opener. But hell no for this round of golf. Bermagui’s 1st hole tells you everything you need to know about this challenging layout. A left to right dogleg with water lurking down the right side to catch you out if your tee shot tries to carve too much off the corner.
Then uphill second shot to a small sloping green. All told off the back, 397m of direct statement of intent. First time I played this hole, hit a pitch onto the green. Thought it was close and as I walked up, saw the ball continuing to roll sideways away from the flag towards the edge of the green. Welcome to Bermagui, a different type of golf here.
Hole 2: 2nd Hole Narooma Golf Club
The 1st hole at Narooma is more than a decent challenge but the 2nd is where the clifftop fun begins. A par 4 of 330m, you shoot from off the hill to a fairway below which fronts a wild beach and cliff face. If you have also avoided the fairway bunkers on the right, then your next shot is is uphill to a narrow green perched on a headland. Truly spectacular.
Hole 3: 3rd Hole Narooma Golf Club
Is an automatic inclusion into anyone’s top 18 holes of South Coast golf. The 3rd or Hogan’s Hole at Narooma. Called Hogan’s Hole because TV star Paul Hogan did a Winfield cigarette commercial there in the 1970’s. Put the hole on the world map.
I believe it to be the most spectacular par 3 in the country. 140m of carry from a headland to another headland, across a chasm with a sea cave underneath the green. Sometimes a wedge with a strong north easter but after a southerly change could be driver. You keep the scorecard or bragging rights, if you walk away with par on this one.
Hole 4: 4th Gerringong Golf Club
Gerringong is a pure links course with some large, elevation changes which come with spectacular views. None more than playing around the beach on the par 5 4th of 510m. It is a double water carry but bombers could miss the first pond by cutting across the beach to the fairway beyond. Rated No 1 on the card.
Hole 5: 5th hole Pambula Merimbula Golf Club
Pambula Merimbula Golf Club has been a popular course with our clients. Well placed trouble and superb conditioning make for an enjoyable round. The par 4 5th of 351m represents these qualities. A dog leg right off the tee with well place bunkers adjoining a wetland on the corner to force you wider, it is then an iron to a bunkered green on a rise above the fairway.A lovely hole which gives options for a variety of golfers.
Hole 6: 6th hole Mollymook Hilltops
This par 5 of 475m has always been one of my favourite holes on the front nine. A left hand dogleg from the tee, it leaves you wondering how much you can cut off from the corner without disappearing into the bush. A bullrushed pond awaits on the other side where you need to decide are you laying up or taking it on. The only advantage to doing the latter is that it could open up the green which is thin sliver with a bunker at the front.
An interesting hole which provides options for all standard of players.
Hole 7: 7th Hole Worrigee Links
Hole 8: 7th hole Bermagui Country Club
Hole 9: 5th hole Tura Beach Country Club
Tura Beach Country Club is known for it’s large elevation changes especially around the back nine (golf cart is compulsory). However the first 6 holes are flat as they flow out and back from the sea and offer some of the best holes on the course. None better than this 180m water carry par 3.
Like all Peter Thomson courses there are options and you don’t need to go for the green if you feel you don’t have the distance. You can just aim for the spit that leads out to the green. Definitely the signature hole on the course.
Hole 10: 2nd Hole Tathra Beach Country Club
Tathra Beach is a funky 12 hole sandbelt layout by the beach. It can done as an 18 holer with different tees for 6 holes. It follows over ancient sand dunes and none personifies it better than the par 5 2nd. Wedged up against the Bega River, it is tight hole of 501m. The demanding shot is the approach as a gum tree sits in the middle of the fairway 100 metres before the green. You mush decide to go under or over it with the backstop to an errant shot being the Bega River.
Hole 11: The Country Club, St Georges Basin 2nd Hole
Is this the “island green hole” of the South Coast? Sure can feel like it especially if you hitting into a southerly. At 163m off the tips, you are hitting to a headland green which butts out into a lake. There maybe plenty of land to hit if you make solid contact but then chipping to the notoriously hard and fast greens at the Country Club, can bring the lake back into play.
Hole 12: 12th hole Mollymook Hilltops
Hole 13: 4th hole The Country Club, St Georges Basin
Hole 14: 14th Hole Shoalhaven Heads Golf Club
On this hidden gem of a sandbelt course, there are many fine holes but this is the best short par 4 on the NSW South Coast. At only 254m it may seem simple enough. Two deep fairway bunkers guard the entrance for the green and there are bunkers around the green which is perched on a hillside. The T shape green can mean that you are chippping on the green if they stick the flag in the corners.
My scores on the last three visits with different wind directions have been 4, 6 and 6.
Hole 15: 15th Hole Club Catalina
Hole 16: 15th hole Moruya Golf Club
Moruya is probably the most underated golf course on the NSW South Coast. A tight twisting layout with exemplary conditioning, this hole typifies the course. A sharp right to left par 4 of 320m where you have options from the tee. You can layup short of the pond which guards the far corner of the dogleg and leaves you with up to a mid iron to hit . If you have the shot, you could go for a sharp hook around the corner and try and negate the slope that takes you towards the pond. I also have seen some locals pump a driver over the corner trees to get away from all of this.
An accurate second shot is required to a bunkered green whose surface will be firm and fast like all the greens at Moruya.
Hole 17: 17th Mollymook Hilltops
Hilltops is branded as “the Augusta National of the South Coast”. No other hole demonstrates that then the stunning par 3 17th. A downhill tee shot over a flowering garden to a small flat green surrounded by bunkers and towering trees. The highlight of the round!
Hole 18: 18th hole Narooma Golf Club
Any great round of golf requires a grandstand finish. That is an 18th hole to remember and Narooma’s final hole fits that bill. It is an uphill, dogleg par 5 with the land on the tee shot sloping towards thick coastal bush. At only 450m it is reachable for some in two but the next shot must be precisely aimed over the bush to hit the approaches to the green. I have tried and failed twice and now I just follow the fairway and layup.
The green is perched on a headland with stunning views down the coast to the Glasshouse Rocks. A suitable memorable finish to our South Coast best 18!
