Peregian springs GC

Queensland's newest private course offers pleasureable golf at every turn, writes Brendan James.

I think the great course designer Dr Alister MacKenzie was right when he said: “A pleasureable course is synonymous with a good one. No course can give lasting pleasure unless it is a good test of golf.” The Scotsman continued. “We all play golf for the health and pleasurable excitement it gives us, and if a golf course fails to give pleasure to the largest number, it lacks something which prevents it being first class.”

I recall reading MacKenzie’s 1926 essay, “Pleasureable Golf Courses”, several years ago and it is always in the back of my mind when I visit a course, new or old, for the first time. His comments ring true when applied with an open mind, or at least a mind that is not affected by having played a good or bad round on debut.

Layouts like MacKenzie’s Royal Melbourne (West course), Kingston Heath, New South Wales and Yarra Yarra, as well as more modern creations like Barnbougle Dunes and Kennedy Bay, are a pleasure to play come rain, hail or shine.

While Queensland’s newest course, Peregian Springs, doesn’t stand alongside the above giants of Australian golf, it still offers plenty of pleasure, which makes it a good course in anyone’s language. The course’s designer, Phil Scott (father of PGA Tour player Adam Scott) has created a par-72 that can be enjoyed by players of all standards, which is important when you consider this is a members-only course. “Our objective throughout the design was to provide a course that will offer different challenges to the members, whether they play daily or less frequently,” Scott said. “The course provides a variety of strategic options and the members will need to plot their rounds, taking on some of the hazards and steering clear of others.”

Read the complete review in the August 2005 issue of Golf Australia magazine.

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