Indeed, that is what they called it. They even named it: “Alfred”.

Looking out from the shop, Connor saw mature eucalypts wobbling. A basket of mandarins that a friendly local had left out for fellow members was flung across the course. Days later mandarins would turn up hundreds of metres away. When the double-brick pro shop began shaking, Connor wondered if it was time to get out of there.

Then the wind slowed down! Huzzah. And Connor took the chance to get home. He shut the shop, closed the course, and took on the 60-minute drive to his home in Sawtell.

The weather got worse – Alfred was coming. And it smashed South West Rocks.

There were 96km/h winds. Nearly 60mm of rain was dumped on the course – a month’s worth in 24 hours. Those wobbling trees, some up to 200 years old, were uprooted and strewn across the course.

“The next day I couldn’t get back into it,” Connor says. “It was completely flooded. Trees uprooted. On the sixth hole, nearly all the trees were ripped out. There were six massive gum trees, mature trees, uprooted. One landed on the first tee-box. Another one smashed the pump station. The place was a proper wreck. You couldn’t recognise it as a golf course.”

The ninth hole at Macksville. PHOTO: Supplied.

Connor drove to his mother-in-law’s place with his family – and he couldn’t believe his eyes. It was snowing. “It was a weird day for weather,” Connor quips. “We took the kids and made big snowmen. A mate of mine couldn’t get off his property – completely snowed in. It was bizarre.”

Ten days later, there was golf on South West Rocks.

It’s a story typical of several courses up and down the NSW Mid-North coast, a region which stretches from Port Stephens and Nelson Bay, up to Woolgoolga just north of Coffs Harbour. They’ve known a storm a time or two hereabouts and know how to bounce back – even if “Extreme Tropical Cyclone” followed by snow was something of a turn-up.

***

Without any power in the town, South West Rocks Country Club became a community hub, their generator allowing locals to charge phones, grab a coffee, keep friends abreast of local news. When the clean-up began, Connor says the club was “inundated” with members who wanted to help.

“Most people were pretty lucky as far as damage to their homes goes – a few people were affected heavily but overall it wasn’t too bad given how bad the weather was. And we had so many people offering come out and help. It was fantastic. It brought everyone in the membership base together,” Connor says.

Emerald Downs in Port Macquarie has vast subterranean kilometres of ag lines and drains. PHOTO: Supplied.

The 18 holes at South West Rocks CC is par-72 and has “many great scoring opportunities,” according to Connor. Particularly now that the cyclone has hastened their master plan which had called for the opening up of sight lines.

“After the storm and a heap of the trees got ripped out, they cleaned it up and the sixth is actually really nice. It’s a short par 4, risk-reward, surrounded by water. But good players could hit a long-iron at the green, take on the corner,” Connor says.

“The storm cleared away a lot of limbs that had been overhanging fairways. So, there’s a new opening now, you can see a path. It used to be a bit blind but now it’s really inviting. It’s another of the holes that can really turn into a feature hole once we redesign it and touch it up a bit.”

Ironically, a tree that survived is one that many wanted ripped out – the great thumping gum in the middle of ten. “It’s just too sturdy,” Connor laughs. “It’s not going anywhere!”

RIGHT: Some of Cyclone Alfred's turmoil. PHOTO: Supplied.

In the way of our sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, ragged mountain ranges, drought and flooding rains, two months after the cyclone, the club was “praying for rain,” according to Connor.

“It really dried out. We never actually slowed down – people were still playing golf. But it was dry enough, for sure. But since then we’ve been lucky – the last month or so we’ve had a good amount of rain at the right time, and it’s really greened up the course. And it looks great.”

More damage. PHOTO: Supplied.

Just a day before the cyclone, South West Rocks hosted the NSW Open qualifier, won by St Michaels’ amateur, Daley Loumanis. Connor reckons the couch fairways and bentgrass greens are today in similar condition. “It’s pretty close,” he says. “The greens have been more of a cut and a roll,
and they’re just as quick.”

***

Emerald Downs in Port Macquarie is 50km south of South West Rocks but copped enough of the cyclone and floods that a pair of bridges were washed away. It didn’t phase Director Brendan Roods, who says “we rebuilt them, dropped in bigger concrete ones. All good.”

Roods, part of a three-man management team with father Ashley and brother Martin, says “we were able to get the course back in order pretty quick, even it if obviously took a bit of a toll on the till”.

“We’ve bounced back really well. The course at the moment, we’re pretty lucky all our grass on our greens is 328 couch [aka Bermuda], so they can sort of take a fair bit. They’re just a very hardy sort of grass. And our greens are elevated, and very large compared to other courses,” Roods says.

“We’ve laid God knows how many kilometres of drainage and Ag lines,” adds Roods. “The water rises quickly but disappears at the same rate.  We had a lot of fairways turn into creeks and streams for a couple of days and then it just dissipates. We can get carts back on pretty quick.”

Emerald Downs. PHOTO: Supplied.

Emerald Downs is part of a housing estate and is built on flood-prone land, though the course acts more as a natural water course – particularly given the Roods family’s work under the surface.

“We’re nonstop running drain cleaners and making sure that all those drains and lines are all nice and clean. The drains, they’re a bit like big arteries – as soon as the water gets in them, it just sort of funnels out pretty quick,” Roods says.

Emerald Downs is a privately-owned golf course open to the public most days. There are competitions throughout the week. The course is flat with lots of wildlife – koalas, kangaroos. Locals are proud to report a pair of black swans in the second dam.

Roods says there isn’t a ‘signature’ hole, though he nominates the 18th, “a fairly long par-3 over water with not a hell of a lot of relief”.

“But it’s the greens are probably the highlight,” Roods says. “They’ve got a lot of twists and turns.”