I have no doubt the great Dr Alister MacKenzie would like the links at Albany Golf Club.
Not only does it fit the accepted definition of a links course – a strip of gently undulating, sandy terrain linking the sea with farmland or a town – but it also meets many of the 13 principles of course design he championed.
The course should be arranged in two loops of nine holes. Check.
There should be a large proportion of good two-shot holes, two or three drive-and-pitch holes, and at least four one-shot holes. Check.
The greens and fairways should be sufficiently undulating, but there should be no hill climbing. Check.
Every hole should have a different character. Check.
There should be a minimum of blindness for the approach shots. Check.
The course should have beautiful surroundings and all the artificial features should have so natural an appearance that a stranger is unable to distinguish them from nature itself. Check.
The course should be so interesting that even the plus man (scratch) is constantly stimulated to improve his game in attempting shots he has hitherto been unable to play. Check.
And so on and so on … I think you’re starting to get the picture. Albany would certainly appeal to MacKenzie.
But had it not been for the foresight and judgement of a fellow Englishman, we may not have ever had the privilege of playing such a wonderful course today.
Albany, about 430km south east of Perth, was Western Australia’s major port until the end of the 19th century and at the height of the gold rush, more than 30,000 visitors a year passed through the town en route to the goldfields near Kalgoorlie. One of these visitors was an English golfer who suggested to some Albany locals that the stretch of land between Middleton Beach and Lake Seppings – where the course lies today – was ideal for a nine-hole links.
Golfer and Editor of the Albany Advertiser, W.F. Forster latched onto the Englishman’s idea and pushed the cause for a golf links to be established in his newspaper editorial of August 16, 1898.
“If good golf links were established here and information to their existence and also the character of the climate were sent to all the
golf clubs in this and other colonies, we are certain the result would be most satisfactory,” Forster wrote.
Forster called for the creation of nine holes behind Middleton Beach. “All that would be needed would be the removal of scrub for a width of, say, one hundred yards for a distance of a mile or less and the laying down of putting greens with turf,” he said. “There is plenty of room for links, and we suppose that they could be made for a matter of two hundred pounds.”
The Albany Golf Club was soon formed, monies raised and construction began on the course within 12 months. The links was declared open on February 3, 1900.
By the mid-1920s, the club was looking to extend to 18 holes and a lease for adjoining land was signed with the local council.
RIGHT: The dogleg left par-4 7th is brilliant in the simplicity of its design. PHOTO: Brendan James.
David Anderson – born into the famous Anderson golfing dynasty of St, Andrews, Scotland – had emigrated to Australia and taken up the position of professional at Perth’s Cottesloe Golf Club after World War I. He was also called upon to advise on the design of several Perth courses, but it was his visit to Albany – to draft extension plans – that enthused the Scot, immediately providing him memories of home.
“I am of the opinion that the residents of Albany do not know how fortunate they are in possessing land absolutely of the finest golfing country, and it is with pleasure and without hesitation that I say I have never seen better golfing territory outside a few links in the Old Country,” he wrote. “The possibilities of Albany with this excellent contour and ideal climate must be unique as far as Australia is concerned.”
More than three decades after Anderson’s 1927 visit and appraisal, Albany celebrated the official opening of its new holes completing its 18-hole layout. It is unknown, and unlikely, if any of Anderson’s plans made the cut.
In fact, the creative minds behind the design of the original nine and, later, the second nine is unknown, which is unfortunate as they deserve to be applauded for producing a wonderful layout – the bones of which remain today despite its inevitable evolution over 122 years.
Much of the course’s journey from hidden gem to knocking on the door of being ranked in the Top-100 courses in the country has been during the past two decades. A host of new greens were brought into play in 2002, just after the construction of a new clubhouse at the northern end of the layout. This new hub required all the holes to be renumbered but, more importantly, the prevailing south-westerly wind is now into your face for the opening holes of each nine.
The thin strip of rolling sand dune land running parallel to Middleton Beach ultimately dictated that all but one hole would be navigated along the tops of ridges and through valleys, sometimes at a slight angle, rather than playing directly across the dunes.
This design feature becomes immediately apparent standing on the tee of the opening hole, which is known as ‘Whaleback’ because the large ridge in the middle of the fairway resembles the arching back of a whale. The green of the 355-metre par-4 is really only visible from the tee and your tee shot is played through a chute created by Peppermint trees. Unless the drive is perfectly struck down the middle, your ball is likely to roll off the whale’s back to the edges of the fairway and, perhaps, into the rough.
The slight dogleg left 2nd – a par-4 of 398-metres from the back tee – is rated the hardest hole on the course. The best driving line from the tee here is straight at the War Memorial you can see on Mt Clarence off in the distance. Strike it well and you will be left with a long approach into a deep, narrow and subtly-contoured putting surface.
Continuing the journey to the southern end of the course is the 292-metre par-4 3rd, which doglegs right and is seemingly far easier to play than the previous hole but should never be underestimated. Long hitters can reach the green with a lusty blow in favourable conditions, but the risk of finding the deep greenside pot bunker right of the putting surface must be considered.
The 496-metre par-5 4th hole leads you to the southern end of the layout, with the large green laying in front of the site of the original clubhouse, hence the hole is called ‘Old Clubhouse’. Here, again, is a perfect example of routing the fairway along the ridge of a sand dune, with balls hit slightly offline easily deflected to the edges of the fairway. The second shot challenge here is enormous, with your ball either laying well below, or above, your feet. The 4th ends an impressive opening quartet of holes that really set the tone for the remainder of the round.
If you have played the opening four into the wind, you will get some relief from the 5th to 9th holes, playing them downwind on your trek back to the clubhouse. This would normally be welcomed but playing the 134-metre par-3 8th hole – called Devil’s Ridge – with the wind behind you is a tough test to get right. It’s far from a difficult looking hole. The squarish green might be large, but it is well exposed to the wind and a high-flying short iron here could easily see a ball swept to the sides, or long, and down one of the steep drop-offs into the rough leaving a tough recovery shot.
The 8th is a terrifically simple one-shotter that can easily bring you undone. But it is not the best of Albany’s par-3s. That plaudit, in my opinion, must go to the 126-metre 14th hole, which plays more across, than along, the dunes at the southern end of the course. Depending on the wind of the day, there is a wide variety of clubs that can be used to find the two-tiered green from the tee. There are two bunkers, one either side of the narrow, lower front level of the putting surface.
Albany’s green complexes are outstanding, with a variety of different shapes and sizes. The aforementioned 14th is kidney-shaped. There are several straight-edged putting surfaces, while the 10th and 12th greens are long, narrow and shaped a little like a dogbone.
Then there is the closing hole – a 390-metre par-4 usually played downwind – where sitting beyond nearly 50 metres of dead ground is a two-tiered green featuring a downslope to the back fringe from the ridge cutting the green into two sections. This makes for a really challenging approach shot, which probably needs to land short of the green to stay on the green … especially downwind.
While Albany was ranked No.73 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Public Access Courses in 2021, it narrowly missed a spot in the Top-100 Courses rank this year.
However, the positive feedback from judges and continued improvement of its agronomy to match the quality of the design suggests a spot in the Top-100 Courses rank in 2024 is certainly achievable.
FACT FILE
LOCATION: 1 Barry Court, Middleton Beach, Albany, Western Australia.
CONTACT: (08) 9844 8855
WEBSITE: www.albanygolfclub.com.au
DESIGNERS: Unknown (1900 & 1963).
PLAYING SURFACES: Bentgrass (greens), kikuyu (fairways and tees).
COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Ryan Western.
PGA PROFESSIONALS: Michael Draper, Ian Redmond.
GREEN FEE: $50 (seven days). Carts $40.
MEMBERSHIP: Membership is available across a range of categories including full, country, distance and junior. Check the club’s website for full details.
ACCOMMODATION: Albany GC has play and stay package deals with Ace Accommodation Albany (www.aceaccommodationalbany.com.au) and Pelicans Albany Middleton Beach (www.pelicansalbany.com). Guests staying with either accommodation provider get a 20 percent green fee discount.
ACCOLADES: Ranked No.73 in Golf Australia Magazine’s Top-100 Public Access Courses in Australia for 2021.
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