My experiences at Camden Golf Club date back to the early 1980s when, as a teenage golfer growing up in western Sydney, myself and a few mates would play in the club’s Cup event and the occasional open day.
One particular open day four of us were in the penultimate group of the day’s competition, and the then resident club pro Chris Tickner, was playing with some members in the final group. Tickner, who played his way through qualifying into the field for the 1978 Open Championship at St Andrews, was an absolute flusher and we spent more time admiring his shots than we did watching the results of our own swings.
Tickner, who was awarded life membership of the PGA of Australia in 2011, was raised just a stone’s throw from the course and he learned the game on the Camden layout. That afternoon watching him play stayed with me for a long time as I had never seen any player, at that stage of my golfing education, hit the ball as if it was on a string. He made the game look so damn easy … he made the course look easy. But I can assure you after many rounds at Camden – before and after some major remodelling over the years – the layout is not as easy as Tickner made it look that day.
Camden Golf Club is also known as Studley Park, named after the 134-year-old mansion that rises from the centre of the property and overlooks the course. The land on which the course traverses, which would become known as Studley Park Estate, was originally granted to two settlers in 1810 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie.
The house, which can be seen from most corners of the layout, later became a grammar school before being sold in 1933 to 20th Century Fox film studio sales executive, Arthur Gregory, who was a keen golfer.
Gregory was quick to make alterations to the interior and the exterior of the house, ensuring a Hollywood Art Deco style. He also wanted his own course and soon commissioned acclaimed architect Eric Apperly to design nine holes. Of course, it was Apperly who six years earlier co-designed New South Wales GC with Alister MacKenzie and was also responsible for the original layouts at The Lakes and Avondale.
The Gregory family constructed the tees, greens and fairways for the course, which Gregory hoped to transform into a country club for golfers from the city. A second nine followed a few years later, this time with Dan Soutar the creative genius behind Kingston Heath, providing the architectural knowhow.
The original course featured bentgrass greens, which were regarded to be the best outside the metropolitan area.
Sadly, that original course was lost less than a year into World War II when in June 1940 the Department of Defence bought the Gregory property, which became the Australian Army headquarters of the Eastern Command Training School.
Golf returned in 1950 with the formation of the Camden club, whose foundation members negotiated a lease with the army on the land and looked to revive Apperly and Soutar’s work.
Studley Park House officially become part of the course again in October 1996 when the club purchased the landmark building. The club sold the house 12 years later and the profit made helped the club finance more than $2 million worth of irrigation upgrades as well as the creation of four new holes including the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 13th.
The toughest of these is the 520-metre par-5 4th hole. From the tee, the narrow, slightly descending fairway passes between two bunkers before turning sharply to the right around the edge of a lake lying left of the hole. The fairway then snakes passed more fairway bunkers before reaching the narrow green that lies between two bunkers right and more water to the left. The winding nature of the fairway ensures this is not a hole that can be easily conquered with two lusty blows. Miss the sand from the tee and for your approach and be happy with a short pitch for your third.
Water is also a feature of one of the best holes on the inward nine. The 341-metre par-4 13th calls for a solid tee shot to carry the edge of a dam and reach the fairway that runs at a slight diagonal from right-to-left alongside the water hazard. Longer hitters can really get close to the green and leave an easier approach by taking on a longer water carry from the tee. And it’s a risk worth taking as the second shot here is into one of the biggest greens on the course, so the penalty for missing the putting surface is great – steep drop-offs from the fringe mixed with three large bunkers, short, right and left.
Other recent major changes overseen by course superintendent Justin Bradbury include redesigns of several holes either side of the turn. The 462-metre par-5 8th hole offers a birdie opportunity for some, but the risk and reward approach shot over a water hazard to reach the green might be too much for some players.
The par-3 9th hole is also relatively new and it might just be one of Sydney’s toughest one-shotters as it plays 202 metres uphill to a heavily bunkered green and out-of-bounds to the right. This tough par-3 replaced the par-3 12th hole, which Greg Norman once tagged as one of the best in the country. The 12th has been transformed into a terrific 280-metre risk and reward par-4 where there is equal chance of an eagle and double bogey depending on the quality of your tee shot.
While these changes have been in the ground for a few years now, the club is not resting on its laurels and is embarking on a host of major improvements to the course in the near future.
Course architect Richard Chamberlain has been engaged by the club to oversee the redesign of several holes including a transformation of the par-4 15th hole into a sweeping par-5 played from just in front of the Studley Park mansion. Later this year, the 14th green will be rebuilt as part of the staged improvement program.
The club’s masterplan will also see Bradbury and his team oversee the conversion of all tees to couch. A bunker renovation program has already begun with every bunker across the layout being rebuilt with new sand added, better drainage and capillary concrete liner used to overcome maintenance issues.
The planned changes over the next few years promise to elevate what has always been a challenging and fun layout.
How much the course currently differs from the original design creations of Apperly and Soutar is difficult to say. One suspects it is very different but Chamberlain’s involvement with the masterplan promises to extract the best golf the landscape has to offer, which is an exciting outlook for the Camden club. Almost as exciting as watching Tickner stripe iron shots.
FACT FILE
LOCATION: Lodges Rd, Narellan, NSW
CONTACT: (02) 4646 1203; (02) 4648 2387 (pro shop)
WEBSITE: www.camdengolfclub.com.au
DESIGNERS: Eric Apperly (1933), Dan Soutar (1935), Richard Chamberlain (2022 and ongoing).
PGA PROFESSIONAL: Stuart Meani.
PLAYING SURFACES: Bentgrass/Poa annua (greens), kikuyu and couch (fairways, tees).
COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Justin Bradbury.
GREEN FEES: $30 (18 holes, weekdays), $45 (weekends).
MEMBERSHIP: There are several membership options – including seven-, six- and five-day memberships as well as veteran, colt and junior categories. The club offers flexible payment options for joining fees and membership subscriptions to help budget conscious families.
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