It’s hard to escape the references – it’s probably the reason that you’ve come to the Hunter Valley, after all – the approach to the Cypress Lakes Golf & Country leaves you in no doubt you’re in hardcore wine country.

Vineyards and cellar doors with familiar names – Hungerford Hill, Tamburlaine, Pepper Tree, Tyrell’s and Brokenwood to name a few – dot the landscape, luring out its own kind of devotees to go from one to the next, as surely as they were going from tee to fairway to green.

The references don’t stop when you arrive at Cypress Lakes. There are vines around the layout, not exactly hazards but neither places you want to hit into. In years gone by the tee markers were in the shape of wine bottles and the previous owners had their own wine label.

In keeping with the theme, the golf at Cypress Lakes is best sipped rather than quaffed.

The split-level fairway offers two playing lines into the lakeside 17th green. PHOTO: Brendan James.

The course was designed by American Steve Smyers, a Florida-based architect and high-level competitive amateur who has recently held several senior positions with the United States Golf Association’s executive committee. While much of his work is based in the United States, and Cypress Lakes remains his only Australian design, Smyers has travelled extensively around the golf world, and his Australian wife, Sherrin, is a former LPGA Tour pro. These broader horizons helped instil in Smyers an affinity for the qualities of classic, ground-game golf, like that found on British links and the Melbourne Sandbelt.

At Cypress Lakes, he was able to turn what was a challenging site to build on and a drawn-out construction process into a good example of strategic golf. With each nine boasting a distinct character – the outward half is relatively treeless, open and rolling, where the inward is more defined, with sharper falls and rises as it winds its way below the high point of the resort – the course contains a variety of hole types, from drive-and-pitch par-4s and reachable par-5s to stern, long par-3s and what was, at one point, the longest golf hole in the land. In every case, position is paramount, with golfers presented with the task of plotting rather than blasting – again, sipping, not quaffing.

Cypress Lakes opened for play 30 years ago and rarely has it been presented in such good shape as it is today.

After several years of decline, a change of ownership in 2013 brought much needed investment into the course as well as the resort that overlooks it. The course and the resort have been improving ever since.

The resort, known as Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort, was named Australia’s Best Golf Hotel in 2018 and, again, in 2021. The course also made it back into national rankings. It was ranked the No.97 Public Access Course in Australia for 2017 by this magazine, after disappearing from all ranking lists for nearly six years. In 2021, it was ranked No.66.

If you haven’t visited Cypress Lakes in recent years, you’re in for a really pleasant surprise. All of the layout’s bunkers have been renovated and some greens have been slightly tweaked as a result of that work.

The rolling 1st fairway is punctuated by a rocky creek short of the putting surface. PHOTO: Brendan James.

Having attended the opening in 1992 and made dozens of return visits since, I can attest that the quality of the playing surfaces are as good as I have seen them at any stage during the past three decades. This was truly pleasing to see after watching the decline in its conditioning during the 2000s. It was also during this time that the routing was changed several times, the controversial long par-4 12th was changed to a par-3 and the uphill par-3 5th hole was converted into a short par-4. Thankfully both have reverted back to what the designer intended.

As for the routing, I think the current version is by far the best that has been tried over the years.

A round at Cypress Lakes used to open on a crescent-shaped par-5, not too long at 450 metres max but markedly uphill, and the drive had to clear a lake. It was a tough way to start, particularly for the resort visitors indulging in a bit of hit and giggle, and clogged pace-of-play from the outset. This hole is now far better suited as the 14th hole and, having ironed out some of the kinks in your swing over the preceding 13 holes, it becomes a genuine birdie opportunity.

The course still opens on a dogleg left, reachable par-5, where the fairway dips and rises through a valley before descending to the green. The most recent addition to this hole is a rocky brook that winds out in front of the green from the left, adding to much needed risk for any long shot seeking the putting surface in two blows.

The 2nd brings back the touch of oenophilia. With only a sliver of fairway in view, your drive has to carry the vines of the Brokenwood Graveyard Winery, where they grow one of the most admired Shiraz in the land. The main considerations on the approach are all long and left with a large lake lying at the base of a closely shaved drop off from the putting surface.

The 3rd and 4th shape as the round’s first tough spot, with a long, well-bunkered one-shotter followed by a very long par-4 (439 metres from the tips), with out-of-bounds down the right and one of the more impressive green sites on the course.

The approach into the long par-4 4th – skirting water and sand – is memorable. PHOTO: Brendan James.

The vines reappear at the par-5 6th, where the fairway swoops down from the tee and back up again to the green. There are six massive bunkers to be found on the 491-metre journey and they are in significantly better shape, in terms of sand quality and colour, than they were a handful of years ago.

The 9th marks the change of the character in the course from the open landscape and vineyard views to the parkland style, as a thick strand of trees frame a narrow, back-to-front sloping green.

As mentioned, the 378-metre (from the blue markers) 12th is thankfully a par-4 again. It is one of Cypress Lakes’ most memorable holes, with your drive being stuck from a narrow chute to what appears to be a sliver of fairway. In fact, there are three tiers of fairway which widens to the right. Some of the steepness has been taken out of the sloping fairway, making it easier to get your tee shot onto the short grass.

Perhaps my favourite hole is Cypress Lakes’ penultimate offering because your line to the fairway is determined by the pin position. The 337-metre par-4 has two fairways – one low and another high – either side of ominous bunkers cut into the slope between the two fairways. The ‘low road’ to the right is always my preference, despite having to possibly hit over the greenside lake to get near the flag.

The rolling par-5 6th hole is a genuine three-shotter for most players. PHOTO: Brendan James.

“Golf courses should not be designed to conform to whimsical trends of the day. Rather, they should be designed according to proven, classical principles that withstand the test of time,” architect Smyers once wrote.

I’m not sure if Smyers has been back to the Hunter Valley layout since signing-off on the design in 1992. But I would hope that if he has, it was in recent times as Cypress Lakes begins to truly fulfil the enormous potential it presented when Brett Ogle hit the opening tee shot there all those years ago.  

FACT FILE

LOCATION: Cnr McDonalds & Thompsons Rd, Pokolbin, NSW, 2320

CONTACT: (02) 4993 1555

WEBSITE: www.cypresslakes.com.au 

DESIGNER: Steve Smyers (1992).

PLAYING SURFACES: Couch (fairways), bentgrass (greens).

COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Craig Molloy.

PGA PROFESSIONALS: Scott Cubis.

GREEN FEES: $95 (18 holes, Mon-Thurs, including shared Visage GPS cart); $120 (Fri-Sun, including shared Visage GPS cart).

MEMBERSHIPS: Cypress Lakes is open for membership. All memberships at Cypress Lakes enjoy the use of a motorised

cart as part of their membership package and receive exclusive discounts and access throughout the resort. For more details visit the website.

ACCOMODATION: Set against the Broken Back range, the Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort features one-, two- and three-bedroom villas, the resort offers premium facilities including two restaurants, two bars, three pools and two tennis courts.

ACCOLADES: Ranked No.66 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Public Access Courses for 2021.