One of the great strengths of Australian golf is the accessibility we have to affordable and enjoyable courses of quality. While it can often be difficult to get a round on a city layout, particularly on weekends, you won’t find the same kind of boundaries in the country.

When you load the clubs into the car and head off for a country ‘drive’, you will discover there is some enjoyable golf to be played in regional Australia. Generally, the better country courses have been in the ground for many years and you can sometimes stumble across original creations from designers of yesteryear. In most cases, the small budgets and course staff numbers these courses survive on preclude them from doing major alterations to their course unless it is absolutely necessary.

One such course of this ilk is the Duntryleague Golf Club, located in Orange, about four hours’ drive west of Sydney.

Duntryleague has been on my must-get-back-there-for-a-game-soon list for some time, having enjoyed many rounds there in tournaments and competitions as a younger man. With the exception of one visit a few years ago for a photo shoot, I had not played the layout for nearly

20 years.

Before hitting off on a course I haven’t seen for a while, I always like to ask the management if there have been any changes – routing, design or otherwise – in recent times. “I don’t think anything has changed significantly in the past 15 or 20 years … it’s still beautiful,” was the reply.

As I discovered over the next four hours, the design, which I have always considered very good, hasn’t changed much at all. Might have been the odd bunker added here or there but that’s all.

The biggest change has been in its superior presentation, particularly in recent times, as a result of good rainfall during the past two years. The bentgrass greens I saw during my visit to compile this feature were excellent, while the predominantly couch grass fairways were superb. Both fairways and greens would be the envy of many metropolitan clubs. For decades, Duntryleague was famous for its fine-leaf African couch fairways that were an absolute joy to hit off and there are still some patches of this couch, mixed in with another couch strain, to be found on the course.

GACourseDuntry03I always found that part of the joy of playing Duntryleague was, on each visit, learning just a little bit more about the history of the course and the 19th century mansion that stands on the highest point of the property. The mansion, which now serves as the clubhouse and offers guesthouse accommodation, dates back to 1876 when James Dalton started the estate after migrating from Ireland. The name Duntryleague was derived from his birthplace in County Limerick and was originally called ‘Doon Tri Liag’.

A stained glass window in the mansion was presented by the Vatican to Dalton on the occasion of his investiture as a Papal Knight for his services to the Catholic Church. Dalton’s strong ties with the church would ultimately lead to the estate being sold to the Orange Golf Club.

When Dalton died in 1919, the property was left to one of his sons Father Patrick Dalton, a Jesuit priest. But Father Dalton could not accept the bequest himself and Duntryleague became the property of the church for more than a decade. The then Bishop of Bathurst had rejected the idea of turning the property into a Catholic college, which sparked the interest of members at the nearby Orange Golf Club. The club had existed nearby on a small plot of land since 1901 and they were interested in buying the property. The Bishop gave the club two weeks to come up with £12,000. The club members found the money and Duntryleague was theirs.

Construction of the 18 holes began within a few months and Eric Apperly – whose more famous design work includes New South Wales, Newcastle and Avondale – oversaw the routing and creation of the layout. Apperly’s work was tweaked over the next five decades but, as I mentioned previously, has changed little since. Although, I suspect, the fairways are far more heavily tree-lined – there are 168 different varieties of trees across the course – today than when Apperly finished his commission.

The front nine covers flatter, easy-walking terrain but there is nothing easy about the opening hole. In fact, I was surprised to see it is rated No.5 on the stroke index. The 431-metre par-4, the longest two-shotter at Duntryleague, calls for you to be on your game from the very first swing. Played from a slightly elevated tee, your drive is to a fairway that rises and falls over the crest of a small hill and turns gradually left towards the green. A wall of trees flanking both sides of the wide fairway form a corridor you will not venture too far from en route to the green. Shorter hitters will be hampered by the hill here and may find they will need a fairway metal for their blind second shot approach.

One of my favourite holes on the outward half also features a blind shot, this time from the tee. The 353-metre par-4 3rd offers a generously wide fairway that doglegs sharply to the right as it heads over the crest of a rise about 190 metres from the tee. The inside of the dogleg is thick with trees, while the left is not much better and longer hitters will have to think hard about their club selection from the tee to avoid running out of fairway. The best approach to the green is from the right, over a greenside bunker and onto the left-to-right sloping putting surface.

The elevation change across the holes of the back nine presents a greater variety of lies and shots, which ultimately makes these holes more interesting. The sequence of holes, starting at the long par-4 13th through to the water-carry par-3 17th, is a real highlight.

For mine, the two holes in this quintet that stand out are the 281-metre dogleg right par-4 14th and the beautifully-shaped short par-5 16th hole. The 14th might seem like a pushover on the scorecard, but this is one short par-4 that deserves plenty of respect. The fairway doglegs hard right around tall gum trees and then descends gradually down towards the smallest green on the course, which offers plenty of differently breaking putts across its surface. Missing the green here makes for a tough up-and-down to save par.

From the smallest green to one of the biggest at Duntryleague, two holes later. From the tee of the 444-metre par-5 16th, you get a view of the wide fairway, which slopes down from right to left, as it turns gradually left, before levelling out beside three cross bunkers cut into the fairway from the left. The accuracy of the second and the third shot approach is the key to a good score on this hole as the green might be large but it is also quite narrow and well protected by the presence of bunkers left and right. Beyond the width of the sand traps are trees, and plenty of them.

I really enjoyed every aspect of this latest visit to Duntryleague. The course was lot of fun to play, while also offering enough challenge where your scorecard could cop a beating if you didn’t show each hole some respect.

THE COURSE

LOCATION: Woodward St, Orange, in NSW Central West, about four hours’ drive west from Sydney CBD via the Blue Mountains.

CONTACT: (02) 6362 3466.

WEBSITE: www.duntryleague.com.au

DESIGNER: Eric Apperly (1935).

PLAYING SURFACES: Couch, mainly South African couch, as well as Wintergrass (fairways), bentgrass (greens), fescue (rough).

PGA PRO: Colin Scarr.

GREEN FEES: $35 (18 holes, seven days).

THE CLUB

MEMBERSHIPS: Duntryleague offers a variety of different membership categories including full playing golf, regional and various age-related memberships.

CORPORATE AND GROUP DAYS: Duntryleague has a large function centre with a capacity for up to 140 guests seated.

ACCOMMODATION: The magnificent Duntryleague mansion (pictured right) boasts self-contained family suites, twin and double rooms and a romantic bridal suite with cedar four-poster bed and all the comfort of modern facilities.

PACKAGES: Orange Golf has several play and stay packages available. Duntryleague’s three-day package starts from $195 per person twin share and includes two nights’ Duntryleague accommodation, three rounds of golf at three Orange golf courses, including Duntryleague, and continental breakfasts. For more details, visit www.golforange.com.au