Bonville’s the Masters-quality course you play when you’re not playing at the Masters. There’s more to do at Coff's Harbour outside golf than Augusta anyway .

Bonville Resort just South of Coffs Harbour Bonville Resort just South of Coffs Harbour
Images: Brendan James, Golf Australia

It’s not the oldest or toughest of the majors, but by virtue of its location in space and time, there’s something undeniably special about the Masters. Always first on the calendar, it’s the ritual end to the eight-month hiatus of major championship golf; an outlet for all that pent-up expectation. And by returning to the same venue every year – it’s the only one of the game’s four most important events to do so – there’s a deep sense of comfort and familiarity. The hallmarks of Augusta National Golf Club – verdant grass, stately rows of trees, blooming flowers, the oasis-like quality

– represent what is for many a golfing ideal.

Many have tried to recreate Augusta, and realised how hard it is to capture the essence of its golfing and aesthetic value. But in the realm of the senses, the Coffs Coast in New South Wales has tapped into that small slice of Georgia, kind of like how every good indie band has a bit of Dylan in it. Bonville isn’t the home of the Masters, to be sure – but play a round here and the golfer can’t avoid impressions of April, green jackets and Greg Norman heartbreaks.

Brad Daymond has a great Augusta story to tell. The enthusiastic Daymond is a Bonville lifer, the club pro the day the place opened in 1992, who has since become the general manager. He recounts the time he got to play Augusta, a singular privilege as the club is intensely private. Every player taking to the course there brings along one of the club’s caddies, who’ll have the odd wager on the players they’re looping for that round. Daymond met his caddy on the practice range where he was warming up; with adrenaline flowing from the anticipation, he was smashing a seven-iron 20m past his normal distance. “My caddy took one look at me and said,” Daymond says, then affecting a perfect Old South accent, “‘Ohh, Mr Daymond, we gonna have a good day today.’”

That could also serve as the motto for Bonville, made into a sign to be posted in the locker room or on the first tee box. For many people, a round at Bonville fulfils the fundamental purpose of a golfing day out. Carved into strands of flooded gums and blackbutt trees, the holes provide the ultimate in seclusion – each group will feel like it’s the only one out on the course. Those golfers, both serious and casual, who value their round as an escape from routine and a chance to commune with nature, with clubs and balls, will find it here. It’s no surprise at all that rugby union’s Wallabies, when they had their base camp in Coffs Harbour from 2003 to ’07, turned the course into one of their regular haunts outside of training.