Tallwoods Country Club

WORDS: STEVE KEIPERT   PHOTOGRAPHY: BRENDAN JAMES

This picturesque layout on the New South Wales mid-north coast has passed through a tumultuous period and is poised to realise its immense potential.

Reputations are everything for golf courses and a good one can have players queueing at the gates. A bad one, though, can be damaging to the extreme.

Case in point is Tallwoods Country Club near Forster in the Great Lakes region of New South Wales, where impressions gained spuriously from afar in recent years have hurt an otherwise pleasant and fulfilling golf getaway destination that’s within easy reach of the state’s two largest cities.

Tallwoods opened in 1999 as an exclusive course for residents only. Golf media reports at the time lauded the quality, condition and sheer beauty of the golf course and the appeal of the entire project. Perhaps inevitably, access loosened a few years later to allow public play, first via staying as guests in the villas beside the 18th fairway and later to all and sundry.

It is true that the course and entire estate have experienced a turbulent first 15 years. Tallwoods has experienced multiple changes of ownership, which in itself has created a colourful past. For instance, the leading figure of a Chinese consortium that took control wound up meeting his demise with the authorities, while in one hectic ten-day period two years ago, the golf course went through three potential owners before Tallwoods resident Tim Ford took over. It was a diverse step for a man with no previous background in golf management but at last the course was being controlled by someone with golf as a focus, and not the peripheral activities. Tallwoods’ golf course today is managed separately to the residential estate and existing accommodation (however, Ford has plans to establish a new, 24-strong accommodation precinct near the 13th tee next year).

The management history is chequered but the course didn’t close, as some people assumed, and such misconceptions have impacted Tallwoods’ image. Golfers perhaps hadn’t been sure what they’d find at the end of a three-plus-hour drive from Sydney or two-hour trip from Newcastle. Inexorably the course’s status suffered because of the changes in ownership, changes in approach, and the ebb and flow in conditioning that’s come with various management edicts and – more tellingly – varying budgets. One thing that’s never been called into question is the quality of Dr Michael Hurdzan’s design. It has always offered a fantastic location plus a very solid and enjoyable test of golf.

We’re here to tell you the golf course is perfectly playable in terms of access and highly playable in terms of the quality of the design, while the condition is coming back thanks to passionate greens staff and an owner who cares how the place looks. And if you’re game to walk it, you get change from $50 to play there.

The obvious praise for Hurdzan’s design is how well he utilised the terrain and its many charming high points. That’s true but he also created a collection of putting surfaces with ingenious imagination while retaining continuity.

Many greens feature tucked or raised pockets where the most diabolical pins hide, such as the 4th, 6th and, in particular, the back-right corner of the par-3 16th. Others, like the 3rd and 7th greens, are rippled to produce tough centre and rear flags, respectively. Some contours are overt, many are subtle, such as a raised shoulder here and there pushing into the edge of an otherwise gently sloping green.

As often happens with scenic and tree-lined courses, the natural assets that make the setting so stunning can inhibit its playability. Tallwoods’ high-then-low, bowl-like terrain made it a nightmare to present in anything near peak condition after heavy rain, as the precipitation would gather in the main playing corridors. A combination of strategic bunker removal and extensive drainage work carried out in recent years has helped alleviate this problem and the course is now out of play for days rather than weeks after solid rainfall.

The bunkers prone to washouts were removed, which did little to alter the strategy other than perhaps at the par-3 6th where the large front bunker was so imposing from the elevated tee looking down to the wide, shallow green. Yet the hollow that took its place is arguably just as troublesome to escape for tee shots that don’t make the distance.

The course begins comparatively softly and builds to a crescendo with most of the easier holes falling early in the round, so there shouldn’t be any morale-killing big numbers on the scorecard early. Tallwoods has some softer holes but just like great albums can carry

so-so songs, so too can a good course house the odd uninspiring hole.

A spacious par-4 1st hole transitions to a 145-metre 2nd set in a forest of towering gums that help give Tallwoods its name. It’s a short par-3 but precision is essential to find the green. The par-5 3rd, named “Quarry”, climbs a sharp hill so plays far longer than its 437 metres. The second shot can be fired across a treed corner with a huge quarry-like dip to the aforementioned cascading green that’s set obliquely to the driving zone and with bushy shrubs lining the hillside beyond.

The first of Tallwoods’ stunning downhill tee shots comes at the 4th, a 341-metre excursion seemingly down a mountain. It’s a great hole for the ego as drives fly and run forever but the real examination is your ability to squeeze a crisp pitch shot over a front bunker and hold a tilted green with little depth, especially on the right side.

Birdies beckon at the par-5 5th and short 6th before Tallwoods tightens its grip. The next hole starts a quartet of par-4s that are more taxing than first glance indicates. A tight tee shot from within a grove of trees at the 7th leads to a green with sneaky slopes feeding a centre-back portion of a putting surface that looks far more innocuous standing in the fairway. The cheeky 8th hole features water along the right side of the fairway that stretches all the way to the green. The approach to the 9th is a good test of your longer irons as the layout hits the accelerator rounding the turn.

Tallwoods’ 10th is a multi-faceted 356-metre par-4 framed by a huge Angophora tree in the centre of a fairway that doglegs left around a fairway bunker. The green is split in half by a spine defining the accessible front-left portion from the more demanding rear-right. Complicating matters is a lake bordering the right side that is impossible not to notice. The same water comprises much of the par-3 11th where two more soaring trees stand “Sentinel” at the green, giving the hole its name. Sand rather than water is the more likely hazard for most players as the green of the 170-metre hole is almost encircled by bunkers. The 378-metre 12th requires your straightest tee shot of the round as the par-4 is flanked on both sides by tall timber.

The last six holes make use of a more open setting. The par-5 13th is a solid slog up a steep hill before the 212-metre 14th where the tee shot’s descent to the green resembles a plummet off a cliff. The 15th is a long par-5 culminating in a green sitting above fairway level. If there is a criticism of the design, it’s the way four of the five par-5s play uphill for the final approach. There’s nothing wrong with a climb to the target but by the 15th hole at Tallwoods you do notice playing that uphill pitch a few times already.

The final par-3 comes at the 16th and is a far trickier prospect than the scorecard indicates. It’s near impossible to run a shot onto the green from 184 metres away and if the flag is tucked on the right side the goal shrinks to roughly the size of a dining table. Take par here and run.

There is only one par-4 in the final six holes and it’s spectacular. The view from the back tee at 17 is as striking as they come. And the tee shot is equally thrilling as drives hang in the air against the backdrop of the Great Lakes coastline for several pulsating moments before tumbling to the fairway below. It is a visual feast ahead of a second shot that’s straightforward providing you’ve found a fairway characterised by a lone skinny tree retained to split the short grass in two.

The par-5 18th spent several years chopped back to a par-4 to shield the neighbouring villas. Today it has a new tee, set farther right than the original par-5 tee, so errant shots are much less of a concern. With greenside water in play, the hole works far better as a par-5 where the opportunity for closing birdies is real. We hear so much about risk-reward par-5s; this one is all reward as the looming water is the only major obstacle to setting up an eagle putt.

Change at the home hole has been constant, much like Tallwoods itself. Now the 18th is back how it began life, which is a comforting symbol as the club enters its next phase.

FACT FILE

THE COURSE

LOCATION: The Boulevard, Tallwoods Village, Hallidays Point. About three-and-a-half hours’ drive north of Sydney via the M1 and Pacific Highway. Turn right at Failford Rd just north of Nabiac, then left onto The Lakes Way and right onto Blackhead Rd.

CONTACT: (02) 6593 3228.

WEBSITE: www.tallwoods.com.au

DESIGNER: Dr Michael Hurdzan (1999).

SLOPE RATINGS: Men: 141/139/133; women 131/126.

PLAYING SURFACES: Bentgrass (greens), couch (fairways, tees and rough).

PGA PROFESSIONAL: Jeff Mendham.

GREEN FEES: $45, or $65 with cart.

THE CLUB

MEMBERSHIPS: Full memberships are currently open and are priced at $1,160. Other memberships are also available.

CORPORATE FACILITIES: The Boulevard Conference Centre is the latest addition to the facilities at Tallwoods. The main conference room seats up to 50, theatre-style, with three breakout rooms. Larger functions are ideally suited to “The Sandtrap”, which accommodates up to 120 in banquet style.

ACCOMMODATION: Tallwoods’ on-site villas vary from one, two and three bedrooms flanking the 18th fairway and offering golf course or garden views. Each villa features a fully equipped kitchen, master bedroom with spa bath, air-conditioning, open-planned living areas, flatscreen TV, DVD player and pay-TV channels. Glass sliding doors open onto each villa’s private barbecue area and spacious deck. The resort also includes swimming pools and tennis courts. There are also brand new bungalows available.