Sydney Golf

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We are here as part of the Canadian Senior Golf Association tour of Australia cohosted by the New South Wales and Victoria Senior Golf Societies. We will play four different courses in each state over the next two weeks.

Day one was at the Pymble GC, about 45 minutes north of downtown Sydney.

The course was built out in stages on land used to graze dairy cattle and officially opened as a full golf club in 1928.

Those cattle must have had great balance as the land can only be described as hilly. Serious hills, both up and down. Lots of blind shots to greens where only the top of the flag could be seen.

Aside from the elevation changes, the main feature was the unique sculpturing of the bunkers.

It was evident our golf walking fitness was sadly lacking and not helped by the old fashioned small two wheel trolleys that we dragged everywhere. Notwithstanding the physical challenges, it was a good day overall golf wise as Mark was low Canadian and second overall while Mo won the ladies closest-to-the-hole competition.

The following day we moved to The Australian Club which is right in the city., 20 minutes south of the harbour.

This is one of the blue blood courses of Sydney. Opened in 1882, The Australian holds the honour of being the oldest Golf Club in the Commonwealth. Since a complete renovation in 2013 it has hosted the Australian Open six times.

While the start and finish were down/up a hill, for the most part it was serene parkland golf. The turf, rough, and sand, were in immaculate condition. The greens were tough to read but fair.

We were pitted in a match against our Australian hosts who promptly played their best golf of the season. Uh huh. We were waxed. The ladies played a different format and Mo was the top Canadian, finished T3 overall.

The fitness level is still dodgy with sore shins creeping into the mix. At least we had the big two wheel Rickshaws this time.

The camaraderie of meeting some of the Canadians for the first time and interacting with our Australian counterparts has been first class. Looking forward to cruising the Sydney Harbour tomorrow and then it’s on to more golf.