Day 3 was a splendid day spent at New South Wales Golf Club with Club Captain Phil Banister.
After a restful though short night I spent my first full day in Sydney with ‘Golf’ being prominent for the first time in the ‘Golf Journey to Australia & New Zealand.’ I visited the New South Wales Golf Club and was astonished by her beauty. She is in a class all by herself as far as I have seen in the world of golf—links golf with significant elevation changes. ‘Spectacular’ as my friend Seannie would exclaim with a voice inflection that surely said the adjective was well deserved!
I was hosted by Club Captain Phil Banister. We spent a good five hours touring the golf course, meeting and conversing with several members. We sat in the clubhouse with a view overlooking the 18th green. From that vantage point one sees the pureness of this seaside golf course with its ups-and-downs meandering itself up and around on a bluff overlooking the sea and then down to the sea itself as if a horse lowers her head to drink. The original Dr. Alister MacKenzie design was modified by E.L. Apperly six and twenty-two years after it first opened in 1928. Since 1951 numerous architects have been involved and there is one who wished he had the opportunity to work on her a bit but never did—Jack Nicklaus.
CLICK here for a BEAUTY VIDEO of the New South Wales Golf Club.
The home hole and the clubhouse at New South Wales Golf Club.
I heard many stories of Australia, Australian golf and those who play our humbling game on the La Perouse links. None more fascinating than Dan Cullen who turns 100 years old on the 15th of November. He grew up near Perth and came to the game as a sort of forced indenture as a caddie after eating figs from a wealthy man’s fig tree. On the advice of Bobby Locke he came east to Sydney because that was where the money in golf. In addition to playing competitive golf, in the late 1960’s he set up and operated a driving range still known today Cullen’s Driving Range. While we think of the 1977 Open at Turnberry as Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus’ ‘Duel in the Sun,’ it was Cullen setting a record for the oldest golfer ever to qualify for the British Open. He was 62 years old. Happy Birthday to Dan Cullen!
Surfers, not seals, in the water at Maroubra Beach.
After golf I explored the area a bit by driving north to visit Maroubra Beach and then Coogee Beach. Stunning, absolutely stunning. Australia, an island continent, has over 21,000 miles of coastline, that’s over twenty times more than what California has in the United States. I can see why most of Australia’s 23 million people live near the coast and love their beaches.
Saturday, November 1st, my first full day in Australia!
Staying in Kingsford I found a perfect location close to the historic golf courses of Sydney, the beach and the city itself. Two out of three wasn’t bad for the first day! Down Under Andy (-: (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 11/3/14)
