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.
