Nullarbor Links

Last updated

Nullarbor Links
Rooey II, 2012.JPG
Hole 6: Border Kangaroo,
Border Village, South Australia, 2012.
Club information
Location Eyre Highway, Australia
Established2009;15 years ago (2009)
TypePublic
Owned byVarious owners
Operated byEyre Highway Operators Association
Total holes18
Events hostedChasing the Sun
Website Nullarbor Links
Designed by Robert Stock (consultant)
Par 72

Nullarbor Links [1] [2] is an 18-hole par 72 golf course, said to be the world's longest, situated along 1,365 kilometres of the Eyre Highway along the southern coast of Australia in two states (South Australia and Western Australia), notably crossing the Nullarbor Plain at the head of the Great Australian Bight. [1] [3]

Contents

History

The idea for the course came from Alf Caputo and Bob Bongiorno, both active in the Eyre Highway Operators Association, over a bottle of red wine at the Balladonia Roadhouse. [1] [3] Bongiorno wanted to encourage travellers to stop, spend their money and avoid dangerous driver fatigue. [3]

A feasibility study was completed in September 2006, and public play began in August 2009. [4] The course officially opened on 22 October 2009. [5] [6] [7] As of 2022, more than 20,000 travellers had officially played it, and bought a scorecard for stamping at the roadhouses en route. [3] Course officials have estimated that nearly as many travellers had played the course without paying any fee. [8]

The course

The course begins and ends (depending on the direction of crossing) in the goldmining town of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and the coastal town of Ceduna, South Australia. Professional golfer Robert Stock, from Manchester, England, consulted on the design that incorporates 7 holes from existing courses and 11 holes created at roadhouses and roadside stops. [2]

The purposely constructed holes have tees and greens that use artificial grass, with natural desert land between. The average distance between holes is 66 kilometres (41 mi), with the largest gap being almost 200 kilometres (120 mi).

One of the holes is right in the middle of a sheep station, and has views of the shearing shed as well as the sheep. [7] Other unusual hazards include crows, emus, kangaroos, three species of deadly venomous snakes, wedge-tailed eagles and wombat holes. [2] [3] A further complication is that the ambient temperatures can reach over 50 °C (122 °F) during the day. [2]

Nullarbor Links course layout
HoleNameLengthParTee name/dedicationLocation
Hole 1Oyster Beds485 metres (530 yd)5Graham HoffrichterCeduna Golf Club, Ceduna, South Australia
Hole 2Denial Bay370 metres (405 yd)4William McKenzieCeduna Golf Club, Ceduna, South Australia
Hole 3Windmills260 metres (284 yd)4Pioneer DrivePenong Golf Course, Penong, South Australia
Hole 4Wombat Hole520 metres (569 yd)5KarinkabieNundroo Roadhouse, Nundroo, South Australia
Hole 5Dingo's Den538 metres (588 yd)5Coral & Scobie BeattieNullarbor Roadhouse, Nullarbor, South Australia
Hole 6Border Kangaroo160 metres (175 yd)3Don HarringtonBorder Village Roadhouse, Border Village, South Australia
Hole 7Nullarbor Nymph315 metres (344 yd)4Steve PatupisEucla Golf Course, Eucla, Western Australia
Hole 8Watering Hole330 metres (361 yd)4McGill & KennedyMundrabilla Roadhouse, Mundrabilla, Western Australia
Hole 9Brumby's Run125 metres (137 yd)3Barbara and Brian PikeMadura Roadhouse, Madura, Western Australia
Hole 10Eagles Nest347 metres (379 yd)4BindyCocklebiddy Roadhouse, Cocklebiddy, Western Australia
Hole 1190 Mile Straight310 metres (339 yd)4Edward John Eyre & John BaxterCaiguna Roadhouse, Caiguna, Western Australia
Hole 12 Skylab 175 metres (191 yd)3Pat PrendivilleBalladonia Roadhouse, Balladonia, Western Australia
Hole 13Sheep's Back141 metres (154 yd)3John and Heather Cambell Fraser Range Sheep Station, Fraser Range, Western Australia
Hole 14Golden Horse385 metres (421 yd)4Laurie SinclairNorseman Golf Club, Norseman, Western Australia
Hole 15Ngadju463 metres (506 yd)5Mort HarslettNorseman Golf Club, Norseman, Western Australia
Hole 16Silver Lake392 metres (429 yd)4Kevin HigginsKambalda Golf Club, Kambalda, Western Australia
Hole 17Golden Mile502 metres (549 yd)5Bob BongiornoKalgoorlie Golf Course, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
Hole 18CY O'Connor356 metres (389 yd)4Alf CaputoKalgoorlie Golf Course, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

Playing the course

The course can be played in either direction. [9] A score card can be purchased in Ceduna or Kalgoorlie for A$70 (as of December 2023), plus an $8 maintenance fee. Players can either provide their own clubs, or hire them at each hole for a fee. To preserve the nature of the Nullarbor, players are required to tee their balls up on the course's fairways and are discouraged from driving vehicles on the fairways. On presenting the completed card they can claim a Nullarbor Links Certificate for playing "the World’s Longest Golf course". [10]

Tournaments hosted

The course is the host of the Chasing the Sun golf tournament, which was inaugurated in 2009. The tournament has been held every September since its inception, other than in 2020 and 2021, when it was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [3] [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nullarbor Plain</span> Geographical feature in Western Australia and South Australia

The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single exposure of limestone bedrock, and occupies an area of about 200,000 square kilometres (77,000 sq mi). At its widest point, it stretches about 1,100 kilometres (684 mi) from east to west across the border between South Australia and Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golf course</span> Series of holes designed for the game of golf

A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". The cup holds a flagstick, known as a "pin". A standard round of golf consists of 18 holes, and as such most courses contain 18 distinct holes; however, there are many 9-hole courses and some that have holes with shared fairways or greens. There are also courses with a non-standard number of holes, such as 12 or 14.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eyre Highway</span> Highway in South Australia and Western Australia

Eyre Highway is a 1,664-kilometre (1,034 mi) highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who was the first European to cross the Nullarbor by land, in 1840–1841. Eyre Highway runs from Norseman in Western Australia, past Eucla, to the state border. Continuing to the South Australian town of Ceduna, it crosses the top of the Eyre Peninsula before reaching Port Augusta.

The following is a glossary of the terminology currently used in the sport of golf. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Old names for clubs can be found at Obsolete golf clubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eucla, Western Australia</span> Town in Western Australia

Eucla is the easternmost locality in Western Australia, located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia along the Eyre Highway, approximately 11 kilometres (7 mi) west of the South Australian border. At the 2016 Australian census, Eucla had a population of 53.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caiguna, Western Australia</span> Town in Western Australia

Caiguna is a small roadhouse community located on the Eyre Highway in Western Australia. It is the second stop east of Norseman on the journey east across the Nullarbor Plain. Between Balladonia and Caiguna is a 146.6-kilometre (91.1 mi) stretch of the highway which is one of the longest straight stretches of road in the world. The unofficial Central Western Time (CWT) starts shortly east of Caiguna, heading eastward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cocklebiddy, Western Australia</span> Roadhouse community in Western Australia

Cocklebiddy is a small roadhouse community located on the Eyre Highway in Western Australia. It is the third stop after Norseman on the journey eastwards across the Nullarbor Plain. Like other locations in the region, the site consists of little more than a roadhouse. The current business name of the roadhouse is the Wedgetail Inn and, like most other Nullarbor establishments, has access to satellite television, as well as providing caravan park and hotel-motel facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balladonia, Western Australia</span> Roadhouse community in Western Australia

Balladonia is a small roadhouse community located on the Eyre Highway in Western Australia. It is the first stop east of Norseman on the journey east across the Nullarbor Plain. Between Balladonia and Caiguna is a 146.6-kilometre (91.1 mi) stretch of the highway which is one of the longest straight stretches of road in the world.

Nullarbor Regional Reserve is a protected area in South Australia located about 300 kilometres west of Ceduna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazard (golf)</span>

A hazard is an area of a golf course in the sport of golf which provides a difficult obstacle, which may be of two types: (1) water hazards such as lakes and rivers; and (2) man-made hazards such as bunkers. The governing body for the game of golf outside the US and Canada, The R&A, say that A "hazard" is any bunker or water hazard. Special rules apply to play balls that fall in a hazard. For example, a player may not touch the ground with their club before playing a ball, not even for a practice swing. A ball in any hazard may be played as it lies without penalty. If it cannot be played from the hazard, the ball may be hit from another location, generally with a penalty of one stroke. The Rules of Golf govern exactly from where the ball may be played outside a hazard. Bunkers are shallow pits filled with sand and generally incorporating a raised lip or barrier, from which the ball is more difficult to play than from grass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yalata, South Australia</span> Aboriginal community in western South Australia

Yalata is an Aboriginal community located 200 kilometres (120 mi) west of Ceduna and 140 km (87 mi) south of Ooldea on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia. It lies on the traditional lands of the Wirangu people, but the settlement began as Yalata Mission in the early 1950s when Pila Nguru people were moved from Ooldea Mission when that closed, after previously being moved from their land in the Great Victoria Desert owing to nuclear testing by the British Government.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nullarbor, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Nullarbor is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located 295 kilometres (183 mi) to the west of the town of Ceduna in the western part of the state immediately adjoining the border with Western Australia.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nundroo, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penong, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Penong is a town and locality on the Nullarbor Plain, in the far west of the state of South Australia located about 616 kilometres (383 mi) north-west of the state capital of Adelaide. With no settlements between it and Border Village on the border with Western Australia, 400 km (250 mi) away on the Eyre Highway, it is a popular rest-stop for travellers.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Border Village</span> Town in South Australia

Border Village is a settlement located in South Australia within the locality of Nullarbor on the Eyre Highway at the border with Western Australia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 McInerney, Sarah (10 September 2009). "Golfing heads to the outback". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Collerton, Sarah (13 October 2009). "Don't let Aussie outback putt you off". ABC News . Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hamilton, Jodie (2 October 2022). "Australia's roughest golf course comes with wombat holes and ball-stealing crows, but these golfers love it". ABC News. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  4. "The World's Longest Golf Course: Nullarbor Links". Nullarbor Roadhouse . 20 August 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  5. McInerney, Sarah (10 September 2009). "Golfing heads to the outback". Traveller. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  6. "Golfers tee off on world's longest golf course". ABC News. 22 October 2009. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  7. 1 2 Riviera, Gloria (22 October 2009). "World's Longest Golf Course Open for Play". ABC News (USA) . Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  8. Lucas, Jarrod (4 May 2019). "World's longest golf course — all 1,365km of it — has just turned 10". ABC News. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  9. Hart, Jeremy (29 November 2009). "Gone to play golf at Nullarbor Links. I may be some time". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  10. "Course Information" (PDF). Nullarbor Links. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  11. Monck, Carwyn (13 June 2022). "Chasing the Sun tournament returns to Nullarbor Links" . Kalgoorlie Miner . Retrieved 2 October 2022.