IT’S long been regarded as one of the best golf layouts in Australia.
Yet big changes are occurring at the renowned Newcastle Golf Club at Fern Bay, Newcastle, near the mouth of the mighty Hunter River.
And one of Australia’s leading course designers Bob Harrison is leading the way as the club has begun major changes to accommodate a 172-unit retirement village on a section of land owned by the club.
Harrison was excited to become involved with a course that has always captivated him.
“I love this place,” said Harrison.
“I first began coming here when I was at University. We’d play 54 holes here and then drive home.
“It really is a special place.”
Newcastle GC president Alan McKelvey explained that development consent for the retirement village was the final hurdle for the club’s development project and after 10 years of careful planning it enabled them to press on with much-anticipated golf course improvement works.
“We are now at a point where the club can make its great golf course even better,” said McKelvey.
“The course will be among the best regional courses in Australia, and is sure to attract attention locally, nationally, and internationally.”
McKelvey said he expected the works would take about two years to complete.
“Because of the nature of the changes, the works will involve limited disruption to normal play, and 18 holes will remain open during the construction work,” he said.
Already one of Australia’s best, big changes are on the way for the Newcastle Golf Club to make it even better.
Newcastle Golf Club was founded in 1905 on the site of an old racecourse and, with the exception of time during WWII when it was covered in barbed wire and tank traps, it has remained one of the top courses in the country.
Harrison Golf actually designed a masterplan for the course in 2020 to remodel the greens and it was approved for subdivision in 2023.
“The Newcastle course is already ranked in Australia’s second 10, and on occasions has made the top 10,” said Harrison.
“Prior to producing this new masterplan, we were intending to remodel all of the bunkering and some of the greens.
“The natural holes at Newcastle are fantastic, and you could argue that the only weakness was in the ‘finishing’ of these vital elements.
“Given that it is still the club’s intention to pursue this remodelling in parallel with the proposed new holes in better golfing country, our ambition is certainly to move Newcastle into the top 10 on a permanent basis.”
Certainly, this club has a storied history and the late great Australian professional Norman von Nida once commented that he felt Newcastle had the best stretch of par fours you would find anywhere in the world.
It all began in 1913-14 when work began on the Newcastle Golf Club nine-hole layout on a remote stretch of sand dune country at Fern Bay, then called North Stockton.
Play began in 1915 with the golfers travelling by chartered ferry from Newcastle.
In the 1930s, when a vehicular ferry service made the course more accessible, Eric Apperly was commissioned to design an 18-hole course.
It was a tribute to the vision of the pioneers that seven of the original nine holes were incorporated into the 18-hole design.
The current 1st, 2nd, 10th (original 3rd hole), 13th (original 5th hole), 14th (original 6th), 17th and 18th were all part of the 1915 (9 hole) layout. The course was constructed by Fred Popplewell Senior (father of the Club’s first Professional Fred Popplewell Junior).
This history is recognised by Popplewell Road in Fern Bay, adjacent the 4th and 5th fairways.
Harrison is loving his involvement at Newcastle.
“The 10th hole, you would not see that short of shape anywhere else, I love it,” he told members in a video presentation.
“We have the chance to improve the appearance of bunkers and greens and the effort to make them feel like they’re natural and part of the surrounding shape.
“The fifth hole is a mind-blowing shape you wouldn’t find that rolling severe shape in many courses.
“But you get to the green and the shape doesn’t fit the rest.
“Our aim is to make it feel like part of the rolling shape.
“And the big trees here are fabulous.
“You have rolling shape and isolation – and the result is fantastic.”
Asked to name his favourites, Harrison suggested that on the existing course, the current 10th and the current fifth were ‘phenomenal’ except for the finishing at greenside, which he pointed out he hoped to fix.
“The current 11th will blow people’s minds and might be my early choice as favourite, which may change as the course develops. We’ll wait and see,” he said.
