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Much has been written and said about Bonville since it opened nearly 20 years ago. But rather than resting on its laurels, the course continues to set new standards for other golf resorts in Australia. By Jon Underwood.
The last time I played Bonville, I rode a bucking bronco, took a spin in a rally car, sang a duet with Elvis and teed off with my feet in a kiddies paddling pool. The round took nine-and-a-half hours…and I loved every minute of it.
The event was the American Express Golf Classic (now sadly defunct), by far and away the best corporate day I have ever played in. The prizes on offer were simply staggering, from business-class flights to Paris to a week in Fiji. Just check your amateur status in at the door…
So it was with fond memories I ventured back some 13 years later to play a course often dubbed ‘the Augusta of Australia.’ There’s no Magnolia Lane but from the moment you walk through the doors of the spacious and beautifully laid out clubhouse, you know that you have arrived somewhere special.
Opened in 1992, Bonville has been one of the success stories of Australian golf. It has won nearly every award going, including Australia’s Favourite Golf Resort (twice), the Most Beautiful Golf Course In Australia (four times) and Australia’s Most Beautiful Mainland Course (10 years in a row). They don’t so much need a trophy cabinet as a trophy warehouse.
Brad Daymond has been here since the very beginning, first as club pro and now the General Manager. So after nearly 20 years, what keeps him here?
“Both my role and the property itself have constantly evolved over the last 20 years, and being part of team who assist a property reach it’s potential is very exciting,” he says.
Daymond attributes their success to good ownership, well-trained staff and providing a complete service. “From the moment guests walk in the door to the moment they leave we try to give them an overall experience. Golf is only a four-and-a-half hour part of each day. We have to make sure that every part of it is enjoyable and memorable.”
If there’s a more unforgettable golfing experience in Australia than a round at Bonville then I’ll eat my eight-iron. It is quite simply unique, the type of course that can’t and won’t be built again.
“It was carved out of a forest,” explains Marketing Manager Damien Tarbox. “It’s highly unlikely that a course like this could be replicated in today’s world”.
There is colour everywhere you look, with beds of cordylines, tibouchinas and cannas blending seamlessly among the 20-metre-high flooded gum trees. And the good news is, the show is available all year round.
“Our gardening team control more than 30 separate gardens throughout the property, each with vibrant colour, all year round. The only variation to this is the azaleas bordering the first and last holes which provide an amazingly colourful backdrop in early spring,” says Damien.
And so to the course, where every year 30,000 players set out with high hopes…often to return with high scores. The first presents an immediate challenge. Take aim at the fairway bunker and with a little fade you’ll be ideally placed for a 175-metre approach up hill to a well-bunkered green. Anything right off the tee is likely to find the stream that divides the hole in two. Rated four, this is a tough opening hole and a good taste of what is to come.
But as you climb into your compulsory cart and leave the green, a strange thing happens. Like those kids who passed through some fur coats and out the back of an old wardrobe, you leave the ‘real’ world behind and enter a magical place where it’s peaceful and ethereal. I don’t want to get all swami-esque here but the course has an innate tranquillity, an almost spiritual feel to it. If Gandhi had been a golfer, he’d have been right at home here.
Jaw-dropping vistas await on many tees, notably the second and the fourth, a cracking par-five where you have to avoid a hidden gully off the tee in order to have a shot at the green in two. Bonville isn’t long (6,079-metres off the tips) but it is cunning. Reachable par-fives often have a price to pay for the over zealous or over confident.
The seventh is such a hole, my particular favourite on the outward nine. It’s 470-metres off the back tees but even from here it’s still a reachable-in-two par-five. But first you have to avoid the large fairway bunkers on the right and the trees even further right before taking aim at a small green on a slightly raised plateau.
It’s about now that you’ll really start to appreciate the work of designers Terry Watson and Ted Sterling. They were charged with creating a course with the feel of Augusta and they didn’t disappoint, with undulating fairways that dip and rise like a rollercoaster and greens that can be as tricky to read as medieval French.
And because it’s carved through 250 hectares of forest, there’s every chance you won’t see another human being during your round. But keep an eye out for the large black cockatoos or parakeets that make their home here, along with water dragons, goannas, swamp wallabies, kangaroos and koalas.
The back nine begins with a spot of island hopping. The 10th is a par-five sliced and diced into four parts by water, making the 441-metre journey to the green a perilous one. Bravery will be rewarded but erring on the side of caution could still leave just a pitch and putt for a birdie.
Safely navigated, you’ll come to the 12th, rated one on the stroke index but on the tee you’re probably going to ask why. Sure, it doglegs sharply to the right but there’s plenty of space and just a couple of bunkers on the elbow to avoid. Big hitters simply bomb it over the corner.
But herein lies the rub. When you get down to your ball, you’re faced with a shot into a green protected snugly on the right by water and bunkers short and left. The approach is very deceptive and being slightly uphill, plays longer than it looks. If you under club or have the wind against, the water beckons like a big, wet thing.
If this was a beauty contest, I think 17 just might be Miss Bonville. A slight homage to the 12th at Augusta, this 142-metre par-three plays over water to a narrow green where anything short will make a splash and anything long will catch a deep bunker, with the nightmare prospect of a trip into the water anyway if you catch it thin or hit it too hard. Design at its finest.
“There are 18 very unique holes here at Bonville. No two are the same. And that provides golfers with an experience that can’t be replicated here in Australia,” says Damien.
That ‘experience’ could soon include calling Bonville home with the plans for a large residential development that will also feature such facilities as a neighbourhood centre with convenience store, a hairdresser, beautician and day spa. This would complement the on-site resort accommodation and Country Club, which has floodlit tennis courts and a swimming pool.
Trying to find somewhere to eat certainly won’t be an issue. The food at the multi-award winning Flooded Gums restaurant was possibly the best I’ve ever been served at a golf resort and the wine list was incredibly extensive. Fortunately, I was dining with the owner so followed his lead and ordered the garam masala duck breast with jamon, duck rillettes, baby beetroot and blackcurrant jus, which appealed to every sense in my body…they could hear me drooling five tables away.
Bonville’s success is due to several factors, not in the least its friendly and ever-helpful staff. I loved the fact that shortly after my arrival, Maree in the restaurant knew exactly how I liked my coffee and what my favourite post-round beverage was.
But it’s also tribute to the hard work put in over more than two decades and Bonville’s decision to power ahead with expensive upgrades to the course, clubhouse and equipment in an era when cost-cutting and discounts often prove the downfall of less far-seeking resorts. Less is very rarely more and Bonville continues to set the bar high. Augusta would be proud.
at a glance
Getting there: Virgin Australia offers two daily services and two weekly flights from Melbourne. QantasLink offers five daily Sydney to Coffs Harbour flights. Brindabella offers two daily Brisbane to Coffs flights.
Virgin Australia. 136-789;
virginaustralia.com
Qantaslink. 131-313; qantas.com.au
Brindabella. 1300-668-824; brindabellaairlines.com.au
Accommodation: Bonville has 30 rooms, split into Resort, Executive Spa and Executive View categories. All have direct dial phone, minibar, tea and coffee making facilities, heating, air conditioning, pay TV, hairdryers, iron and ironing board.
Stay & Play: Bonville offers one-, two-, three- and five-night packages with the overnighter starting from AU$210 per person midweek, twin/double share (Sunday through Thursday) and AU$245 twin/double share on weekends. Available until September 30.
Green fees: 18 holes midweek (Mon–Thur) costs AU$110 per person and AU$125 per person weekend/peak (Fri–Sun). Fee includes twin-share cart hire.
Facilties: Three all-weather floodlit tennis courts, Billabong-style swimming pool, award-winning Flooded Gums restaurant, purpose-built outdoor wedding ceremony area.
Further information: 1300-722-444; E-mail: reservations@bonvillegolf.com.au; bonvillegolf.com.au
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