Thank you.
All courses now booked.
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Another quick shoutout for @wilbur.kay for the great service heās offering through Craft Golf - toasty new Ward sweater received yāday. Check them out if you havenāt already, especially with the new ProShop drops coming soon.
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Iām trying to play NSW golf club as part of a trip to Australia next year. Only issue right now is it looks like they want a letter of introduction as part of the booking process for international visitors. Iāve tried to reach out to the course where I hold my handicap (itās a public course so I donāt have an official membership or anything) but havenāt heard anything back, so I donāt have one right now. Would you keep trying to contact my home course? Or fill out a request and see if they can accommodate me without it? Or other ideas?
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Fill out the request. The worst that can happen is they say they need the letter. Iād say as long as you can give them a handicap number as in registration, Iād guess you will be ok. Iām from Melbourne and called them when I was last in Sydney and they were happy to look after me, without a letter.
Iād be happy to host you if the dates work out. When are you coming? Flick me a DM if you like and we can work it out.
Iāve always had great experiences playing with Refugees at my club and on my travels!
On the topic of golf trips to Australia, myself and my mate Matt Mollica (who some may recall from the Royal Melbourne episode of Tourist Sauce Szn 1) have finally pulled the trigger on a golf podcast focused solely on that after two and a half years of talking about it.
At the risk of being self-promotional, hereās the links to the first episode. We hope youāll all enjoy it and that it might help you plan your golf down here!
Spotify: Spotify
Apple:
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Awesome, be great to hear some more Aussie golf content!
(And if youāre ever looking for another Refugee to round out a fourball at NSWā¦)
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Shooting you a PM. This looks great!
Looking forward to it - Matt seems thrilled to be launching it. Glad to see you are the partner.
Just listened in this morning @ScottW - good stuff.
Totally agree on the fact that the āoff the beaten trackā courses in Australia are often some of the best. Did a road trip last year starting at Albany GC here on the South coast of WA, winding up through back to Perth. Places like Manjimup & Greenbushes probably wonāt get mentioned in any lists, but two of my most fun rounds for sure. Combined $40 for the pair.
We used to have possibly the best 9 hole course in Australia until COVID came along, too. Binningup/Lakewood Shores. That may be coming back, but will probably have more houses on it 
Lancelin also a fun little 9 holer that I played with @bigLeftMiss on his epic drive around Australia last year.
TIL that iām now spewing about McKenzie only spending 24 hours here. I can only imagine what he would have done with our dunescapes 
Looking forward to learning more about Aussie golf courses/architecture here on out.
Great listen @ScottW , keen to see where it goes. Was great to hear some more relatable course discussion compared to the usual Scotland/Ireland/US angle on other pods i subscribe to.
Loved the takedown of the Aussie, and as someone only just back from a few days in the Bellarine good to hear 13th Beach and Barwon get a nod.
How often are you guys planning on releasing episodes?
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Perhaps weekly? We are still working it all out as we go but fortnightly doesnāt feel like often enough.
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Nice one - if you make it ti Canberra happy to take you around Royal
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That would be ace. I still havenāt seen the back nine post-reno. I went for a recip visit once but it was 1-9 and 19-27 and every time Iāve enquired since once of the main nines has been out!
10-18 is my favourite. We are currently going through a vote to convert the fairways to Santa Ana couch. Course is always best Jan-May.
I remember during the reno work chatting to Clayts about the challenge of choosing a grass for golf in Canberra.
Couch cops a long, hardcore dormancy in winter but bent/fescue gets obliterated in summer.
Some of the coastal Victorian courses oversow the couch with fescue so each grass steps up and becomes dominant at its respective time of year, but thats in a more temperate climate than Canberra has.
Itās definitely a challenge.
Iāve always liked the way the couch plays at Federal.
Would they seed the Santa Ana and let it take over over time or tear everything up and re-grass?
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Plan is to rip it up and returf. The fairways are fine in winter but need hand watering during summer and it becomes painful for the greens staff.
Loved the podcast @ScottW and loving the conversation coming off the back of it. I will be listening to all of them, but do you have a plan for future episodes you are willing to share?
I also loved the drive by on The Australian GC as I was speaking with an American who was on their way out to play a few rounds, and I said to avoid that one on the agenda and to just play an extra TPC when he got homeā¦
On the Craft Golf front, if anyone wants to get a good start on their Golferās Journal collection, I have now split them into 4 pack bundles (link) which would still arrive for Fatherās Day with the free express shippingā¦
Otherwise we are sitting on plenty of accessories and towels which would work for every dad in the world!
Enjoy
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We have episode 2 in the can which is a sort of lay-of-the-land, logistics, timing etc introduction to golf in Australia and we talk a little bit about how 1926-1937 and 2000 onwards came to produce basically all of the best courses (24 of the top 25 per Golf Aus Magās list).
Then Episode 3 is Royal Melbourne. When it comes to talking about Aussie golf courses, where else to start?!
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