The Nullarbor Links
I have written several stories related to crossing the Nullarbor and my attraction to this amazing part of Australia. But there has only been one crossing when I took the opportunity to combine another one of my passions, golf. The Nullarbor Links is officially ‘The longest golf course in the world’, so a bloke would be silly to miss the prospect of doing both.
Miss Linda, Bella Dog and myself were rolling into Ceduna in ‘Fork’ the bus and Western Australia was the destination. The golf clubs were in the trailer and I wasn’t afraid to use them. I had played some terrific courses on both the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas and some not so terrific courses. Ranging from the Greg Norman designed Dunes Course at Port Hughes (link here) to the beach sand greens of the incredibly scenic, but a bit rough, Elliston Golf Club. Port Lincoln and Coffin Bay (link here) courses were very contrasting courses and were both great fun to play but The Nullarbor Links is like nothing else you will ever find on your golfing travels.
We were travelling East to West so the Nullarbor Links starts at Ceduna and finishes at the very impressive Kalgoorlie Golf Course. The way the course works is that Ceduna, Norseman and Kalgoorlie all have two holes and the other twelve holes are pretty much one hole per roadhouse/town and one at Fraser Range Station making up the 18-hole Nullarbor Links. Depending which direction you are travelling in obviously depends on whether or not Ceduna is the beginning or the end.
Getting my score card and paying green fees was done at the Ceduna Visitor Information Centre and collecting my certificate on completion of the course was done at the Kalgoorlie Visitor Information Centre. Yes, you receive a big flash certificate for completing the world’s longest golf course. All this is vice versa depending on your direction of travel. So, with my $80 green fees paid, my score card in hand, it was off to the Ceduna Golf Club.
Each hole of the Nullarbor Links is clearly marked at both the club/roadhouse and on your scorecard and the trick to receiving your certificate is that each venue stamps your card to verify that you have completed that section of the course. At Ceduna the stamp was in a box outside of the clubhouse. Every hole at roadhouses is stamped by someone at the roadhouse and at Norseman your card is stamped at the Norseman Visitor Information Centre. If I was going to undertake the world’s longest course, I definitely wanted a souvenir in the form of the certificate at the end.
After Ceduna, the course condition goes downhill in a fairly big way. Let’s face it the whole golfing part of the experience is really just a novelty and if you expect anything more you will be disappointed. Most holes as you wander across the Nullarbor consist of an artificial grass tee and an artificial grass green. What is in-between tee and green is anyone’s guess.
Some fairways included airfield landing strips, rubbish dumps, car wrecks, stormwater run-off drains, saltbush, natural scrub and wild animals. If you miss the fairway on most holes, forget it and throw down another ball, unless you are keen to wrestle a brown snake in the scrub. On some holes, like Balladonia there is no fairway and unless you hit the green in one you will probably need another ball. With all this in mind there was no way I was going to play the world’s longest course and not keep an honest score on my card.
All holes on the Course have different names that relate to the area. Names like Nullarbor Nymph, Dingoes Den, Golden Horse, Sheep’s Back and Brumby’s Run. Information boards at every tee have interesting stories pertaining to the hole’s name, local history, facts, figures, wildlife and indigenous culture. Although, as I have said, there is a novelty factor with the course these information boards add real and interesting information of the Nullarbor region and the surrounding areas and even if you are not playing the course, it is well worth stopping to read the boards.
It didn’t take me long to work out that dragging my fairly good combination of Taylor Made and Calloway clubs out of the trailer every hole was not going to happen and it was going to be too rough on the clubs. So, I grabbed a handful of clubs, driver, an old iron (I think it was an old seven) a putter and hand full of balls and they sat on the bed in ‘Fork’ the whole journey across. Some tips for anyone wanting to play the Nullarbor Links would be, cut the top off a water bottle and use that for a tee because you won’t be able to use normal tees. Definitely throw in a few old clubs so you don’t damage your good ones and take plenty of balls.
Good footwear is a must because at times you’re walking through scrub and also some holes had their fair share of nasty prickles. Especially at Fraser Range Station and Norseman which both had patches of three-corner-jacks or double gee’s as they are referred to in Western Australia. I call them F*!k F#*k’s, for the obvious reason. At one stage on the last hole at Norseman I had to carry poor (30 odd kilo) Bella Dog out of the fairway due to her wandering into a bad patch of F#!k F*!ks.
Another tip I was given at the Nullarbor Roadhouse was to put perfume on your balls to stop the crows from pinching your ball. When a big burly bearded employee at Nullarbor Roadhouse tells you to put perfume on your balls it is very hard to take him seriously, but he was very adamant that it works. There were no crows around so I can’t verify his claims although I did put perfume on my balls?
This is one of the most enjoyable parts of playing the Nullarbor Links, not perfumed balls, but playing the course forces you to stop regularly on your crossing and meet interesting people on your journey. Not only characters who work and live in these remote outposts but there were a surprising amount of people playing the course. A lot of the holes I played I would chat to others and meet people on the way. In fact, at a few holes like Fraser Range Station I actually had to cue before I teed off.
When I got to Kalgoorlie the whole novelty factor of the Nullarbor Links gave way to a magnificent golfing experience. Kalgoorlie Golf course is a stunning, incredibly well maintained and manicured golf course. As soon as I set eyes on the contrasting red dirt, green grass and native scrub I knew I was going to play more than the regulation two holes to complete my mission. This is exactly what I did and after playing shots around everything from car wrecks to airfields without a blade of grass the Kalgoorlie Golf Course was a refreshing oasis to finish off my Nullarbor links journey. If the longest golf course in the world is not on your golfing bucket list the Kalgoorlie Golf course should be.
I have always said that if you want to enjoy the Nullarbor and all it has to offer, take your time, otherwise you are missing out. Playing the Nullarbor Links (link here) is another way of taking your time to really experience the journey and what it has to offer. The course gives you the opportunity to get out of the car and stroll through areas alive with native animals like Wedgetail Eagles, Dingos, Emu’s and Kangaroos all in their natural environment. Whether you’re a golfer or not playing the Nullarbor Links as part of one of Australia’s great road trips (link here) will only enhance the whole Nullarbor experience.
