The big loop - backwards: Golf

Nullabor Links - the worlds longest golf course.

It starts at Ceduna in South Australia, and ends in Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, and has a distance of 1365kms between the 1st and 18th. It did make crusing the Nullabor more like a golf road trip rather than 3 days of driving.

As Lidia and myself are not the most professional of golfers, we bought 1game to share. The holes are not numbered so they can be played in any order, and there is no time limit on the completion. The girl said you can finish it in 10 years if you want.

We thought we would have a crack.

HOLE 1 (Oyster Beds - Par 5 - 485m)

We got the card stamped at Ceduna tourist info centre, then headed to the golf course. The first 2 houes are both holes are played at Ceduna golf course's first 2 holes. The clubhouse was locked, and there was not a sole around.

The fairway was hard and mostly dirt withhard tufts of grass. The hole was pretty straight forward other than that.

Our game plan was to take it in turns hitting the ball, stroke for stroke. But, after a few air swings then some mutterings from Lidia (im sure they were Polish swear words), we decided that I would do the fairway work, and Lidia would do the putting.

The greens here were actually a sandy gravel mix, wiich was very slow for the ball.

Nailed hole 1 in 9 strokes

HOLE 2 - Denial Bay - Par 4 - 370m

This hole is much the same as the first, but the score of 12 shows the difficulty encountered on the fairways.

HOLE 3 - Windmills (Par 4 - 260m)

This was the first hole we have seen other people. The fairway had these bushes scattered everywhere, and was littered with rabbit holes and animal scratching. Same hard dirt underneath all that.

We lost 3 golfballs on this hole – One was definitely my fault, and we didn’t even bother going for it; another was boarderline my fault, but should have been recovered; the third one we lost somehere next to the green right on the fairway. I checked all the bushes and pits, and I think it must have went straight down a rabbit hole. We only had 3 balls, so the game had to stop until we found it. I did try to play on with the roundest rock I could find, but it shattered into a million pieces on first strike.

Lidia went back to the car to get another ball, and I let the guys behind us play through. (Lidia wasn’t so happy by the way, because it was really hot, and the car was a long way away). The guys playing through saw my problem and had a bag full of balls that they found, so gave me a couple of handfuls. With that, the game continued,

HOLE 4 - Wombat Hole (Par 5 - 520m)

This hole was threatened to have a crow that steals your ball. We did loose one on this hole, but I think it was from the rocks on the fairway, ricocheting the ball in any direction. I pounded the second hit up over the crest where I lost sight of it. The fairway was hard and mostly dirt, with these white rocks scattered everywhere, which made finding the ball even harder.

Lidia is starting to come in a bit with her putting, and we love the fake greens, mainly because they look like they are photo shopped into the photos. They are pretty hard to chip onto because the ball just keeps rolling. Its hard to get good backspin with a 5 iron

HOLE 5 - Dingoes Den (Par 5 - 538)

We dont remember anything good about this hole..

HOLE 6 - Border Kangaroo (Par 3 - 160m)

This hole should have been a snap. A tidy little par 3 where we could see the green from the tee, and the fairway was a road. I took a (non-counting) practice shot, then the real one straight down the middle. After that, some bad things happened, that lead to a final score of double par.

HOLE 7 - Nullabor Nymph (Par 4 - 415m)

Set around a 10mins drive out of town and the local rifle range. The Tee off is actually in the middle of the firing range, but fortunately for us, there was no one shooting today. Pretty straight forward fairway – just hard and flat, although, it was littered with smashed ceramic cups or something.

So I did my part and handed the trusty iron over to Lidia to finish.. She doesn’t even wait for the ball to stop anymore before she takes her next putt. I am probably wrong, but I don’t think that helps with our accuracy? Anyway, a score of 10 is just 2 over double par, and I think we can make it back

HOLE 8 - Watering Hole (Par 4 - 330m)

We met up with those people playing before on this hole. We actually had to wait for them to clear the fairway a bit before I drove of the tee. Im not real sure what the decorum is in this circumstance, I know you can just yell “FOUR” if you think your gonna hit someone.

We waited until they were clear of the longest shot I ever had, and luckily too, because this one I think was my record. I then proceeded to goof up the next shots, and Lidia nailed the green work in just 1 putt. Total score of 7 on a par 4, which is 1 under double par. Im calling that a birdy

HOLE 9 - Brumbys Run (Par 3 125m)

This hole is might close to the car park, and we had to wait whilst some people moved their bongo. It must be scary driving down a gravel road, only to be faced by a professional golfer about to tee off straight at you. A couple of practice swings cleared the road and we are ready to go.

I smashed it, and for a moment I was relieved because it was heading straight, but and as it was climbing it started to turn towards the car park, almost like a heat seaking missile. The more it turned, the faster it turned then disappeared under the tree line, followed shortly after by a banging noise, that sounded a little bit like a golf ball hitting a caravan.

I quickly dropped another ball, and hit it, and was hoping they wouldn’t pick me as the culprit, but when I thought about it, I was the only one around with a golf stick. We could hear some comorion around the target area, so we headed over there to see the damage. (I wonder it the green fees cover insurance claims?). Anyway, we hit the van of the people we had met playing golf on earlier holes. Ironically, I actually hit them with their own ball...

They were quite understanding, and actually apologised for parking in the fairway and helped me find the ball.

Final score of double par.

HOLE 10 - Eagles Nest (Par 4 - 347m)

Not much to say about this hole. It was very hot when we were here, and there were so many flys. Lidia was not coping well.

Other than some shrub interference on the fairway, it was pretty straight travelling. I had a couple of good drives, Lidia did some good putting and ended up with 2 under double par. I think thats an eagle.

HOLE 11 - 90 Mile Straight (Par 4 - 310m)

This hole is set just at the beginning of the longest section of straight road in Australia – 90 miles or 145kms straight. Even after playing the hole, we are still not sure where the fairway was. We could just see the green from the second shot, so I wholloped it towards the green, where it bounced off a tree branch and landed next to the green. I chipped it onto the green within 2m of the pin, and explained to Lidia that we probably will not have a chance like this to make par again, so asked that she concentrate as I handed here the 5 iron to make the putt. She proceeded then to sink the ball after 7 putts, taking our total to 11 for the hole. Thats 3 over double par (or 1 under triple par).

I wasn’t so happy with this, but at least now I think Lidia got the message that she needs to wait for the ball to stop before she hits it again.

HOLE 12 - Skylab - (Par 3 - 175m)

I think this one is the worst on the circuit. Im not even sure there was a fairway. I guess the walking trail could count, but you would have to be a pretty good golfer to make it. I got it on the green in 3, and Lidia managed to sink it with 1 putt.