Bonville Golf Resort
Voted Australia’s Favourite Golf Course in Golf Australia Magazine's reader poll 7 years in a row, Bonville is one of the country's great golfing experiences. Situated halfway between Sydney & Brisbane on the beautiful Coffs Coast, the fairways of this 18 hole par 72 course are lined with Flooded Gums which play home to countless Koalas.
About the Club
In the mid-1980s, local Coffs Coast businessmen had the vision to build a world class golf resort on 250 hectares of dramatically undulating, reforested land at Bonville. Ted Stirling, a former golf professional and architect of Riverside Oaks, was commissioned to design the course.
Set at the foot of the Great Dividing Range, Bonville Golf Resort is renowned for its overall experience, encompassing friendly, professional staff, comfortable accommodation overlooking the 1st hole, award-winning dining (still the only golf course to have been awarded a Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Hat), and a simply beautiful golf course that ebbs and flows along natural waterways, through pockets of rainforest which open to isolated fairways, flanked by striking Flooded Gums and colourful gardens.
In addition to the spectacular course layout, guests will enjoy the comfort of Bonville’s fleet of luxury Club Car golf carts, on-course ranger service, comfortable accommodation beside the 1st fairway and warm country hospitality at the resort restaurant and golf services facilities.
Famous for its undulating fairways flanked by endless Flooded Gums, Koalas, rainforest and incredible bird life, Bonville offers Australia’s best golfing experience set in a simply breathtaking and private location.
The long par 4’s are a standout at Bonville, particularly the 12th Hole and the 485-metre 4th. A great driving hole, the 4th’s saddle-shaped fairway funnels even slightly off-line shots back to the centre of the mown portion. Golfers looking to drive the green in two will require the skill to execute a long shot that shapes slightly right-to-left around the dogleg and the wall of Flooded Gums flanking the fairway. Two fairway traps and a huge swale, both about 60 metres short of the green, come into play with the second shot, making the approach an exciting challenge.
Bonville’s closing hole, the 460-metre Par 5 is the perfect risk-reward hole. From the tee box, golfers will drive over the crest of a hill between deep rows of towering Flooded Gums that line the fairway. The angled green, which sits just beyond a pond and stream, is flanked by the clubhouse to the back, sand traps to the front left and back right, and a snaking water hazard to the front – all which provide plenty of drama for onlookers from the 19th hole.
Bonville features a number of practice and warm up facilities for golfers including driving range, practice putting green, chipping green and bunker to help golfers dial their short game and play from the sand.
Hole 12
PAR 4 | 386 METRES
Bonville’s toughest test will encourage most to take some sort of gamble. An aggressive player will attempt to carry the hazard and trees on the right leaving a much easier approach shot. Those who opt for safety off the tee will be faced with a long second shot to a green guarded by water.
Terry Watson and Ted Stirling