1. gregnles | Rated | 14 Aug 2006 | Add A Review

This gem of a course is back to near its best after a few years in the doldrums. A new greenkeeper apparently and better funding is certainly paying dividends. They are also thinning out the punishing rough at last making it a lot fairer. Brilliant couch fairways are lush again since my last visit (even if naturally brown in winter) and the greens are wonderful.

Rewards those who can control the ball and keep it in play and the regular winds (NE in summer) make club selection important. Not many bunkers but that doesn't make it an easy course.

2. gregb3 | Rated | 24 Jul 2006 | Add A Review

As you wind down the dirt road and find the carpark and makeshift "clubhouse/proshop" you know that is all is not right.

Ignoring these warning signs you play the course. Lovely couch fairways, smooth reliable greens and even the rough has been cleared a great deal.

But if you hit the ball well, you will find you repeatedly have to take irons off the tee impacting your ability to play the course in a traditional manner.

The course design seems totally focused on punishing the good golfer with fairway bunkers, doglegs, trees etc in the normal landing zone, whilst the guy who hits it a straight 150m off the tee will rarely find trouble.

Very few greenside bunkers to stop the "chip and run" from 150m out.

Only for those who think golf is some form of punishment that must be endured.

3. threejab | Rated | 01 Jul 2006 | Add A Review

come here to play not for fun.

tuncurry is a true test of gut and will.anyone who fails will bag this true test of the game.

the tenth hole at tuncurry is truley one of golfs top holes and if you walk away with par you have done well.

i have played it many,many a time and cannot wait to go back.

4 stars

4. slats1972 | Rated | 17 Apr 2006 | Add A Review

I played in their Monthly Medal. I arrived and couldn't find the pro shop to book in so I went into the bar to ask the bar man. Low and behold, there was the Pro Shop, or should I say Pro counter. I paid my slightly seemingly expensive visitors fees ($28) I made my way to the practice green, had a few putts and waited my turn on the first.

I introduced myself to the friendly members I was booked in with and we got away.

What a course! I had read reviews and expected a good course, but I would have to rate it amongst alot of premium courses I have played on. It was difficult because accuracy is a premium. I had a good round except for a few holes where balls went into the rough, never to be seen again. This added up to a couple of large scores wrecking an otherwise not bad round. On most par 4's and 5's, a ball in the rough is a lost ball.

Overall, it was a good day out on a very good course. The members were friendly and the course a standard above your usual non premium course. Just wish the rough was not so rough but you know that going there.

Better facilities would elevate this course to an awesome overall experience.

5. tommo2 | Rated | 04 Nov 2005 | Add A Review

Played 20/10/05

Boy, what a mixed message this course sends out. First , couldn't find the place (get some signs) then what to expect from the reviews?This high-teen handicapper from Qld started birdy,par,par.No worries! Very interesting, somewhat challenging ,over-rated?

Started raining O.K. not your fault. Ordinary facilities. Not important.

Mixed sex group wouldn't let one in a cart play through.Annoying.

Summary. Good score,Good course.

Poor weather,Poor welcome.

The Relic

6. master1106 | Rated | 13 Oct 2005 | Add A Review

i honestly dont no how anyone could enjoy this course. unless you hit 50 yards and straight. this course has nothing to offer at all. it has fairways and bush either side. thats it. there is no design what so ever. a very long course and very demanding. take 50 golf balls with you. basically you hit a drive right or left you reload. dont bother looking for your ball. this is a course you cant enjoy. i follow brett ogle with this one.

7. petemac145 | Rated | 18 Apr 2005 | Add A Review

Love this place - carved out of the saltbush, this lovely Kel Nagle design delights me every time. Played in the mens comp last Thursday morning (April 14th 05), greens just about back from coring 3 weeks earlier. Cooch fairways were lush, and it was great fun to play again on a course where the bump and run shot is viable option (unlike at home at Concord in Sydney).

Recent additions of Taylor made Rescue Mids (2 strong and 3) really helped - you've got to hit your fairways here, there's no escaping if you carve left or right off the tee with your driver.

If you are heading for the Great Lakes district, save yourself the $85 (fees plus cart) at Tallwoods, jump into the comp at Tuncurry for the princely sum of $16 (yes - just $16 !), play for position rather than the long bomb off the tee and you'll have one of the North Coast's best golf experiences - just don't plan have a long seesion at the 19th, the clubhouse really needs to flattened and done again !!

8. jimandr | Rated | 20 Nov 2003 | Add A Review

It's my sad duty to report that this course has gone severely downhill since my previous visit.

The drought, financial problems and what must be some neglect has taken it's toll on the fairways.

The greens are still good, and the design is still superior to most, but the fairways are terrible. Lots of bare sandy patches, and the grass is growing unevenly in patches rather than providing a consistent cover.

$23 is a cheap price, but it's not worth any more than that at the moment.

9. jimandr | Rated | 18 Jun 2003 | Add A Review

I haven't played the course for a couple of years, so I hope it hasn't changed much.

This is a great seaside semi-links style golf experience, very similar to courses like St Michaels or Belmont.

The course has been cut out of the seaside tea-tree, which provides little protection when the wind gets up (most of the time). It's a lovely mixture of short and long par 4's, winding par 5's and par 3's that are at the mercy of the breeze.

The green fees are really cheap for a course of this quality.

If you are holidaying in the area a visit is a must, and if you normally miss Forster on your way further north, a Drive, Revive, Survive stop for the night is better than just good advice if a leisurely round at Tuncurry is included.

10. PhantomX | Rated | 24 Feb 2003 | Add A Review

Every year I head north to return to the \"Hidden Gem of Golf\": Tuncurry Golf Club, with some mates to enjoy the one weekend that we had been looking forward to for the previous fifty-one weekends of the year.

The front nine is basically an examination of target golf. Put it in the right place, or close enough, and you are able to assault the pins on greens that are always in good condition. The smooth couch fairways provide a platform to launch the little white ball at the slender links style greens. If there is one criticism that I have heard about the layout, it would have to be the lack of sand.

However, the front nine boasts the majority of the fifteen or so traps on the course and these only add to the difficulty of some holes*. Stand outs are the third, fourth, seventh and ninth. Each one of these holes has been gracefully carved out of the scrub and left to play tricks on the errant golfer with subtle nuances that will leave one shaking their head in disbelief as they mark down a wipe on the card on such innocuous looking holes.

If the front nine is an examination, then the back nine is a veritable doctorate on the game of golf!

The successful player will have to have the right balance of strength, touch, strategy, feel and mental toughness to post his regulation score. The tenth is a brutally long par 4. The eleventh an essay on strategic par five play and the 12th is a shortish interlude before terror of the thirteenth. Perhaps the most underrated par 4 on the course, this hole causes consternation in some players minds as they find out their thunderous drive down the guts has left them with only a mirkin of green in which to land his ball with a great gully protecting the entirety of the green catching an under-clubbed strokes.

Australia's equivalent of Augusta's Amen Corner, fifteen, sixteen and seventeen, is the specialty exam that needs to be passed before you can rightly claim your regulation 36 points! The three holes twist and turn around the back end of the course and which ever way the wind is blowing, the player will have the full ambit of his game tested by the conditions.

This is really a thorough test of all of the aspects required for a golfer and to post a successful back nine.

The eighteenth itself provides several pitfalls for sloppy play, but when you reach the green, better still in regulation, it will be like walking up the Wembley stairs after a cup final. You will either be broken, yet strangely more rounded and eager to get back to this course to test yourself again, or you will be a winner, grinning ear to ear as your twelve footer curls in for your par!

What more can be said other than it has got it all!

11. tuncurry | Rated | 11 Feb 2003 | Add A Review

This par 72 championship layout on the NSW mid north coast is a true gem. Don't let the entrance driveway (an abandoned runway) or the "modest" clubhouse fool you. This is a great course that will test every club and every shot in your tool kit.

Carved out of deep scrub, there is a great sense of seclusion on the course. Rarely will you see another group and the isolation really enhances the individual characteristics of each hole.

The par 4's are a well thought out mix of short, mid and long holes. You won't be using wedge on any of the par 3's (except on your second perhaps) half of them are over 200m. Par 5's are also a standout. Good, honest long holes that reward attacking play but will punish clumsy execution.

The thick rough surrounding each hole dictates the key requirement at Tuncurry: accuracy. If you're in good shape off the tee, you should score well.

This is not a course for the swashbuckling, Craig Walton-esque "smash and bash" approach. It is a course that demands a cunning and well thought out strategy at each hole.

This is a fantastic course which richly rewards intelligence and creativity.