Moss Vale Golf Club
Southern Highlands, NSW | User Rating:
(3.5) | Add A Review
The Moss Vale Golf Course is regarded as one of the prettiest in the NSW Country Regions, with avenues of pines, elms, gums and vividly coloured claret ash flanking the winding layout. It was completed in its present layout in 1936.
The course is 5995m par 72 from the men’s tees. A number of twists and turns, in addition to small elevated greens, make it a good test. The creek which runs through the course has to be crossed 12 times during the round!
From the clubhouse, the Moss Vale layout appears hilly, but after the opening five holes it levels out. There are only 7 motorised carts for hire, indicative of most golfers desire to enjoy the walk around the course.
Moss Vale is centrally located on the beautiful Southern Highlands of NSW just 120km from Sydney, 145km from Canberra and 80km from the South Coast.
1. q-tip | Rated
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24 Dec 2011
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Time for an update…recent changes at Moss Vale since the last review, so read this review for the latest details…measures 5805m Par 71 with four par 3s ranging from 123-198m, eleven par 4s ranging from 286-402m and three par 5s ranging from 466-500m.
Course has winter ryegrass fairways and rough with medium-to-large sized pine tree-lined fairways. The bent grass greens are mostly 20-30m long and are all less than 10m wide and all play a little slow. There are 23 bunkers on the course most of them on the back nine and at least 5 holes have water coming into general play. The course has year-round fairway watering.
Highlights include: the signature 468m slight bend right 4th (index 5) with tall pine trees on the right off the elevated tee to avoid and Whites Creek crossing the fairway about 30m short of the green guarded by 3 bunkers left and over the back; the 155m 6th (index 11) with a slightly downhill teeshot over a pond and a bunker short to a green also guarded by thick ryegrass rough and trees over the back; and the 362m slight dogleg right 14th (index 2) with a narrow driving channel through tree branches which plays uphill from 100m out of the green guarded by 2 bunkers long left and short right.
Along with the 16th and 18th greens which are the largest greens on the course, the finishing 4 holes are uniquely challenging: the 402m straight 15th (Par 4 index 3) although having a bunkerless green the pine trees and dry creek hazard along the left is punishing if you are not straight off the tee; the 198m 16th (index 12) with ponds over the back and rightside of the 40m long green guarded by 2 bunkers long right and short left is challenging (especially for an index 12 hole!); the 500m 17th (index 6) doglegs left from 350m off the tee to a long and narrow green with 2 bunkers; and finally another signature hole to end – the 379m slight dogleg left 18th (index 1) has tall pine trees on the left off the tee to a fairway which opens up on the right off the tee, but this is not visible from the teebox itself, with Whites Creek crossing the fairway 5m from the front edge of the large 40m long green with 2 leftside bunkers.
The back nine is more challenging than the front. There are many short par 4s with six out of the 11 par 4s less than 340m in length. The stretch of holes 7-10 are similar to each other and are generally boring gentle doglegs which either play up or down the same slope of land. The par 3s and par 5s are varied reasonably challenging. The 9th green does not return to the clubhouse or proshop, but despite this the layout is generally challenging and not too hilly.
The orientation of the layout is evenly spread with the front nine holes mostly east-west and the back nine having most of the holes running north-south.
The course and the town elevation ranges from 680-700m above sea level. Moss Vale is one of the larger towns in the Southern Highlands with around 7500 people.
The club owns the ‘The Dormie House’ guesthouse which is in front of the 7th tee. The course has the luxury of having 2 spare holes beside the 6th green – a short 135m par 3 and another short par 4 – to use whenever some holes need maintenance.
Out of the five 18-hole courses in the region, it is the second-most challenging after Mount Broughton, but despite this (at the time of this review) Bowral and Mount Broughton have the better course conditioning than Moss Vale. All 3 courses are worth a hit before Highlands or even Gibraltar…
Played here the same day I played Mount Broughton on 5th December 2011 with $33 weekday green fees, $38 weekend green fees and $20 twilight green fees after 2pm (AEDT) available throughout the week. A pleasurable walk with a few hills and highly recommended for all golfers.