Lakeside Country Club
Why have I not been here before? I think someone told me years ago that it was a waste of time and not worth the money.
Wrong! This is a little gem enjoyed by many local players. It’s tucked in the Lakeside development off the Gold Coast Highway on one side, and Lake Coombabah wetlands on the other.
It’s an 8 par 3 and 1 Par 4 layout, mostly flat and easy to navigate on foot, though motorised carts can be hired.
The housing development surrounds the amphitheatre of the 1st and 9th holes, other than that you venture out to the wetlands area with the kangaroos and birds as spectators.
The first hole, 120 metres across two ponds
From behind the 1st green
The second hole is a 163 metre par 3
The 3rd is similar in length at 159 metres
The 4th is 120 metres while the 5th is 132 metres, featuring a few marsupial friends.
The 6th is a superb test at 160 metres uphill, to a large sloping green
This large green slopes from top right to bottom left, where the pin was today. A bunker behind the middle of the green is hidden from the view from the tee. I tried the putt from the top right of the green. I think I hit the ball with the shadow of my putter and still got it past the hole. It’s fast! This hole would be at home on any of the local championship courses.
The 8th hole, the only Par 4, is 271 metres uphill from about 100 metres out. The Wetlands are out of bounds on the right. A large tree presents as a good target with anywhere just right of it placing you in a good position to play your second.
The last hole is 158 metres across a pond and uphill to a green guarded by two bunkers on the left hand side and one on the right. A large tree on the right might collect a wayward shot.
It’s $14 for 9 holes which is around the average for the local 9 hole courses. The green are slick and true. I sunk a couple of 15 footers ( I had to as that was how far past I had hit the first putts until I got used to the speed.) There is no practice putting green which is a bit of a shame. There seems to be enough land to put one in and would be a good aid in acclimatising to the speed of the greens. Fairways are well maintained, perhaps aided by the kangaroos grazing at will. I once played a course in Wales called Southerndown. The local sheep did all the fairway maintenance for them with a ring of some repellant painted around the green themselves to keep them clear of the putting surfaces.
It is a busy course and even though we had to wait at each tee we still got around in not much over 1.5 hours.