The setting is spectacular and the layout matches it.
Links Lady Bay, a leisurely hour-or-so drive south of Adelaide, is one of the more unheralded top courses in Australia, which is not a polite way of saying, ‘good, but not great’. Rather, it’s an exhilarating journey across varied terrain with thoughtful design features – all in a postcard setting. Why wouldn’t you go there to play?
Links Lady Bay was imposed upon the landscape alongside Gulf St Vincent without being an imposition. The design trio of Jack Newton, Graeme Grant and the late John Spencer craftily wrapped the 18 holes across a mildly undulating parcel of land overlooking the sea but bisected by a spur. Most of the holes sit on the seaside portion of the site, although several holes on the back nine meander around the other side and create a neat point of difference.
Notable for Grant’s ambitious yet artistic green complexes, Lady Bay wears a different dress depending on the elements. It is a different golf course when firm and fast versus lush or when the winds switch with the seasons. Among the highlights are the approach shot over a burn to the fourth green, the decision over how much club to take off the tee at the downhill, bunker-laden 11th hole and simply surviving the long par-3 17th in par figures.Â
THE DETAILS
Links Lady Bay
St Andrews Boulevard, Normanville SA 5204
(08) 8558 0650
www.linksladybay.com.au