Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert’s design firm has been appointed by New South Wales Golf Club in Australia to develop a masterplan for improvements to its historic golf course.
Club President Chris Coudounaris said: “Mackenzie & Ebert have a well-established reputation for successfully and sympathetically upgrading courses of all types, particularly windy seaside courses like ours, and including the likes of Turnberry, Royal Portrush, Royal Dornoch, and Royal St Georges.
“The club was impressed by their initial response to the brief, which had been developed with input from the membership, and we felt that Tom and Martin were the right fit to help us to maximise the potential of the exceptional property on which our course is located.”
Tom Mackenzie commented: “Having travelled to Australia to meet with the club’s board in August, we are enormously excited to be appointed to work with New South Wales Golf Club on the renovation of their course. It is an incredible property and the course is already very highly regarded, but there is so much opportunity for improvement.
“Our shared priorities, in accordance with the brief, are to make the course even more interesting, fairer and playable for the members and, at the same time, more varied, strategic and challenging for the best players. The overall intention is to produce a course which remains demanding, but which is also enjoyable to play in whatever the conditions experienced. This is an amazing opportunity for Mackenzie & Ebert to work in Australia for the first time, especially on another world renowned golf course.“
Bob Harrison, Greg Norman and Tom Doak have all made small changes over the past two decades to the course that was originally designed by Dr Alistair MacKenzie and first opened in 1926. While in charge of Greg Norman’s design office in Australia, Harrison redesigned the 1st and 18th holes, and oversaw the introduction of sandy wastelands in key areas, among other changes made during a long association with the club. Club member Greg Norman later redesigned the 4th hole, while more recently American Tom Doak oversaw the rebuilding of the par-three 6th.
Besides improvement to the strategy, playability and aesthetics, the focal point of the latest renovation is to have all 18 green complexes designed and built in one summer season. Mackenzie & Ebert will visit the club in early 2023 to progress the masterplan and it is anticipated that the renovation will commence in the summer of 2024.