Lake Karinyup clubhouseLake Karinyup clubhouse

History

Lake Karinyup Country Club was designed by Alex Russell and opened for play in 1929.
It is located on an expansive, hilly site north of Perth CBD, and is generally regarded as the premier course in W.A.
In recent times the course has been renovated by Mike Clayton and his team.

 

Championships

Lake Karinyup CC- hole 1Lake Karinyup CC- hole 1

Lake Karinyup has hosted The Australia Open four times- with a very impressive list of champions: Norman Von Nida (1952), Bruce Devlin (1960), Jack Nicklaus (1968), and Gary Player (1974).

Other tournaments hosted have been:

The Johnnie Walker Classic in 2002 & 2003, and more recently The Perth International Championship, and the World Super 6 Perth.

So Karinyup has a fine tournament pedigree!


Course

Lake Karinyup CC-  hole 17Lake Karinyup CC- hole 17

Lake Karinyup CC occupies a very impressive site dominated by a large sprawling clubhouse sitting on the high point- and looking quite majestic, I must say!
Perhaps this is the quintessential Aussie course with it's genuine bush setting, large eucalyptus trees, black boys, and kangaroos roaming..

The playing surfaces are immaculate, and even the rough looks better maintained than most courses could dream of..

However the hilly site has it’s drawbacks with quite a number of long blind uphill tee shots.
I liked the look of the green complexes with tasteful bunkering, but putting was not easy given the overall gradient of the green sites. A number of greens are approached downhill to a green falling away.

The course appears to be quite difficult for those that have low ball flights or slow swing speeds with bunkering across the front of the green on a few occassions meaning a serious carry and little chance of stopping the ball if successful. These holes have no option to run the ball in- holes 16 & 17 are good examples of this

Notable holes include:

The majestic par 5 third hole with tee shot over the lake, second shot along the lake, and then approach to green tucked into a river setting

Lake Karinyup CC- hole 3Lake Karinyup CC- hole 3

The par 5 seventh hole which offers a risk /reward second shot to a green heavily protected by bunkering, and serious bunkering short of the green asking whether you are to lay up, or carry to the green area

The par 3 eighth- a long par 3 over the lake to a lovely elevated green complex

Lake Karinyup CC- hole 8Lake Karinyup CC- hole 8

The short par 4 fourteenth hole which has diagonal fairway bunkering at driving distance forcing a real decision off the tee

Lake Karinyup CC- hole 14Lake Karinyup CC- hole 14

Lake Karinyup would be a great starting point for international visitors wanting to see a top quality Australian Course in a classic bush setting, and should be part of any West Australian golf expeditions.

 

 


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