The Lakes Golf Club

The Lakes Golf Club in New South Wales is one of Sydney's most esteemed private golf clubs and is acknowledged as the leading championship venue in Sydney for hosting national and international professional golf tournaments.

History of the course:

The desolate sandhills in front of Gardeners Road, Kingsford was deemed as a golf course site in 1928; thus the Lakes Golf Club was born and, the famous Lake in the area being part of the old Sydney water supply.

The initial plan was by Eric Apperley and Tom Howard in 1928, but due to the construction of the Mascot Freeway in 1968 that almost destroyed the Lakes course, the layout had to be re-designed by Von Hagge and Bruce Devlin. The Lakes golf course returfed all its greens and redesigned a few holes, undertaken by the team of well known course architects, Newton, Grant and Spencer in 1994.

The 6315 metres, par 73 Championship golf course of the Lakes Golf Club is a classic challenging course. The well trimmed course with its sloping greens, vast undulating fairways form a tough test with its tree-lined fairways, greenside bunkers, sand traps, and water hazards in the form of the famous lakes- an overall intimidating championship venue that tests the golfing abilities of all levels of golfers.

Some of the golf greats that were challenged by the Lakes tricky course were Craig Wood, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Lee Trevino and Roger McKay.

Course Trivia:

The old 16th was a famous golf hole on the Lakes course, consisting of a double water carry that tempted players to go for the green 325 metres away; achieved only by Jack Nicklaus twice.

The Lakes began its career hosting events like the Lakes Cup, Lakes Open, five Ampol Tournaments (1952) and over the years, after its rebirth in 1968 it hosted the Chrysler Classic, Sydney Open, Australian Open, N.S.W Open Championship and the Australian P.G.A Championship.

Other major Tournaments hosted at the Lakes since the last decade are the Johnnie Walker Classic(1991), The Australian Open(1992), the Greg Norman Holden International(1993,1995,1999,2000,2001) and the ANZ Championship(2002).

In 1953, four women professionals played at The Lakes including the sisters, Alice and Marlene Bauer, where the women played on equal terms with the men. Alice won the competition.

The man who re-designed The Lakes in 1968, Von Hagge, married both the Bauer sisters during his career.

Due to its unique location amongst the Botany wetland area, The Lakes Golf Club also approaches environmental issues by formulating Plans for the preservation of its wetlands area and to develop an environment suitable for a wildlife sanctuary.

The Lakes Golf Club is a private golf course. Guests must be accompanied by a member.

As per the Australian Top 100 Golf Courses (2006 rankings), the Lakes Golf Club has been ranked as No. 18.