Today was golf day and Andrew and I played in the Thursday competition at Proserpine Golf Club, about 30 k’s inland from Airlie Beach. It’s very surprising that Airlie Beach does not have an 18 hole golf course considering its a big holiday/resort town. There is a small 9 hole par 3 course recently opened and we’re informed its the pre-cursor to the building of a 18 hole Championship course what will be aligned with the retirement resort nearby.

So until the new course comes on board, if you want to play competition golf then Proserpine is the closest 18 hole course in the area. It’s a very flat course, which is understandable as it lies amongst the cane fields in Proserpine. Whilst it has only 2 bunkers, it does have a number of lakes and creeks, with 2 of the creeks having Saltwater Crocodiles as inhabitants.

So my CRAPP rating for Proserpine is as follows:

Design – 12 out of 20 (not much you can do with the land available but it seemed to lack some imagination)

Condition – 10 out of 20 (whilst it was generally “alright” the greens had been cored and sanded which made them difficult)

Cost – 19 out of 20 (outstanding value with 18 holes costing $18, including comp fees).

Visual Appeal – 9 out of 20 (unfortunately it didn’t get our juices flowing, obviously being very flat does not help but on first viewing it looks fairly ordinary and it doesn’t change much from there)

Facilities- 8 out of 10 (had a well stocked pro shop and the clubhouse up stairs was impressive, so it gets high marks for these two)

Ambience 6 out of 10 (just didn’t give us any real wow factor, although the locals were good and very accomodating of despite our Victorian origin.

So the final rating is 64, which is probably artificially high because of the good rating on the cost index. Whilst its not the lowest rated course we’ve played on in Queensland, I think it may be the most “boring” if I can say that. Probably a bit unfair but once again, its how we rate it on the day!

No golf for a week and a half, then we play Agnes Waters, near 1770 and then a week later its Coral Cove near Bundaberg before Andrew and Sue head home.

So until my next CRAPP, stay safe everyone!