Time for another CRAPP! I played Dubbo Golf Course today and was very surprised at the course, it was not what I expected out here in the Central West of NSW. I expected a rather brown and dry course but it was exactly the opposite. The rain thru 2020 has certainly worked wonders on the course. The fairways were very lush, they are well positioned to get thru a long hot and dry summer. With 27 holes they have 3 course options, so they have a lot of players on the course on comp days.

The club has a very respectful membership of 1200 and certainly the course and facilities reflect a strong club. I played with 2 local members who made me feel very welcome. It was a good course but what let it down was the design, which was restructured when the extra 9 holes were added. Some of the walks between holes were very long and without the locals I would have been lost. It’s probably the most confusing course I have played. The other negative if you could call it that were the greens. They were in great condition, well grassed, consistent roll but not a flat surface on any of them. The slopes/borrows were very difficult to read, probably why I 3 putted 12 times during mu round. Anyway here is rating:

Design – 12 out of 20 (As I mentioned above the course design is atrocious and yet they had another design that all members wanted but the committee decided otherwise)

Condition – 18 out of 20 (Very hard to fault the course here, other than the greens and there slopes. I suppose you’d get used to them but first time up they were diabolical)

Cost – 17 out of 20 (At $40 its was good value for 18 holes)

Visual Appeal – 18 out of 20 (other than some dirt patches, which are not on the course proper, the course was green and well treed. It wouldn’t look out of place if it was in the English countryside)

Facilities – 10 out of 10 (Couldn’t fault their facilities, they even had practice hitting nets and chipping area, plus the clubhouse was very well appointed)

Ambience – 8 out of 10 (I’m probably a bit harsh here, probably because of all my 3 putts)

So the CRAPP score is 83, which is pretty good. If not for the crazy course design this could have been close to number 1. With 5 weeks of travelling left, I still have a few more courses to play. I still have plenty of CRAPP left in me.