The Ipswich Golf Club is an established club located in Leichardt, to the west of Ipswich city centre. The current course was designed by 1990 US PGA Champion Wayne Grady, and opened in 2010. It was built partly on the club’s existing site, and partly on new land the club acquired after selling some of its golf land for a residential development. The new land incorporates a dramatic riverbank and ravine, which provided the design team with an opportunity for exciting golf.

Sadly, for members of the Ipswich GC this is a disappointing modern course with the decision to engage a celebrity golfer with apparently little experience in design or great golf architecture, backfiring on the club. The most positive thing one can say about Grady’s work here is that not all the holes are poor. Some, like the short 3^rd and short 14^th, have reasonable green sites and work on a visual level while the last third of the par five 2^nd is effective enough.

The problem is that the standard of design across the rest of the course is low. Holes like the 9^th and 13^th are crazy narrow through trees, the 4^th is a penal par four that turns and crosses the ravine and is completely unfair on those unable to hit long and strong across the hazard. This is true elsewhere as well, while about the worst design aspect on the course comes at the short par four 6^th, which heads uphill and is bunkered right across the fairway to prevent everyone except professionals hitting driver off the tee. For most the only play here is a layup, then a blind second across these ugly bunkers into a green you cannot see.

Aside from the opening fairway, the rest of this golf course is brand new and given the opportunity Grady had here to sink his teeth into design and kick-start a career in this field, the result is very disappointing. Not that Grady’s company deserves all the blame here; the construction company was apparently inexperienced in golf course construction and their lack of sophistication and also budgetary restrictions from the club have contributed to the end result. The bunkering, the mounding and the shaping around the greens are ordinary, and the lack of any strategic arrangement leaves us concerned that, long term, the members are going to tire quickly of this track. The problem for golfers in Ipswich is the lack of a reasonable alternative.

It does appear that the board and management of the club have recognised there are issues here, and have engaged in a process to allow members to provide feedback on the design of each and every hole. It would be a tremendous surprise if sweeping changes were not suggested, though it’s unlikely the club has the budget to implement them all, nor the expertise needed to avoid making the same mistakes as the first time around.