Architect: Dan Soutar
Back tee*: 139 yards / 127 metres
Joe Average tee*: 139 yards / 127 metres
Green fee: AUS$89 (approx. £46)
Some holes grab you by the throat the first time you see them, others grow on you over time.
At Mudgee Golf Club, the hole popularly known as 'Donga', falls into the latter category.
It takes its name from the Donga Creek, which flows (intermittently, aerial images would suggest) perilously close to the left side of the green. No prizes for guessing the 'Sunday pin' position.
Back-left of the green, meanwhile, is a mound waiting to punish anyone who has overdone the tee shot in their anxiety to clear the water. Bounce your approach beyond that mound and a devilish up-and-down awaits.
Nor is there much respite if you miss right. Some of the trees that frame this hole so beautifully when you stand on the tee, come close to that side, accompanied by hostile undergrowth.
The net visual effect of all this is to suggest a landing area so 'cosy' that it's been compared to the Postage Stamp at Royal Troon. And all this with not a bunker in sight.
As with the 7th at McCall Lake GC, which kicked off this blog, there's a lot going at Mudgee's penultimate hole. Yet none of it yells at you; it reveals itself in the fullness of time.
No wonder the locals love this heartbreaker.
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