New South Wales Golf Club in Sydney, Australia, has appointed the UK firm of Mackenzie & Ebert to produce a masterplan for the improvement of its course.

“Mackenzie & Ebert has a well-established reputation for successfully and sympathetically upgrading courses of all types, particularly windy seaside courses like ours, and including the likes of Turnberry, Royal Portrush, Royal Dornoch and Royal St Georges,” said Chris Coudounaris, the club’s president. “We felt that Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert were the right fit to help us maximise the potential of the exceptional property on which our course is located.”

The New South Wales course dates back to 1926, but parts of the original layout by Alister MacKenzie were lost during World War 2. Since then, aspects of the course have been rebuilt by various architects, which has resulted in an inconsistent architectural theme.

Renovation work will aim to improve strategy, playability and aesthetics, with all 18 greens complexes designed by one architect and built in one summer season.

“Having travelled to Australia to meet with the Club’s board in August, we are enormously excited to be appointed to work with New South Wales Golf Club on the renovation of their course,” said Mackenzie. “It is an incredible property, and the course is already very highly regarded, but there is so much opportunity for improvement.

“Our shared priorities, in accordance with the brief, are to make the course even more interesting, fairer and playable for the members and, at the same time, more varied, strategic and challenging for the best players. The overall intention is to produce a course which remains demanding, but which is also enjoyable to play in whatever the conditions experienced.”

The project will be Mackenzie & Ebert’s first in Australia, and they will visit New South Wales again in early 2023 to progress the masterplan, with a view to work starting on the course in 2024.