Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
THE SWING<br />
Chopping my way from scrubby patch to scrubby<br />
patch, I doff an imaginary bush hat to his incredible<br />
achievement. I’m discovering, you see, that not only is<br />
<strong>the</strong> Nullarbor Links <strong>the</strong> longest golf course in <strong>the</strong> world;<br />
it is arguably it’s toughest. After an acceptable start, my<br />
play heads south. Reloading on <strong>the</strong> fourth tee under <strong>the</strong><br />
curious gaze of a group of kangaroos, I manage to avoid an<br />
encounter with any reptiles.<br />
By now, however, it is my game that has become<br />
poisonous. Six more shots and four putts on <strong>the</strong><br />
deceptively speedy artificial green and I’m signing for a<br />
10 – translation ‘woeful’. It’s an ignominious pattern that<br />
will repeat itself on virtually every hole from here until<br />
Kalgoorlie, <strong>the</strong> final stop for westbound golfers.<br />
We know that <strong>the</strong> course is not a conventional one,<br />
but it is totally unique and golfers love playing it<br />
“We don’t pretend to be something we’re not,” says<br />
Caputo as I join him at <strong>the</strong> bar at <strong>the</strong> Madura Roadhouse,<br />
<strong>the</strong> centre of ano<strong>the</strong>r tiny community on <strong>the</strong> Roe Plains.<br />
The place is very typical of <strong>the</strong> roadhouses dotted along<br />
<strong>the</strong> lonely Eyre Highway – accommodation in two parallel<br />
rows of low concrete buildings, plain but adequate, and a<br />
restaurant that does a roaring trade in giant breakfasts,<br />
burgers and T-bone steaks. It also has a homely bar with<br />
Robert Stock, a pro from<br />
Manchester, England, sketched<br />
out plans for <strong>the</strong> new holes using<br />
Google Maps. The rest of <strong>the</strong> budget<br />
was spent on AstroTurf greens and<br />
tees as well as some rudimentary<br />
land clearing.<br />
threadbare carpets and a line in tacky sporting memorabilia.<br />
“We know that <strong>the</strong> course is not a conventional one,” Caputo<br />
tells me. “But it is totally unique and golfers love playing it.”<br />
While my golf skills have vanished as rapidly as a wombat<br />
disappearing down its hole, I’m enjoying <strong>the</strong> non-playing<br />
portion of <strong>the</strong> experience. The scenery is barren, but strangely<br />
beautiful. It is also surprisingly rich in anecdotes for such an<br />
empty place.<br />
In Eucla, on <strong>the</strong> border of South and West Australia,<br />
I learn about <strong>the</strong> ‘Nullarbor Nymph’. When professional<br />
kangaroo shooters reported that a comely, half-naked blonde<br />
was living among <strong>the</strong> roos in <strong>the</strong> rugged and unforgiving<br />
wilds outside Eucla, <strong>the</strong> story caused quite a stir, with <strong>the</strong> news<br />
reported around <strong>the</strong> globe.<br />
The tale, of course, turned out to be a ruse, concocted<br />
sometime in <strong>the</strong> early seventies over a few beers by <strong>the</strong><br />
kangaroo shooters and a passing journalist who happened to<br />
be drinking in <strong>the</strong> roadhouse. It is easy to see why locals might<br />
want to create fantastical diversions such as <strong>the</strong> Nullarbor<br />
Nymph as you push onwards through <strong>the</strong> seemingly endless<br />
flat, treeless terrain.<br />
But remote as it is, <strong>the</strong> scenery possesses a widescreen<br />
grandeur that is hard to dismiss. At <strong>the</strong> towering Bunda Cliffs,<br />
HOLE 18: CY<br />
O’CONNOR<br />
HOLE,<br />
KALGOORLIE<br />
ON A MISTY<br />
MORNING<br />
61 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> | TM