He was the then-46-year-old American club professional who played his way into contention at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, earned a final-round pairing alongside a Northern Irishman called Rory McIlroy and made a hole-in-one down the stretch before grabbing a cheque for more than US$220,000 for snaring a share of 15th place.

It was a classic “Cinderella” story with Hollywood’s fingerprints all over it.

His phone soon rang off the hook with sponsorship and tournament invite offers, including one from Golf Australia offering him a spot in the Australian Open to be played at The Lakes and The Australian Golf Clubs in Sydney. It was a canny move and Block repaid the organisers by doing what he could to promote the championship to his 250,000-plus followers on social media.

His acclaim for one of the championship venues was seemingly high praise straight from the big southern Californian’s heart.

“This course is one of the best golf courses I have ever played in my life,” Block said after a third-round 69.

“Honestly, of all the tournaments I’ve played in my life, this is probably one of my favourite courses ever. It is very much a major championship course venue and I would just love … I think they should just have it here every year and then this would be the fifth major [championship].

“I would vote for this being the fifth major, but they would have to commit that it’s played at The Australian every single year.”

Block was so enamoured with the Jack Nicklaus-designed course he was even toying with trying to become a member.

Water first comes into play at the 328-metre par-4 3rd. PHOTO: Brendan James.

“I love everything about this place. This is 100 percent major championship conditions, without a doubt. The design, the views, the shape of it, the contours are all amazing. Conditions are 10 out of 10.

“It is so reminiscent of a major championship venue and it’s very reminiscent of Augusta National. The bunkering, the greens, the fall-offs; it’s a great spot.

“You know what, if I could join here, I might.”

Block isn’t the first American pro tour player to fall in love with the 70 hectares of rolling land at Kensington, in Sydney’s inner southern suburbs.

The club was keen to see the greens play firmer and quicker. PHOTO: Brendan James.

In 2014, a 21-year-old Jordan Spieth was on the rise when he “shot the round of his life” – an eight-under 63 final round – to defeat the likes of Adam Scott and McIlroy to claim his first Australian Open. Back at The Australian a year later, the Texan finished one stroke out of a play-off in his title defence.

Back in 1990, John Morse defeated local hero Craig Parry in a playoff to claim the championship ahead of a field which included World No.1 Greg Norman and World No.2 Nick Faldo.

And then there was Nicklaus himself.

The Australian’s bunkers are so beautiful you’d almost want to land in them on purpose… almost. PHOTO: Brendan James.

The Golden Bear won his fourth Stonehaven Cup on his first showing at The Australian in 1975, defeating fellow American Bill Brask by three strokes. He returned the following year and successfully defended his title by four strokes from another American, Curtis Strange. Nicklaus made it six Australian Open titles in 1978 when he streeted the field, claiming the trophy by six shots ahead of compatriot Ben Crenshaw.

It was during these years of Nicklaus’ domination of the national championship that The Australian course underwent its most dramatic changes.

The club was founded in 1882 but had moved from the inner city at Moore Park to the shores of Botany Bay, before a land dispute resulted in the club moving again, this time to Kensington in 1905. The original course was designed by club professional Jock Hutchison, Gilbert Martin and the renowned Carnegie Clark. It was treeless, sandy ground with beautiful dunes scattered across the property.

Hardly any water to worry about on the back nine… until the end of your round. PHOTO: Brendan James.

This early design was tweaked by Dr Alister MacKenzie during a brief visit in 1926 and the reputation of the links-style course continued to grow for decades, particularly as a regular host of the national championship. MacKenzie’s Australian design associate, Alex Russell, even submitted plans to upgrade the course, but World War II intervened. Course architect Sloan Morpeth, who created the famed Commonwealth course on the Melbourne Sandbelt, made some changes in the mid-1960s when the airport freeway was expanded, but the biggest change was yet to come.

Even by the early 1970s, The Australian was still quite open, with only pine trees and some scrub seemingly able to survive in the deep, sandy loam. It was around this time the Australian Golf Union was struggling to raise enough sponsorship to offer sufficient prizemoney to attract big-name overseas players for the Australian Open.

One of the country’s richest businessmen and member of The Australian, media magnate Kerry Packer, negotiated to take over the running of the Australian Open and proposed to play the event at Kensington for several years. Packer then commissioned Nicklaus to completely redesign The Australian course in time for the 1977 championship, which cost Packer $500,000. A further nine greens were rebuilt and grassed in time for the 1978 championship won by Nicklaus.

Nicklaus’ radical changes completely transformed the links layout into an American parkland-style course featuring heavy mounding, water hazards and sculpted bunkering. Natural dunes were covered with deep rough and tall trees, mainly pines, were transplanted to the edges of its fairways.

Nicklaus’ design team revisited The Australian in 2012 and 2013 to renovate the course after observing the greens, bunkering, tees and water hazards could all be better than their original work. While redoing the greens to restore them to pure bentgrass, the opportunity was taken to reshape them and build new greenside bunkering.

The course today looks nothing like its original 1905 layout, but has been widely accepted as a fine tournament venue and remains ranked among Australia’s best courses. It is arguably the best-conditioned course in the country.

“The Australian is the gold standard in course conditioning. Its American-style of golf is unique to Australia and always makes for a fun day out,” says Top-100 ranking judge and Tour professional DJ Loypur.

Fellow Top-100 panellist Adrian Logue agrees.

“The Australian is a great championship venue and a fun place to play golf, with superb presentation, some decent width and surprisingly firm conditions considering how lush it is,” he said.

And there is no argument from European Ryder Cup hero and Scottish Open champion Rob MacIntyre, who gushed, “The Australian is hands-down the best-conditioned course I have ever played.”

Much of this acclaim can be attributed to course superintendent Dan Cook, who arrived at The Australian in the spring of 2021 after 14 years north of the harbour at Elanora Country Club.

Any wonder the Australian is a favourite of golfers the world over? PHOTO: Brendan James.

The club was keen to see the greens play firmer and quicker, have greater consistency of playability across all the bunkers and general improvements made to the landscape.

Cook made significant changes and perhaps the most applauded by this magazine’s ranking judges was improving the width of the playing corridors and offering more short-cut turf across the property. More than 8,000 square metres of bunkering was overhauled, with 76 bunkers reconstructed and porous liner installed along with freshly imported sand.

When Nicklaus first redesigned the old course back in the late 1970s, he combined the original par-4 10th and the short 11th to create a par-5, which has since been lengthened a few times over the years and now stretches the opening hole to 461 metres from the tips. It was meant to provide a gentle beginning to what is generally regarded as one of Australia’s toughest courses. The tee sits high above the fairway and bunkers on the right of the slight dogleg fairway suggest a drive moving left-to-right is ideal. During the Australian Open, the big-hitting pros will quite often take the bunkers out of play by driving straight over the top of them to leave a short iron second shot. It is no wonder the hole is played as a par-4 for the men’s national championship. The long, tiered green, which lies in an amphitheatre surrounded by sand and rough, favours a shot which turns the opposite way to the drive.

You will be thankful for Nicklaus’ tame opener once you delve deeper into the front nine and the demand for precise and powerful ball-striking becomes greater as you look to keep the big numbers off your card.

Water first comes into play at the 328-metre (from the blue markers) par-4 3rd, where the fairway winds left around the edge of a lake. The hazard can’t be seen from the tee, but it can be easily reached, especially with the prevailing southerly wind behind you. Lay back to leave a mid-to-short-iron into the green that sits hard against the lake.

The second shot into the 3rd is one of those shots which can quickly leak away from your intended line and finish in the water, which is a common theme around the front nine. The tee shot on the next – a long par-3 with bunkers short and long of the putting surface – is another. As is the challenging approach into the twin long par-4s – the 7th and 9th – where one edge of the green sits perched just above the water line of a lake. On the homeward trek, water really offers only two knee-knocking moments … as you stand over your long approach into the green on the par-4 17th and when you contemplate hitting your second shot over the water onto the lakeside putting surface of the par-5 closer.

This closing duo has provided plenty of Australian Open drama since Nicklaus’ first major upgrade, but few moments deserve more celebration than Bob Shearer’s flushed 3-iron into the middle of the green to set up a two-putt birdie to win the 1982 Australian Open, four strokes ahead of Nicklaus and the sweet-swinging American Payne Stewart. It was a grandstand finish for the ages.

Such have been the advances made in equipment technology over the past 40 years that when Chile’s Joaquin Niemann captured the 2023 title in a play-off, he nailed his second shot to within seven feet of the flag using an 8-iron … some five clubs less than Shearer, who was considered a big-hitter back in the day.

For the rest of us mere mortals, the 486-metre journey from the back tee to the green requires a little more strategic thought than bombing a driver and hitting a solid short iron. Laying up away from the water – either short or further up the fairway to the left – is generally the best play for most of us, but this comes with its own challenges, as getting too close to the deep three-level green can make for a tough nerve-wracking pitch shot.

While the par-5 18th has evolved into a gentler version of Nicklaus’ original, the prospect of drowning your ball within view of the majestic clubhouse remains and that alone adds a level of intimidation golfers of all standards are familiar with.

FACT FILE

LOCATION: Bannerman Cres, Rosebery, New South Wales.

CONTACT: (02) 9663 2273.

WEBSITE: www.australiangolfclub.com

DESIGNER: Jack Nicklaus (1977 and 2013).

PGA PROFESSIONALS: Nathan Gibbons (Director of Golf), Gary Barter, Josh Rindfleish, Rebecca Blain, Allan Bull.

PLAYING SURFACES: A1 and A4 bentgrass (greens); Santa Ana couch (fairways), Grand Prix couch (tees).

COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Dan Cook.

GREEN FEES: The Australian is a private club. Guests should be invited to play by a member, unless they are from interstate or overseas, in which case they may be introduced by the General Manager. Manager-introduced guests should be affiliated with a recognised golf club or association of which they are a current member and provide a letter of introduction from that organisation.

ACCOLADES: Ranked No.31 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Courses for 2024.