Below is the interview with Tom Doak from AusGolf.com regarding St. Andrew's Beach. Below is the text, I have also listed the link which has a few pictures of the course. Tom sounds very excited about the course, and really praises the quality of the land. It's great to hear that he has also signed a long-term contract to stay involved with the course as it evolves.
http://www.ausgolf.com.au/standrewsbeach2.htmSt Andrews Beach - Ausgolf exclusive interview with course architect Tom Doak
“I think this land is the best that anyone has worked with here to date” Doak told ausgolf. “All the Cups Country is similar, but here we have high ridges with ti tree on top that divide the layout into pockets, unlike the wide open spaces on surrounding golf courses. The trees lend character to the holes and their green sites – this adds a lot to the feel of a course, and we’ve been careful to incorporate native vegetation in our work.”
The area was named in the 1950s when a family style property and Resort Golf Development was first planned. Nine holes were constructed around 1960, but a decade later the project failed. Tom Doak first saw the land five years ago, when the late David Inglis had an interest, at the time Doak tendered (unsuccessfully) for the two National courses nearby.
GCPL proposed 27 holes around a residential development, but when the authorities rejected this, golfers became the winners with 36 holes and the current Eco-Resort plan, with no subdivision on the site. The aim is to sign around 300 members by the end of 2004 when the first 18 holes – Gunamatta Course - is ready, rather than to open the gates to public play.
The St Andrews Beach site features sand “blowouts” that create dramatic natural bunkering. But more bunkers are being added during construction to enhance tactical play. Many tees are set on spectacular elevations with commanding views across the property. And secluded punchbowl greens create a feeling of seclusion. Such variety is the making of great golf.
Given such great land, Doak accepts the responsibility to produce the most outstanding course in the area. “This will be as good a piece of work as we’ve ever done” he claims, “with more spectacular ocean views it could be World Top 20 (like Pacific Dunes), and it should certainly play as well as that”.
“Our aim is always to find the best course, and although my reputation is for moving little earth, St Andrews Beach represents the least dirt I’ve ever had to shift – that’s how good this site really is for golf. The less we have to change, the simpler it is to get it right and produce a course in harmony with the natural environment. We only used heavy equipment on two holes. Apart from that we just dug out the bunkers and softened the green sites. Maybe we shifted 25,000 cu. m over 36 holes, that’s 5% of what a typical US course construction would involve.”
Doak’s team works fast. He has spent about three weeks on site (in December and February) and has watched every green construction completed and ‘edited’ just a few of the bunkers. These will typically be jagged edge affairs, some with grass faces, to blend with the native wispy grasses rather than revetted pot bunkers. Some of the bunkers will have rugged islands of grass within them (as do many at Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath) that break the expanse of sand and protect it from wind. “I like to show the sand” says Doak. “My style is not to surround greens with bunkers, but to locate them on one side only – that way I can tempt better players to miss the centre of the green”.
“The course will be a members’ facility, so we are deliberately not designing a championship layout. Often when a design allows for Tour tees, with wider fairways and bigger greens it doesn’t feel right for the average player on forward tees. Here it must be fun to play in the natural conditions that include firm fairways and variable prevailing winds, so, for example, we will provide some leeway around greens to compensate for these elements.”
A more challenging Composite layout is, however, included in the project. This will comprise holes 1 to 5 and 12 to 15 of the Gunamatta Course, together with nine from the second (West) Course.
Tom has prepared the grassing strategy for St Andrews Beach, which includes over sowing of the Legend Couch fairways with fescues and rye to provide a winter grass and a look that will blend with surrounding pastures and a links look in keeping with the dryness of the area compared with Scotland or Ireland. The grass policy is also designed to provide the firm links playing surfaces on the natural land contours, creating different stances and shot options whilst preventing too much roll down slopes and into hollows. “There will be less roll than a true links, but around the greens it will be very firm like the (Melbourne) Sand Belt, favouring a well positioned approach followed by a chip, rather than bombing it in with a huge drive”. Doak also has a long term contract to ensure the upkeep maintains course integrity.