[Matthew Mollica]

On an Australian based website, which most aussie posters here at GCA also frequent, Tony Titheridge has posted a wealth of photos of Tom Doak and Mike Clayton's work at St. Andrews Beach (Gunnamatta).

As a fine detail, hole-by-hole supplement to Mark Fergusson's 'My Home Course' review, this thread is very interesting reading. Some very good commentary from Tony and others, but also some pithy bits to ignore. Mostly pretty entertaining reading though...

Click on the link below and enjoy.

http://www.iseekgolf.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15695&st=0

Matthew

[Jason Blasberg]

Man do I need to get Down Under!!!

[Tim Pitner]

Man do I need to get Down Under!!!

Me too.  Barnbougle may be getting all the pub, but I love what I see of the Gunnamatta course.  

What I want to know though is how much dirt Doak and Clayton moved to build it.  When Doak says it might be his most minimalistic course, is that just marketing spin?  


Please know I'm kidding.  

[Tom_Doak]

Tim:

I won't put a number to it, but it wasn't much earthmoving.  

Other than digging bunkers and contouring greens (plus or minus 2 feet from existing grades), the only earthwork we did was a bit of softening at the crest of the 13th fairway, and pushing down the crest of the 15th fairway back toward the landing area so you might have a chance to see the top of the flag for your approach shot.

That's in the same ballpark as Sand Hills.  In fact, the site always reminded me a bit of Sand Hills -- not as rugged, just because when we mowed it down you could "play" the whole course prior to construction.

[Aaron Katz]

Tom, I actually like the look of SAB better than Cape Kidnappers, simply because the course isn't fighting with anything else for top billing.  At CK, the ocean views could get a bit distracting.  Not that that's a bad thing, of course.  

[Tom_Doak]

Aaron:

Both courses are cool in their own right.  I have never heard of anyone spending the day at Cape Kidnappers who was wishing they were somewhere else ... being up atop the cliffs is always special.  The golf course doesn't fight with the scenery at all -- it works with it, otherwise the scenery would win hands down.

Don't fall into the silly convention of DOWNGRADING a course because it has awesome views.  Lately some people have been rating Ballyneal ahead of Pacific Dunes as if the use of the coastline was meaningless ... but again, I've never heard of anyone standing there and wanting to be anywhere else.

[Aaron Katz]

I won't fall into that convention.  I always think it's funny when people say, "Take the ocean away from Pebble and . . . ."  I guess when I look at SAB, I say to myself, "Most people probably would have driven straight by that land without even thinking about golf."  That ups the coolness factor when I see how incredible it turned out.  If I had to play one course for the rest of my life, it definitely would be one with ocean views, however.

[Mark_F]

but also some pithy bits to ignore.

Just a little timely warning.

The pithy bits to ignore are the demented rantings of one JJJ.

[Andrew Summerell]

but also some pithy bits to ignore.

Just a little timely warning.

The pithy bits to ignore are the demented rantings of one JJJ.

And now we have some GCA pith.

Isn't that just dandy!

[ed_getka]

Matthew,
   Thanks for the link to iseekgolf. I'm enjoying the photos immensely. I'll be pulling them up frequently once the rains begin in a few months.

[Mark_F]

You should make two trips down here Ed.  Spring has barely started in Melbourne, and it is gorgeous already.

A nice Spring, then a nice Autumn early next year playing golf downunder, what more could you want?

[ed_getka]

Mark,
   You sure know how to make an impatient golfer suffer. In the meantime its off to one last golf trip before I start saving up my pennies for next year.

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