Royal Adelaide Golf Club

[cary lichtenstein]

I was reviewing my itinerary for next years trip to Australia and one of my golf buddies, not a GCA guy, but an avid golfer, said we would be very dissappointed in Royal Adelaide, that it was just a back and forth course and overrated.

What said the Treehouse here?

[cary lichtenstein]

I loved Gullane #2, but didn't play the other 2

[Chris_Clouser]

What does he mean by a back and forth course?  I have never heard the phrase, so I'm curious.

From everything I've ever read and heard about Australian golf, Royal Adelaide is a must see.  But perhaps your friend knows something that all of those others don't.

[Andrew Summerell]

Cary,

I love Royal Adelaide & don’t understand the ‘up & back’ comment.

During a round at RA you will encounter short par 4’s & long par 4’s; short par 3’s & long par 3’s. You will be required to drive the ball over dunes, through dunes & from on top of dunes, with approach shots to crowned greens, greens that lie flat with the landscape, greens in the saddle of dunes & one that is cradled by a dune. You will cross a railway line twice on a course that has two 3 hole loops in its routing. At times undulating & at other times flat. The wind often blows & you will be tempted & intimidated.

And all this while never being further than 600m from the clubhouse.

[Mark Chaplin]

Cary,

I agree with Andrew I played RA in late 2005 and the course is a solid all round test of one's game with several stand out holes including the short par 4 3rd and tough long par 4 12th.

Adelaide is a really under rated place, there are very good restaurants, the beach and hills are close by, RA is a great track and the wine regions surround the city. Sitting in the restaurant at D'Arunberg in the McLaren Vale lunching on fine food and wine is difficult to beat. On picking from the menu we were invited to retire to the tasting room to find a good wine to match the starter, we were then called back to the table when the starter appeared. The same happened for the main course so we perfectly matched the wine to the food and had a ball. Bridgewater Mill 30 minutes south of the CBD also has a fabulous restaurant.....enjoy!

Mark

[Dan Moore]

What does he mean by a back and forth course?  I have never heard the phrase, so I'm curious.

I assume it means a lot of side by side fairways that go back and forth.  Think early Bendelow.  

[Tom_Doak]

I'm interested to hear more people discuss the merits of this course.  I'm always asked whether it is worth a detour on trips to Australia, and usually answer in the affirmative, but in truth I played it only once, twenty years ago, and the question keeps getting harder to answer with distance.  Plus, there are a lot more tack-on courses around Melbourne than there used to be, and one in Tasmania to boot.  

I don't question that it's a fine golf course, I just wonder if people really felt that it was worth the extra trouble to get to Adelaide instead of staying another two days in Melbourne.

[Chris_Clouser]

Dan,

I guess I can see that point when looking at the routing on the club's website.  But man, that is a tight piece of property.  I'm not sure what else they would be able to do there.  It's not like they have 600 acres like an Erin Hills or something.  Not sure I agree with that type of criticism, but I guess that is his opinion.  

What did he think of the holes though?

[Tyler Kearns]

Cary,

I played Royal Adelaide on my Australian tour last year, and while it is a good golf course, I'll admit to walking away wondering what all the fuss was about. Perhaps after sampling the Melbourne 'Sandbelt', the Mornington Peninsula and the pair of Doak/Clayton designs, Royal Adelaide had a tough act to follow.

I loved the fact that the train ran through the property regularily, and of course, the layout features many excellent golf holes, and only a few boring affairs. Mostly, the course is chalk-full of soundly designed holes. Further, the long, narrow-little mounds that defend both short par fours (#3, #8) were an interesting design element that I had not seen previously.

That being said, I found the greens to be relatively flat, or featured a single prominent slope which made them less interesting in terms of finding alterative routes for recovery strokes. A great example of this is the 'Crater' hole (#11), a simply brilliant green site, but unimagintive contouring, which dampens my overall feelings for the hole. Further, the bunkering, while functional, is for the most part, bland. Some may argue that is purely aesthetic and doesn't affect the golf, which is true, but it does affect the experience.

Further, when in Adelaide, check out the Cleeland Reserve, an opportunity to get up close and feed Emus, Kangaroos and Koalas and see the Tasmanian Devil and a variety of poisonous snakes (I even saw the last 2 ft. of a black one slithering into the bushes at the Kangaroo enclosure).

TK

[Lloyd_Cole]

Based on my recent trip where I played Glenelg (renovated/redesigned by N Crafter) and walked the Grange (ditto M Clayton), ate excellent Asian Food and drank Coopers Red on draught, I plan to spend longer there on my next trip.
RA, Kooyonga and the above two constitute what Crafter calls, a 'mini sandbelt'.
If it were a question of playing Glenelg or Yarra Yarra, right now, given Crafters work and Yarra Yarra's massive tree problem, Glenelg wins hands down. In fact I think that in Melbourne, if you're golfing for pleasure, rather than a GCA assignment, I'd play RM, KH, Victoria, Metropolitan, and Peninsula North and wait to see if Clayton can persuade Commonwealth to cut down the trees it needs to... if they do, the tide may turn, but right now much of the '2nd tier' are so overgrown they are playing like American parkland. No need to go to the other end of the earth for that.

[Mark Chaplin]

Tom - I realise you are a busy man but if you enjoy a glass of wine then two days away from Melbourne, one for golf the other for a taste or two is worth the flight.

On my last trip to RM I got the 0600 flight from Sydney but due to fog we were diverted to Adelaide which is further from Melbourne than Sydney. Sadly I missed my 1000 west course tee time.

[Mike_Clayton]

Royal Adelaide is a terrific course with four of five of the better holes in the country - 2,3,6,9,11 and 14 - that make it worth a trip to Adelaide.
We have just rebuilt the West Course at The Grange - all greens and bunkers and significant tree removal - which will make it worth seeing especially next year when Royal Adelaide and The Grange are hosting the Espirito Santo and The Eisenhower Trophy.
Kooyonga and Glenelg are also very good.I would make it a two day trip with 36 a day and get to Melbourne and Barnbougle.
If Adelaide is worth two days,Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula is worth seven and Barnbougle two on its own.

[Andrew Summerell]

I'm interested to hear more people discuss the merits of this course.  I'm always asked whether it is worth a detour on trips to Australia, and usually answer in the affirmative, but in truth I played it only once, twenty years ago, and the question keeps getting harder to answer with distance.  Plus, there are a lot more tack-on courses around Melbourne than there used to be, and one in Tasmania to boot.  

I don't question that it's a fine golf course, I just wonder if people really felt that it was worth the extra trouble to get to Adelaide instead of staying another two days in Melbourne.

Tom,

Whether it's worth the trip depends on how much time one has. For example, if someone was spending most of their time in Melbourne, but had the time to visit one other mainland city, I would consider a trip to Sydney to play NSW first.

That being said, taking some time to enjoy the subtleties of Royal Adelaide is extremely rewarding as well.

The only drawback is that some of the new work over the last few years is a little average.

[James Bennett]

Cary

it is a matter of time.  Andrew Summerell is correct that your first two priorities are Melbourne and Sydney (the latter more for tourism than golf).  Because of Barnbougle, there is a priority for Tasmania.  Then there is Adelaide.  Mark Chaplin and Tyler Kearns have picked highlights that I would recommend for any visitor.

Then there is Perth.  Not many talk about Perth because it is on the other side of Australia.  But the golf and side-trips is an interesting balance to the Adelaide/Melbourne (and Sydney) experience all in one.  Perth is booming, has good weather, has an abundance of sand and many good golf courses.

James B (Adelaide resident)

[Neil_Crafter]

Clayts
I think you are spot on with the time allowance you suggested. Your work at Grange West has really opened things up - it was refreshing to see vistas I didn't know were there. And I hope the clearing out we did at Glenelg made it a little easier for you to persuade them at Grange.
Also don't forget the 16th at RA, which is an unprepossessing looking hole but one of the finest par threes in the country.

Tom
Only one hour flight from Melbourne to Adelaide so not a lot of bother to get here, and as Mike says, you can see 4 very good courses in two days. Alterations made to RA for the 1998 Australian Open leave a fair bit to be desired, but these not withstanding, it is still a wonderful course on a very nice property.

Oh, and Chris Clouser, Royal Adelaide is not cramped in the flesh, in fact it is Adelaide's most spacious course, covering quite a few more acres than any of the other three.

As for Sydney, there's NSW and, er.....can't think of any others.

cheers Neil

[Sean Walsh]

Isn't it nice that Tasmania will soon (if it hasn't already) push NSW down to 5th on the Best Australian Golf Destination list.  

By the way what do you think:

Victoria
South Australia or WA
Tasmania
NSW
Queensland

or should it already be

SA or WA or Tas..

[Mark_F]

Also don't forget the 16th at RA, which is an unprepossessing looking hole but one of the finest par threes in the country.

Is it really?

The consensus I get from people is that the par threes as a set there are fairly ordianry, and that whilst the 16th green may be hard to hit, that doesn't make it a good hole.

Mike:

What is so special about the 2nd and 9th holes?

[Mike_Clayton]

Mark

Both 2 and 9 are interesting for me because there are so many options with the second shots.
I think the 2nd green is also very good although the 9th green is not in the same league.

Both have the threat of the horrible 40 yard bunker shot if you miss the target.
Neither tee shot is particularly great but from there to the hole both would be terrific short par fours - and that is what many great second halves of par fives often are.
10 East at Royal Melbourne played from 300 meters would be one of the best short fours in the country as would the 15th at Woodlands.
Neil,

I am also a fan of 16 because it's so simple and it is one of those holes where only a good shot will do and it comes at the perfect time in the round.That alone does not make for a good hole but I think it does in this case.
7 is also a fine hole - though not from the tee they built on the left and 12 is what it is - a brutal,long downhiller to a pimple green.

Grange West is a good example of significant tree removal making a big difference and the credit should go to the Captain,Wayne Owen who really gave us a free hand.
It was a decision few committemen would be brave enough to make.

[Andrew Thomson]

It's better than anything in Melbourne outside RM and KH imo, hence its a must visit.

Have a game at Kooyonga and a few others while you're down there, oh and drink some grapejuice

[ed_getka]

I was just looking at the club website and they have a video flyover feature so you can take a look at the holes at royaladelaidegolf.com.
   Take my opinion on RA with a huge grain of salt. It was my last round of the trip and unfortunately the course is undergoing work for an upcoming Eisenhower Cup. #3 was out of play (green redone) and there were 3-4 temporary greens, plus one temporary tee. I really wish they had just closed down one whole nine and just had us go around twice.
   #1 is an okay opener, but right into the sun.
    #2 Good par 5 with something of interest on each shot.
Very interesting comment by Mike Clayton about the last two shots being a short par 4. I'll have think about that one.
   
#3 Out of play but certainly looked worthy of its reputation.
 #4 Solid hole driving blind out of the dunes and then turns left. Greens on the whole are rather flattish here.
More to follow.
   
   

[ed_getka]

#5 Green out of play.

Areas of mounding have been added to holes that don't seem to add much to the course. Not to mention they look out of place in areas where the surrounding terrain is essentially flat.

#6 Good solid par 4 back up onto edge of dune that requires two good shots.

#7 A testing par 3 (a recurrent theme throughout Australia).

#9 A decent par 5 that sweeps around to the right. Unfortunately right by the dunes without going up into or utilizing them at all.

#10 Green out of play. I like the drive up and over a rise (in spite of the fact I drove two out of play).

#11 par 4 Crater hole. Nice driving up into a fairway up on the dune, and then approach back down into the hollow in the dune where the green is.

#12 Long downhill par 3 to a green that is basically crowned and from 200 metres must be a brute to hold. Green was out of play.

#13 Nice hole that curves left around the edge of the dune. This green had a bit more slope than most.

#14 Tee out of play. Teed off with 5 iron to try to have the same approach shot value. Green sitting up on a spine of land that made for a testing approach shot.

#15 par 5 Turns left off the tee and then back to the right up near the green. Tee shot is pinched a little tight on the left by pine trees.

A series of ponds is being constructed for water filtration in this area of the course, starting back near #14 tee.

#16 Another solid par 3.

#17 par 5 Tee shot into rising land, then up and over and hole slides to the right a little. Bunkering protects the right side for those trying to reach in two and the left area in front of the green has some nice contour that will feed a shot losing speed into a left greenside bunker.

All in all some good golf here. Having seen it I can't say it is worth the detour away from Melbourne, but as I noted in the beginning, all the temporary stuff definitely affected by opinion.
   Having said that, the member I played with said he would probably go 8-2 NSW over RA in the 10 hole test. He is a member of both.
   One other point to note. When anyone speaks of any of these courses in Australia being tight and overly treed they probably haven't seen some of the parkland bowling alleys we have in the US. I didn't golf at a single course where I felt the corridors were too tight. That doesn't mean they couldn't be better with some tree removal, but they weren't nearly as claustrophobic as I was expecting.

[Mark Bourgeois]

IMO drinking Grange is much better than playing Grange. Nice stop on the Norman history trail, though.

[Andrew Summerell]

#5 Green out of play.

Areas of mounding have been added to holes that don't seem to add much to the course. Not to mention they look out of place in areas where the surrounding terrain is essentially flat.

#5 was out of play last October as well. The mounds that have been added by PT are awful, both on the 5th & behind the 9th. I assume #5 is out of play because it had to be re-done.

[James Bennett]

Andrew

5 was in play, but it was 8 which was out of play.  I felt somewhat embarrassed to have Ed visiting with perhaps 5 greens out of play, plus the wetlands work going on.  And corporate days on at all of the major courses thatd ay as well, limiting options.

Mark

The Norman history trail is Grange East.  I would rather drink Grange as well.  The main, rejuvenated course is Grange West.  I would be happy to play 12 holes and drink a third of a bottle.  But I love my red, and my golf.

James B

[ed_getka]

James,
  Nothing to be embarrassed about, it was just bad luck on the timing. Golfing with you and Terry more than made up for ground under repair.
   Then to see Neil's work at Glenelg with the interesting bunkering work. I guess you would call it semi-revetted.
   Top that off with feeding kangaroos and emus by hand and seeing a koala up close and the time to Adelaide and back was WELL worth it.
    The added bonus of having dinner with Bev and Lisa who were delightful company made for a great wrap up to my best golf trip ever.