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Steve Burrows

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Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« on: January 28, 2009, 08:26:43 PM »
The next hole, the 10th, is a brilliant short Par 3 of approximately 140 yards, with deep green that is narrow and surrounded by bunkers in the front, while wider and with a steep fall off in the back.


The 11th is a hole with some controversy stemming around the addition of a bunker in the middle of the fairway.  Left is the smart play, though the fairway runs out into the trees, but right is jail, as bunkers await, as well as a terrible angle to the green.

From the tee


I was hoping to pull a ball off the bunker, but pushed it instead and somehow threaded the bunkers.


Shown here is a typical bunker face, which appear to have had depth added over the years.  This fronts the 12th green


Here is the well-renowed 15th, which was unfortunately out of play the day I played, due to the recently sodded teeing ground.  The front of this uphill Par 3 is likely the narrowest entrance of any green on the course and is guarded by a wildly deep bunker on the left, as well as bunkers to the right.  Moreover, the green falls off some 6-8 feet off the back.  Played downwind (which seems to be the prevailing direction), it must be a bear to hold this green.


The 16th plays as one of the most difficult holes on the course; it's a middle distance Par 4 with a blind drive off the tee into the wind, and big sweep downhill to the right afterwards.  The green itself is well contoured, and this is exacerbated by the large feature in the back, which serves as the connection to the adjoining 8th green.


The 17th is a longish Par 4 up the hill, where the second shot is blind, to a fall away green that is the only one on the course with no bunkers.

The tee shot up the hill.


The confounding second shot; how do you judge where to land the ball?


Finally, the 18th is a strong middle distance Par 4 whose defenses at the green (particularly the dip short of the green), really make the hole.

On what was probably the only shot all day that came off exactly as I wanted, I hit a punch 9-iron from about 110 yards to just left of the bunker and it kicked left, and rolled through the swale, up the hill, and settled about 6 inches from the hole.
...to admit my mistakes most frankly, or to say simply what I believe to be necessary for the defense of what I have written, without introducing the explanation of any new matter so as to avoid engaging myself in endless discussion from one topic to another.     
               -Rene Descartes

PCCraig

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2009, 08:31:22 PM »
The next hole, the 10th, is a brilliant short Par 3 of approximately 140 yards, with deep green that is narrow and surrounded by bunkers in the front, while wider and with a steep fall off in the back.



WOW!

How awesome does that par-3 look!

Thanks for the pictures.
H.P.S.

Ash Towe

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2009, 08:37:27 PM »
Steve,
Great photos of one the best courses anywhere.

Anthony_Nysse

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2009, 08:39:41 PM »
Steve,
  Interesting that these pics have been posted. I spoke with the superintendent last week via email about grass types. They have A-1 bentgrass on their greens. I thought that was pretty cool. How was the conditioning?

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Colonial CC
Ft. Worth, TX
« Last Edit: January 29, 2009, 07:00:45 AM by Anthony_Nysse »
Anthony J. Nysse
Director of Golf Courses & Grounds
Apogee Club
Hobe Sound, FL

Tom_Doak

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2009, 08:59:18 PM »
Anthony:

Who is the superintendent there now?

For many years it was Graeme Grant, who played a large role in making improvements to the course you see today.  He rebuilt and recontoured all the tees, and also redid a few of the greens.  [Remember, MacKenzie and Morcom only built one green there, the par-3 15th.  The rest of the greens were leftovers from the original layout until Graeme worked on some of them, which are generally those singled out by Steve Burrows ... such as the sixth and seventh.]

Neil_Crafter

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2009, 09:44:29 PM »
Tom
Just a little correction - Mackenzie only designed one green there, but Morcom built them all, as he did the original (unbunkered) construction work to Dan Soutar's original design in 1923-1925. When he saw the course for the first time, Mackenzie lavished praise on Morcom's shaping work, saying it was equal to the best he had seen anywhere. Mac also praised the layout that Soutar had designed. And Mick Morcom and his son Vern, had the contract to implement Mackenzie's bunkering plan at KH.

The large swale in front of the 7th green (shown on the other thread) was constructed there by Graeme Grant and is not original. These deep fronting swales before greens appears to be a quite common device in Grant's work, and was presumably done to make the approach shot into this shortish par 5 far more difficult, which it certainly has done. But to me it lacks the subtlety of other approach shaping on the rest of the course and sticks out like a sore thumb.

Neil

Kevin Pallier

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2009, 09:59:31 PM »
Neil

I like the swale on the 7th - KH has a lot of different dimensions in it's design and a shot into a front pin there is fraught with danger. Even though the P5's at KH all face pretty much the same direction they certainly dont play the same.

Richard Boult

Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #7 on: January 28, 2009, 10:03:42 PM »
Both Kingston threads posted at http://delicious.com/golfclubatlas/Australia

Mike_Clayton

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2009, 04:11:01 AM »
Tom,

Marty Greenwood is the super there now and he has done a terrific job - and kept up the standards set by Graeme.
Graeme did the 6th,10th,13th and 18th greens.

Steve,
I am suprised you think the approach from the right at 11 is 'terrible'.
I have always tried to play that hole as far to the right as I dared to get the best line into the green.
It looks to me like it is on a slight right to left diagonal. Its subtle but its there - at least to my eye.
The fearsome looking bunkers are quite a way short of the green and not really in play. For the players who have to deal with them then the approach from the left is easier.

Anthony_Nysse

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2009, 07:03:51 AM »
Anthony:

Who is the superintendent there now?

For many years it was Graeme Grant, who played a large role in making improvements to the course you see today.  He rebuilt and recontoured all the tees, and also redid a few of the greens.  [Remember, MacKenzie and Morcom only built one green there, the par-3 15th.  The rest of the greens were leftovers from the original layout until Graeme worked on some of them, which are generally those singled out by Steve Burrows ... such as the sixth and seventh.]

Tom,
  As stated, Martin Greenwood is the current Superintendent.  Sees like a VERY knowledgeable individual. As stated above, the greens are A-1 and have been rebuilt to USGA specs, with the oldest greens being 8-9 years old. Tees, fairways and rough are couch grass.
  #10 looks amazing!

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Colonial CC
Ft. Worth, TX
« Last Edit: January 29, 2009, 07:09:19 AM by Anthony_Nysse »
Anthony J. Nysse
Director of Golf Courses & Grounds
Apogee Club
Hobe Sound, FL

Jeff Spittel

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2009, 08:07:57 AM »
Looks spectacular. Thanks for the pictures, Steve.

I wish somebody would design something that looks KH on the flat terrain in SE Texas.
Fare and be well now, let your life proceed by its own design.

Jeff_Mingay

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #11 on: January 29, 2009, 08:23:08 AM »
Tony (and others... including Neil and Mike),

What are the benefits of reconstructing greens to USGA specs in the sand belt region?

Curious,
jeffmingay.com

Neil_Crafter

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #12 on: January 29, 2009, 03:08:58 PM »
Dear Curious in Canada
I didn't know they had been rebuilt as USGA greens at KH. Personally I can see no need to build greens like these on the Sandbelt. Sand profile greens (no gravel or drains) have been the historical norm there, and also our mini-sandbelt here in Adelaide. When we rebuilt all the greens at Glenelg they were all done as natural sand profile greens, and I would have expected the greens Mike rebuilt at The Grange GC were just sand profile too. Our Glenelg greens perform very nicely thankyou.


Stephen Britton

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #13 on: January 29, 2009, 08:18:04 PM »
From what I remember Kingston Heath is almost on the edge of the sandbelt? Lower parts of the course are almost on clay which would obviously call for a USGA style profile. The “sandbelt” obviously becomes thinner the further away from the beach you get.

Maybe someone working there could confirm how much of the property is actually on sand?
"The chief object of every golf architect or greenkeeper worth his salt is to imitate the beauties of nature so closely as to make his work indistinguishable from nature itself" Alister MacKenzie...

Jeff_Mingay

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #14 on: January 30, 2009, 09:51:17 AM »
Neil,

Your comments mirror my thoughts with regard to USGA greens in the sand belt. Though, Stephen certainly makes a good point in his post, above.

Thanks.
jeffmingay.com

David Stamm

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #15 on: January 30, 2009, 09:59:24 AM »
Steve, thank you so much for taking the time to post these. KH has always looked so appealing to me.
"The object of golf architecture is to give an intelligent purpose to the striking of a golf ball."- Max Behr

Rob Rigg

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #16 on: January 30, 2009, 04:22:57 PM »
Steve,

Great pics - I do not recall ever seeing a course that got such visual movement out of the bunkers - it is amazing, almost overwhelming.


James Bennett

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #17 on: January 30, 2009, 09:24:36 PM »
As said above, Martin Greenwood is the supt, and is a very pleasant and sociable chap.  If you ever get the chance, try and have A drink with him - you will probably enjoy it so much you will have another!

Prior to A1, the course had Egmont (a brown-top bent variety).  Melbourne has just experienced three straight days of 43 degrees plus (that is over 110 degrees Fahrenheit for our USA brethren).  The major national events are played in summer, so the degree of nervousness when a hot, dry, north wind came up is obvious.  Hence the replacement of good greens with a more heat tolerant option.

Kingston Heath runs two grasses - couch (bermuda) for fairways and surrounds, then A1 from 2 or 3 metres from the edge of the greens.  Oh, and lovely surrounding short grass couch circumnavigating most greens outside the A1 collar.

All of the KH staff do a top job, be it Office or Course.

James B
Bob; its impossible to explain some of the clutter that gets recalled from the attic between my ears. .  (SL Solow)

ed_getka

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #18 on: January 30, 2009, 11:38:28 PM »
Thanks for sharing the pix. One of my favorite courses on my trip down. As I have stated before if we moved to Melbourne I would get on the waiting list for KH before I started shopping for a house.
"Perimeter-weighted fairways", The best euphemism for containment mounding I've ever heard.

Chris Kane

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #19 on: January 30, 2009, 11:52:59 PM »
Thanks for sharing the pix. One of my favorite courses on my trip down. As I have stated before if we moved to Melbourne I would get on the waiting list for KH before I started shopping for a house.

Ed, I always laugh when I read this.  If getting on the waiting list at Kingston Heath were so simple, all of us would be on it and it would be a thirty year wait!

 

ed_getka

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #20 on: January 30, 2009, 11:57:34 PM »
Chris,
    I'm happy to be so entertaining. From what I was told RM is a really long wait and KH was a much more reasonable time period. Perhaps my hosts were just being nice to a rube from the US. :)
"Perimeter-weighted fairways", The best euphemism for containment mounding I've ever heard.

Chris Kane

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #21 on: January 31, 2009, 12:15:33 AM »
Ed, length of the waiting list aside, actually getting onto the list at either club is quite a challenge.

ed_getka

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #22 on: January 31, 2009, 12:27:08 AM »
Ed, length of the waiting list aside, actually getting onto the list at either club is quite a challenge.
Chris,
    I think that only applies to law students. ;D
"Perimeter-weighted fairways", The best euphemism for containment mounding I've ever heard.

Chris Kane

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #23 on: January 31, 2009, 12:29:20 AM »
Not a law student anymore Ed!

ed_getka

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Re: Kingston Heath (w/pictures)...continued
« Reply #24 on: January 31, 2009, 12:33:26 AM »
Congratulations! Of course you know what they say about 1000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea....

What type of law are you practicing? It seems like you just returned from St Andrews recently, but it has been a while hasn't it? Best of luck with your career.
"Perimeter-weighted fairways", The best euphemism for containment mounding I've ever heard.

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