St Michael's shares a boundary with NSWGC at La Perouse in southern Sydney. Sadly, the location is really the only strong link between the two. It has ranked around #50-60 in Australia in various ratings lists.
St Michael's suffers in a few ways, which my pics will hopefully illustrate:
1. A lack of interest at the greens.
2. Scrub so thick it's an automatic lost ball in many places.
3. Playing corridors choked by overgrown vegetation.
4. A ridiculous amount of forced carries (of up to 150m).
It's also disappointing that much of its small waterfront is not used. The par five 13th runs parallel with the sea, but too far inland, while holes belonging to The Coast GC use the seaside below 16, 6, 7 and 8.
The club is currently in the process of converting the course from kikuyu to couch, which itself will improve the playing experience.
It seems to me that St Michael's, The Coast and Randwick together fit on land that would be better off housing only two courses. There is some great golf terrain, but in an effort to squeeze 54 holes in, much of it is wasted.
Mike Clayton wrote in Golf Australia magazine this month: "It is extraordinary that all the land between the edge of NSWGC and Randwick GC at the far end of the line has failed to produce a golf course in the top 50. Such a waste of world class seaside property, for whatever reason, is astounding - and an opportunity to make something incredible... What a waste of some of the best suburban golfing land in the country."
Having said all that, I do regard St Michael's pretty highly. And even without changing the routing and using the extra land a three-into-two would provide, there is scope to improve it if some clearing, thinning and sexing up of the greens were undertaken.
The front nine:
1 - Par 4 - 399m (438y)A "firm handshake" of an opener, which despite its length is easier than it might seem thanks to ample width and an easy green. The best line is achieved by driving down the right, which is higher than the left and has more penal scrub lining it.
2 - Par 4 - 317m (348y)The first of many forced carries, the hole turning to the right slightly at less than 200m from the tee, so if you fancy driving close to the green, you'll have to cut off a good deal of the RHS scrub. The green has subtle movement, indicative of many of St Mick's greens: largely flat but with something to think about here and there.
3 - Par 3 - 170m (187y)Played steeply to a skyline green that runs off at both the front, right and back. With the strong winds that are known to blow, it's a hell of a hole. The ball can be played in from the left, but thick scrub hugs that side of the hole somewhat, so there is an element of risk.
4 - Par 4 - 346m (380y)From an elevated tee, it's a forced carry to a wide fairway below, with a man-made lake guarding the preferred right hand side. Mounding short left of the green makes the pitch from that side more difficult. The area that separates this hole from #2 is a controlled sandy waste area with sporadic trees, which to me is far preferable to the "instant death" scrub present elsewhere on the course (sandy waste areas are also used between 1, 18, 10, 9 and 8 on the northern end of the property).
5 - Par 3 - 203m (223y)The extent to which the vegetation suffocates some holes is best seen here. The green is a really interesting one angled from 7 o'clock to 2 o'clock and sloping from left to right, inviting a well-played cut that uses the angles, but as the first picture shows, there is almost not enough width to even see the green, let alone work a ball into it.
6 - Par 5 - 501m (551y)Another forced carry to reach the fairway, with bunkers both sides of the green awaiting with not much else short to consider. An unfortunate waste of some good golf terrain. It's a major waste and failure, IMO, that 16, 17, 6, 7, 8 and 9 all run parallel, bordering each other.
7 - Par 5 - 492m (541y)Headcing back away from the ocean, this hole climbs the steep slope the 6th plays down, encountered here on the second shot. The green can be reached in two, but as the picture below shows, it needs to be run in from the right to have any chance of holding the green. That great diagonal swale short of the green is a really interesting feature. The fourth bunkerless green we've played by now, and one that - along with the 3rd and perhaps the 5th - has the natural strengths to defend itself without the need for sand.
8 - Par 4 - 398m (437y)A pretty straightforward and somewhat boring hole. Another bunkerless green, but one that fails to pull it off. The lack of any real border between 6, 7 and 8 is a big part of what lets the 6th and 8th down.
9 - Par 4 - 298m (327y)We finish the front nine with a really fun short two-shotter, flanked down the right by a massive bunker, with the green climbing steeply in the last 40m to leave a tricky pitch for the golfer who hits a driver close. Laying back with an iron makes it harder to get left and negate the greenside bunker, so it's really a matter of identifying your strenths and playing to them. To a front pin, it's not really worth hitting the driver close, but with the hole cut towards the back there is more room on the back-to-front sloping green to get it close.
Back nine to follow, but first I'd love to hear from a few others who are familiar with St Mick's.