Portsea Golf Club: A Pictorial!!! (18th hole posted)

[Kyle Henderson]

For anyone on a golfing trip in Melbourne, I would strongly encourage a round at Portsea Golf Club. The drive down the peninsula, while on the long side (90 minutes each way), explores a beautiful corner of the world. Plus, a number of other excellent public courses in the area (e.g. St. Andrews Beach, The Dunes, Moonah Links-Legends) allow for a splendid double-round day.  

Portsea is loaded with charm from tee-to-green. In fact, aside from its underwhelming length and benign putting surfaces, Portsea put as big a smile on my face as any other course in Australia. Sadly, the club has elected to sell off lots for housing right in the middle of the first fairway (which will soon force the hole to be altered) and where the 9th green used to sit (that hole was recently shortened) in order to fund a new clubhouse (the current one was built in 1993) that will force the shortening of the 6th hole (and the access road may also cause problems). Play Portsea GC soon if you can.

The origins of the club date from the purchase of 122 acres in 1923. 10 holes opened in 1926, with a handful more added in the 1930’s. Sloan Morpeth, soon after leaving his post as the manager of Commonwealth Golf Club, was commissioned to expand the course to a full 18 holes occupying 137 acres. Since 1994, the layout has been gradually modified under the watch of Michael Clayton’s design firm, though I do not know if he is involved with the current restructuring plans.

Whatever the future may hold, the present layout is one to be treasured. I hope you enjoy this journey through it.

Links to other pictorials of my Australian exploits:
Barnbougle Dunes
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,47613.0.html
Barnbougle Lost Farm
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,47929.0.html
Royal Melbourne - West
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,48238.0.html
St. Andrew Beach- Gunnamatta
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,48455.0.html
New South Wales
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,48698.0.html
Woodlands
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,48900.0.html


Hole #1 is 370 meters long, with a down-slope in the fairway reached around 200 meters from the tee.


From the bottom of the hill, an extra club or two above the usual distance requirement will be needed to reach the green. My yardage book does not show the left front bunker, so I assume it is a recent addition to act as a catch basin, since short misses will run well away from the surface.

[Mike_Clayton]

Kyle,

Portsea is great fun and well worth the effort of playing.
We are not involved there any more but I think we did a pretty good job there over the years. 13 especially was a horrendous hole that became something pretty good.
The next few years are going to be critical and how the club manages the changes will be the key to not losing too much of its worth.
Already 9 is diminished because the green on probably the best par four on the course was sold and moving the tee at 10 has hurt that hole.
6 too is poorer for moving the tee.

[Tyler Kearns]

From the bottom of the hill, an extra club or two above the usual distance requirement will be needed to reach the green. My yardage book does not show the left front bunker, so I assume it is a recent addition to act as a catch basin, since short misses will run well away from the surface.

Kyle,

Not that recent, the bunker was there when I played the course in 2005. I have to say, much like Peninsula, I was pleasantly surprised by Portsea. I had never heard of the course, but Mike Clayton recommended making the trip out to see it, and I was certainly not disappointed. The first is a nice opener, not to taxing, but a nice length advantage to be gained for those ready to attack right out of the gate.

I look forward to the rest of the pics of the course.

TK

[Tyler Kearns]

Mike,

A shame to hear about the tee being lost on No. 6, that was an exceptional shot before. Where is the new tee, and how much does it affect the hole?

TK

[Mike_Clayton]

The 6th is now a straight hole - and a par four.
Some thought the old tee unsafe because a few kids used to drive it down the 5th and that, seemingly, was one reason they moved it.
Now balls get hooked down onto the 5th on a regular basis. it is a really difficult par four now and into the wind it takes at least a long iron second.
it is a very difficult green for a long uphill par 4.

[Kyle Henderson]

Tyler,

The old tees for the 6th have gone to seed but Mark Ferguson and I used them anyways, at his suggestion. I also took some photos from the new tees, so you'll I think you'll have a better sense of the changes as the tour progresses.

Michael,

The 13th was quite a bit of fun. I managed to dig up some photos of the original hole somewhere, and it looked dreadful. Kudos.

We've got dozens of lifeless public courses in the San Francisco Bay Area that would benefit greatly from your input.

[Mike_Clayton]

Kyle,

The pity about 6 is that is was a terrible tees shot for many years and we finally managed to get it right and create a really good tee shot.
The big slope in front was smothered in trees and the fairway sloped straight across and every ball ran down close to the tree that remains.
Bruce Grant cleared the trees when he was in charge of the maintenance there and a few years later we did the bunkers and reshaped the fairway.
The proposed driveway into the proposed clubhouse goes close to the old tee (it comes in off the road behind the 2nd green) so I assume they moved it in preparation.
I still play from up there if i play and I am glad Mark took you up there.

[Kyle Henderson]

So the uninitiated will have an idea what Sir Clayton is describing above, here is the view from the now-abandoned 6th tee (with the hole playing as par 5.


A nice view of the bunker work and remaining tree on the 6th's left flank.


The straight-on view as seen from the new tees (playing as a par 4).

[Kyle Henderson]

Kyle,

The pity about 6 is that is was a terrible tees shot for many years and we finally managed to get it right and create a really good tee shot.
The big slope in front was smothered in trees and the fairway sloped straight across and every ball ran down close to the tree that remains.
Bruce Grant cleared the trees when he was in charge of the maintenance there and a few years later we did the bunkers and reshaped the fairway.
The proposed driveway into the proposed clubhouse goes close to the old tee (it comes in off the road behind the 2nd green) so I assume they moved it in preparation.
I still play from up there if i play and I am glad Mark took you up there.

Sir Clayton,
I actually managed to get up at the green in two from the old back tees (a rare day on form), but I would have loved the 6th hole even having struggled during play. It's a tremendous hole from back there. You deserve more than my brown-nosing and the club's proposed changes for this wonderful effort.

[Mark_F]

I still play from up there if i play and I am glad Mark took you up there.

Mike,

Kyle came too far not to play Portsea 6, St Andrews Beach 14 and Peninsula South 18 from the proper tees. 

[Mike_Clayton]

Mark,

At least when we knew the guys maintaining St Andrews Beach we could get them to keep clearing the back 'tee' at 14 but no one there now even knows it exists.
All three holes are much better from the alternate tees.

[Kevin Pallier]

Thanks Kyle for the photo tour of Portsea. For mine it is one of the most underrated courses in Australian golf.

[Tyler Kearns]

Kyle,

Thanks for the pictures detailing the unfortunate changes to No. 6 tee. Thankfully the furthest fairway bunker is strategically relevant from No. 5 tee, as I would hate to see them filled-in now that they don't affect play on No. 6.

TK 

[Kyle Henderson]

Kevin & Tyler,

My pleasure. Thanks for participating.

Mark,
I did come a long way, but it was well worth it thanks to the spectacular courses and the grand treatment afforded by you, Dave, Shane, Kevin, Mike, Scott, Brian, Pup, etc. ect.

I look forward to reciprocating when you fellas come to Cali.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 266-meter 2nd is a bit of a connector hole, with a blind drive bending right around a hillock en route to the back valleys that house holes 3-8.


Those uncertain of their ability to shape their tee shots from left-to-right are wise to lay back to avoid losing their ball left of the fairway. Flirting with the left-side of the fairway will open up the green past the hole’s solitary bunker. 

[Tyler Kearns]

The 2nd hole is a strong hole, either you carve a left-to-right wood from the tee, or play a long-iron to the left side to set-up a better angle of attack. However, the lay-up option is complicated by the landscape which falls away to the left and on a diagonal to the line of play from the tee, requiring an approx. 180-200 yard carry, meaning a slight mis-hit and a longer, blind approach awaits. Drives hit straight will run through the fairway, and Kyle's second picture captures the penalty that awaits.

TK

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Beautiful thanks

[Kyle Henderson]

The 3rd is a downhill par 3 of 167 meters. Proper club selection is vital for a good score here, as any shot to pin high will usually offer a decent chance at par even if a bit off-line.

 
A miss to the left will be swiftly swept onto the 4th fairway.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 4th hole climbs steadily for 362 meters along the club’s property line (o.b. left!). The approach is complicated by its uphill nature and winds swirling through the coastal valleys. I do not recall anything remarkable about the green aside from the modestly proportioned target it presented.

[Mike_Clayton]

If you drive left down the boundary line you get the run off the hill and finish up 20 yards closer to the green than of you drive to the right.
Nowadays the hill is not so far to carry but if you play the hole off the women's tees at the 3rd it plays perfectly.
You can play safely down the right and have a long approach, drive left and get the run down the hill but if you don't make the carry the second is blind - and longer than if you had played right.
From there it's about a 460 yard par four and one of the best holes, not only on the course, but in Victoria.

[John Kirk]

It looks like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle.  Unusually attractive.

[Mark_F]

Nowadays the hill is not so far to carry but if you play the hole off the women's tees at the 3rd it plays perfectly.
You can play safely down the right and have a long approach, drive left and get the run down the hill but if you don't make the carry the second is blind - and longer than if you had played right.
From there it's about a 460 yard par four and one of the best holes, not only on the course, but in Victoria.

Mike,

Isn't that the hole you always wanted to build, and will come into affect anyway with all of the changes?

[Mike_Clayton]

Mark.

It will but I think they have it as a par five. Presumably the tee is near the current back tee at 3 and I think that takes out the relevance of the hill on the left.
From back there the carry is too long for the majority and if you do carry it - Geoff Ogilvy - it becomes as driver 8 iron par five.
I think it needs to be a par four at around 460 yards. It will be the 17th so for those who want a difficult finish it provides that.

[Kyle Henderson]

#5
It was at the 5th that my juices truly began flowing.  On my 401-meter journey to the center of the green, I managed to hit a drive that carried a crest in the fairway right of the shared (with the 6th) bunkers.

 
Climbing the hill with my approach, I could just make out the flag past the rightmost bunker set 40 meters short of the green.

 
A look across the 5th green to the 3rd , with the 5th fairway climbing along the right side of the frame.

[Kyle Henderson]

As described above, the 6th traditionally played as a 446-meter par 5 as pictured (though the fairway bunkers were added in recent years).


Long hitters would play their drives left of the corner to reach in two. Presenting one of many difficult uphill approaches, birdies were well-earned, no matter the relatively short distance for a par 5.


The hole now plays as a straight-away par 4 of ~360 meters and will eventually serve as the opening hole.