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

[Kyle Henderson]

The 7th requires a flick of 151 meters to a bowled green complex situated across a small hanging valley.

 
A number of testing recovery shot can be found around the green’s periphery, but those that find the surface are almost assured of par at worst as a result of the soft green contours.

 

[Tyler Kearns]

Kyle,

They cleared an area behind and higher up from this back tee, although I'm not sure it was ever built. The hole looks much more intimidating from there, especially in the wind. The drop-off to the right of the green is very severe, although it does require a solid miss to get into.

TK

[Mike_Clayton]

Tyler,

It was a fun - and difficult - shot from that cleared tee. It needed a little clearing to the left of the green but I thought it was an option worth having for players who wanted to use it as well as taking in the view from up there.
The members didn't need to play from up there too much but it added to the course.
Alas, it won't get done now.

[Kyle Henderson]

A short par 5 of 437 meters, the 8th presents yet another breathtaking view from the tee.

 
Even with a strong tee shot, the green will be hidden for the 2nd shot..

 
By playing over the left bunker, a slope on the left can be utilized to feed approaches onto the green.

[Mike_Clayton]

8 is a tremendous piece of land to play over - it's a short par five turning left with the bunker across the front.
I always thought it would be a tremendous long par four with the bunker gone and the ability to run a long shot up onto that green.
You do have to hit a great second to hit and hold the green.

[Kyle Henderson]

Once a mighty par 4, the 9th hole was recently shortened into a pleasant but diminished test of just 385 meters (from 407 meters). The old green site is now a residential lot, and the club is applying the proceeds of this transaction to the building of a new clubhouse (replacing the building pictured above the right greenside bunkers. I wish the club well, but would certainly have opted otherwise if I had any say in the matter.

The tee shot plays down hill, with the fairway bending to starboard around the fairway trap.

 
A new green site was shaped skillfully to tie in with the existing grades. Like the old green, the new putting surface plays from short right to long left, rewarding those able to challenge the fairway bunker. Sadly, this advantage is tempered by the shortened approach yardage.

[Mike_Clayton]

Selling the green of perhaps the best hole on the course - amazing!
This tee used to be to the right and in the 70s they planted trees down the right so you could only see the left half of the fairway.
We moved the tee thirty yards to the right and built the bunkers. The moonah tees to the right of the first photo were planted when the tee was done and they are to the left of the old tee.
The first of the two fairway bunkers was altered for no good reason but it is still a really good tee shot and with a longish club - 4,5 or 6 iron - you had to drive close to the bunkers to open a line to the left flag.
Now it's 30 yards shorter it is not so important.

[David_Elvins]

Kyle,

Thanks for posting the tour, I have been on the road so not commenting, but it is a great place to play golf.  I will try and post some photos from the back tee on 7 when I get home.  Its a remarkable view, with water visible for perhaps 270 degrees of the horizon.

[Patrick Kiser]

Gosh this looks good.  You weren't kidding El Capitan about this being one of the biggest surprises from the trip.  Really sad to see some of those changes going in.

First thought is what a great piece of land for golf.  For once, I see a tree on a fairway that looks "ok".

As always thanks for sharing and looking forward to the back nine.

[Mike_Clayton]

Patrick,

That tree at the 6th used to be in the rough and there were probably 15-20 trees left of it.
I wanted to cut it down but Bruce Grant insisted on keeping it and that was clearly the right decision.

[Kyle Henderson]

Dave, my benevolent host, I was wondering where you were.

Patrick, my SAB/Portsea romp with Mark was sublime. You missed out, amigo.

Mike, the tree on #6 is lovely, but the bunker work is what really makes the hole "pop" visually. It will still be attractive when the tree eventually dies, though the straight-on tee shot does temper the overall visual appeal.

[Kyle Henderson]

The current version of the 10th hole is just 327 meters in total length and has a character somewhat disparate to its siblings. Chiefly, it features a steeply up-sloping, rumpled fairway that will leave short hitters playing blind approaches.


Moderate and long hitters will face simple, visible, slightly downhill 2nd shots from very short range to a back-to-front sloping green protected by a port-side sand sentry.

[Mike_Clayton]

Kyle,

I am assuming you played the 10th off the new tee on the left - after the original was sold as a part of the 9th green sale!!

it was a better hole from over to the right and it needs work now to improve the look of the tee shot.
Bruce rumpled that fairway because anything short of the top of the hill would run back fully 50-60 yards and all the way down to the base of the dune.

[Shane Gurnett]

Tis is a great pity that after years of thoughful hard work at Portsea, that the vandal has been allowed in to stamp his usual filthy stain on such a beautiful canvass. Clearly those in charge did not pick up phone and speak with clubs who have made the same mistake before them, or drive anywhere into the south eastern suburbs with their eyes wide open. What a shame.

[Tyler Kearns]

The 10th didn't do much for me, and is not particularly memorable. Look forward to your pictures of the 11th & mighty 13th!!!

TK

[Kyle Henderson]

Kyle,

I am assuming you played the 10th off the new tee on the left - after the original was sold as a part of the 9th green sale!!

it was a better hole from over to the right and it needs work now to improve the look of the tee shot.
Bruce rumpled that fairway because anything short of the top of the hill would run back fully 50-60 yards and all the way down to the base of the dune.

To my knowledge, that is correct -- new tees. I'd love to see just a hint of the top of the flag from the tee, a la the 16th at Pasatiempo (post-tree clearing), anlong with a few other tweaks to the 10th.

[Kyle Henderson]

The amazing variety of short (319 meters) par 4 offerings continues at the 11th, with a semi-blind downhill drive over the shoulder of a prominent ridgeline.


Tee shots will usually finish somewhere in the trough below and face an approach played starkly uphill.


While the inside (right)  line off the tee will shorten the approach a bit, it will also force one to play directly over two bunkers (one set well short of the green) to reach the putting surface.

[Kyle Henderson]

The first par 3 of the inward nine is an attractive hole stretching to 173 meters. Tee shots should travel slightly downhill to a green encircled on three sides by moderately deep bunkers and a slightly bowled bank of turf at the rear. Once on board, the green contours will seem rather pedantic.

[Mike_Clayton]

At 12 you have to hit a really good shot to hit the green - marginal usually misses here - and it always has suffered a little from the feature of the forward tees, and the land ahead of those tees tees, is hiding almost all of the rest of the really interesting ground between the tee and the green.
We always thought about taking the tee to the left and playing to a green higher up and to the right. There is a beautiful green site in there and it would be a Royal Melbourne 5th type hole.

At the 11th that short fairway bunker on the right is built into a hill that used to be covered in tea-tree. If you were in the right third of the fairway you played over them - they were not high enough to be a problem - but it's a much better hole now you can see the green from the fairway.

[James Bennett]

I'm starting to get excited - 13th hole is next.  Ooooohhhh the an-tici----PATION!

[Kyle Henderson]

As James alluded to, the 13th hole is a fantastic little par 4 of just 244 meters in length (!). I’m told the 13th (pictured on the right, with the 17th approaching on the left) underwent quite a bit of tree clearing, and I’m confident Sir Clayton will chime in with the other changes he made in producing this fantabulous rendition.


Standing on the tee, players face a large, undulating fairway that slopes away from the dense trees on the right while climbing continually to reach the 13th green on the horizon (just above the bunkers bordering the left side).


Those unable or unwilling to play for the green from the tee can place a long iron out to the right and face this wedge approach. Precision is required from here, as the uneven lie, the left greenside bunkers, and the falloff long and right of the green will punish sloppy play.


The fronting bunkers will see plenty of action, as a running drives will turn dramatically to the left.

[Mike_Clayton]

This was a complete dog. There were no bunkers. Only the right quarter of the green was visible from the tee because of the big cypress trees all the way up the left and it was always a driver shot.
There was no real threat and no penalty for missing the green.
The fairway sloped straight across from high on the right and for short hitters almost everything ran across the fairway and into the trees on the left.
Now you hit a driver at the green but if you miss left in the bunkers it's a really difficult shot out of the deep hazards.
If you lay-up the ideal shot is a long iron up on the high part of the fairway on the right. From there you can see all of the pitch.
Left is easy but the further left you go the more you play blind and up to the green.

it is a good hole now - asking the same questions as the great 10th at Royal Melbourne.

[James Bennett]

Mike

that land movement looks just like #16 at my old course - a hole which would have been fantastic with the tees moved forward.  It has a lot in common with Portsea #13, except the Portsea membership has been more forward looking.

Hit your tee-shot left and you have an un uphill pitch to an angled narrow green, with some blustery windfrom the right - it really is a great challenge and (generally) an appropriate penalty for a misplaced tee-shot, with a chance of a memorable recovery.

James B

[Kevin Pallier]

Love the 13th - still tempts me to pull driver everytime I play there.

[Kyle Henderson]

The 445-meter, par 5 14th begins with a downhill tee shot between tree clusters.


A single fairway bunker narrows the short grass just where it bends a bit left and begins to bob up and down in serpentine fashion.


The green is open in front for those attempting to reach in two, yet bilateral greenside bunkers will quickly swallow any shot that strays offline.