New Royal Melb composite routing?

[Matthew Rose]

According to Royal Melb's website, the 2011 Presidents Cup composite routing appears to be different than that of the '98 one, which itself seems to be different from the traditional composite routing. Is this indeed the case, and what were the reasons for doing so?

Having never been able to get on there, I haven't played the course and am not really qualified to offer an opinion on which routing is "best", other than the fact it seems to be a dynamic thing.

[Tom_Doak]

Matthew:

It is indeed different.

In 1998 they put up a lot of the marquees and corporate tents alongside the 18th hole of the East course, which was the 18th hole ... only to find that a lot of the matches never got to that hole!

So, this time they re-numbered the course so the 18th East [where there is the most room for tents] is the 16th on the Composite course, assuming that most matches will get to that hole ... and then they use the first and second holes of the West course as 17-18.  That's not really the ideal setup for the most dramatic golf, using the fairly forgiving #1 West as the 17th hole for the Presidents' Cup, but of course keeping the sponsors happy is also important to the PGA Tour!

The other change is that they are using the par-3 16th East as part of the Composite course, replacing the 4th East, for the first time.  The reason for this is that there's just not enough room around the third green and fourth tee of the East course for gallery flow.  #4 East and #16 East are both great par-3 holes ... the fourth is harder, the sixteenth is prettier ... so it's a fair trade.  The funny part is that the club had re-grassed the Composite holes in preparation for the Presidents' Cup, but had to go back and hurriedly change over the 16th East last year after the fact, when the Tour decided on the change without any advance warning.  [The club is going to re-grass the other holes on the East course in December and January, with our help.]

[Ben Jarvis]

Having never been able to get on there, I haven't played the course and am not really qualified to offer an opinion on which routing is "best", other than the fact it seems to be a dynamic thing.

Matthew,

While I haven't played the Composite Course, I have played both the West and East course.

I'm also not qualified, but in my opinion, the routing change made for this Presidents Cup was the right one. As Tom mentioned, a lot of matches don't reach the 18th hole, and thus, it was important that the sponsor marquees saw some of the action. This exact point was also mentioned by Matt Kamienski, the Tournament Director, at a dinner I attended some time ago. Unfortunately, 1 West is used as the 17th hole. While this hole is a great opening hole, it is rather bland for a 17th in match play.

As for the best routing for strokeplay events, I prefer that of the Canada Cup in 1959, which incidentally, is still used by the club members, according to John Green, author of Royal Melbourne Golf Club - History of the Courses.

The main problem with this choice is that a two-tee start is not possible, an issue when it comes to hosting Professional Tournaments. The Canada Cup / Member routing uses the following sequence of holes;

1. 1 West, 392m par-4
2. 2 West, 439m par-5 / par-4 for Presidents Cup
3. 1 East, 304m par-4
4. 2 East, 402m par-4
5. 5 West, 161m par-3
6. 6 West, 391m par-4
7. 7 West, 135m par-3
8. 10 West, 285m par-4
9. 11 West, 416m par-4
10. 12 West, 435m par-4 / par-5 for members
11. 17 West, 401m par-4
12. 18 West, 396m par-4
13. 3 West, 324m par4
14. 4 West, 461m par-5
15. 3 East, 350m par-4
16. 4 East, 184, par-3
17. 17 East, 510m par-5
18. 18 East, 395m par-4

I'd only make one change, which they have done for this year's Presidents Cup, as Tom stated. Hole 16 - swap 4 East with 16 East. Both a very good holes. 4 East is a long uphill par-3, while 16 East plays slightly downhill at approximately 167m, beautifully framed by stunning greenside bunkers on all sides.

I'm very excited about the coming week and look forward to attending the event.