New Par 3 Course at Barwon Heads GC, Victoria, Australia

[Matthew Mollica]

I took my three year old daughter around the 9 hole par 3 course at Barwon Heads today.
She did the putting while I did the full shots.


Never mind her leisure suit, knitted hat and purple dancing skirt - she chose the outfit!

What a great time.

It's tremendous fun - at less than a dollar a hole.
Even lots of laughs in the rain on a cold windy day.
Cool greens, and lots of short grass.
Neil & Paul - you really excelled with this little project.

The fescue greens run at the ideal pace for the movement in the greens, and are well cared for.
They're holding up well in the wet cold weather too.
There's lots of water before the 7th green. It was possible to putt into the water today.

MM

[Brett_Morrissy]

Great pic, that's what our game here should be about, and especially more of these family friendly places sans windmills. Nothing but the best for your daughter MM, no cut down 3 iron

Fits nicely in with the surrounds, nice job Neil, it seems to have grown in well now, and with car park and practice area completed, an excellent project completed for BHGC.

[Niall C]

Matthew,

Thanks for resurrecting this thread, which I hadn't seen before. The project looks a cracker and glad to hear that a few years after its still going strong. Well done Paul and Neil. As an aside, it would be great if other GCA's on on the site show cased some of their work. I appreciate that there might be a natural reluctance given the heat that is sometimes generated on here but I'm sure there is enough of us on here who would appreciate the chance to see some more designs from some of the more prominent members of this DG.

Niall

[David Harshbarger]

Matt, love that photo.  Looks as soggy there as it is here in NY, with rain rain and more rain coming at us.  The look on your daughter's face is absolutely precious.

[Neil_Crafter]

Matt, cute photo. Was she a help or a hindrance in the putting department?
Thanks for the nice comments Matt, Brett and Niall. Much appreciated.

Here is one of my favourite pics of the par 3 course taken by Paul of the 1st hole


Shot of the 4th green


Shot from behind 5th green


Shot from this last week showing detention basin full and the 7th hole now a water carry when normally it is dry


One elderly lady wasn't going to give up her ball without a fight!

[Matthew Mollica]

There's even more water in there now Neil!

I loved the 8th - cool green complex - and brilliant homage to the Dell.
For those who haven't yet been - here's a view from the rear of the green.



MM

[David Harshbarger]

Matt, cute photo. Was she a help or a hindrance in the putting department?
Thanks for the nice comments Matt, Brett and Niall. Much appreciated.

Here is one of my favourite pics of the par 3 course taken by Paul of the 1st hole

That is an absolutely fantastic photo in so many ways.  There's a lot going on in that shot, and it tells a couple of stories, about the place, the people, the future, and what looks like some good form addressing the ball.  That should be your desktop background.

[Neil_Crafter]

Matt
And assuming the rain we've been having here in Adelaide makes its way east there'll be even more in there!
Thanks for the other pic of the 8th. The two mounds that are either side of the green were old stockpiles from many years before and so when I spotted them on site I just knew we had the perfect spot for a Dell type green, even though the original plans for the 8th had the green in a slightly different spot. Was then fairly a simple matter of popping a green in between.

David
Glad you like the pic too. I like how the girl (sister I imagine) is standing a respectful distance back from the boy, who's address posture looks so right. Perhaps she's afraid of getting clobbered!

[Scott Warren]

I played this little course last Wednesday as a warm-up for a 36-hole day on Barwon Heads and 13th Beach and it was great fun.

I can imagine, as a member, playing a morning 18 on the big course, returning to the gorgeous clubhouse for a good lunch and some beers, then playing a fun little loop of the par three course to walk off the meal.

It's also, IMO, a great way to introduce kids to golf in a way that accentuates the features of the game that we all love so much and wish more people would embrace.

My one complaint would be that seven of the nine holes were in the 70-80m range, with only two full wedge shots. It would have been fun to see another couple of longer holes and maybe one or two at 50m or 60m.

A picture of the 9th green showing off the contours:

[Neil_Crafter]

Cheers Scott, glad you enjoyed it.
We too would have liked some longer holes but we just couldn't fit them in comfortably on the land we had.  We aimed to provide as much fun as we could around the greens being bunkerless - which was a conscious decision.