St Andrews Beach - Doak/Clayton - PHOTOS

[Scott Warren]

Most well-travelled people I have asked liat the top five in Australia as:

R. Melbourne West
Barnbougle Dunes
Kingston Heath
Barnbougle Lost Farm
New South Wales

For my money, St Andrews Beach isn't far behind NSW. Given I would have NSW around 80 in the world, I suppose I can agree with St Andrews Beach being borderline world top 100.

[Mark_F]

For my money, St Andrews Beach isn't far behind NSW. Given I would have NSW around 80 in the world, I suppose I can agree with St Andrews Beach being borderline world top 100.

Scott,

Why do you have NSW ahead of St Andrews Beach?

[Scott Warren]

Mark, I prefer the threes and fives at NSW and it also has the likes of 7, 10, 13, 14 and 15 among its two shotters.

2, 5, 7, 9, 14, 18 are great par fours at StAB.

You also can't argue with the property NSWGC is built on.

They're very different and there's probably not much in it, but I prefer NSW - despite how poor the new work is.

[Jim Nugent]

A while back there was a pretty involved poll, that produced an unofficial GCA world top 100 list.  Did SAB make the top 100 there? 

[Connor Dougherty]

Scott and Mark,
In my short visit to the two, I found that New South Wales has the problem of being choked down by the vegetation. It still remains an incredible course, but I found holes like the 15th to be rather narrow. It is by far more scenic, and the 5th is one of my favorite in the world, but some of the holes just felt very tight.

St. Andrews Beach is incredibly open and you could have endless fun out there. I don't know which course is better, but from my short experience at both, I would probably prefer to play SAB on a regular basis. I certainly hope to make it back soon.

[Bryan Izatt]

Is there anyone else here who has played St. Andrews Beach and Streamsong Blue?  If so, which do you prefer?  Why?

Bart

I have played both.  After reviewing this old thread on StAB  http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,48455.0.html all I can say is that they are both very good but I find it hard to try and say that one is better than the other.  As others have said, I think that the topography at StAB is more dramatic and compelling, although that makes it a tougher walk.  Also, StAB was maintained very fast and firm when I was there which was good.  Time will tell if SS is maintained the same.  I'd happily go back to either although that's unlikely given for StAB, as it is literally on the other side of the world for me.  I'd say that both are a cut below Pacific Dunes and Barnbougle Dunes if you're thinking in top 100 rankings.  Oh, the green fees at StAB were much more palatable than at SS.

[Greg Gilson]

I live 5 minutes from SAB so this may be a case of "familiarity breeds contempt". I won't get into a direct comparison between it & NSW and i really enjoy the frreedom, the choices & the "adventure" that comes with a round at SAB. However, for me, its a decent notch or 2 below RMW, KH, BD,NSW, LF (& maybe also RME & Royal Adelaide?). It's certainly in the next tranche from 8-20 but that's pretty crowded and high quality field and no knock on SAB. There are some that would make a case that its not in the Top 2 courses on the Mornington Peninsula!

[Tim_Weiman]

Greg,

Wow! I would love to trade places!

[Mark_F]

You also can't argue with the property NSWGC is built on.

They're very different and there's probably not much in it, but I prefer NSW - despite how poor the new work is.

Scott,

I agree they are very different, but I am not sure that NSW is on that better a property than St Andrews Beach, and it would be a pretty easy argument to make that 5,6 and 13 don't live up to the promise of the land.

St Andrews Beach on the other hand has a vastly more interesting, unique and varied set of green complexes than NSW, and every other course in the Australian top ten for that matter. St  Andrews Beach may not have 12 people ringing up each year to inquire about corporate membership, but the car park gets pretty full on a Saturday morning.

But it's all obviously a horses for courses thing.  You saw much more in County Louth than I did, for example.