Cathedral Lodge

[Mark Kiely]

I love the look of this place. Every hole seems to command your interest. Thanks for the great tour, Kevin.

[Peter Pallotta]

Yes, my thanks too, Kevin.
The colour/whiteness of the hazard sand aside, this course looks to come from another (earlier) time, with its cants and curves and chutes and vaguely rough-hewed and scrabbled look, and a challenge for the bogey/average golfer. 
And about the width of the 12th, David's Hole: since the owner's name is David I assumed it was perhaps a shared joke (or GN's inside joke) -- as in: finally, and as per his demand, a fairway that even the owner can hit!
 
   

[Tom_Doak]

I'm interested to see the pictures of 6 and 7 with the unique feature of playing 6 then driving off the 7th tee straight back down the 6th fairway.
There have been a lot of things tried in architecture over the years but surely a first?

Mike:  Himalayan Golf Club had the same feature, and in using Google Earth to do research for my upcoming trip to India and Sri Lanka, I'm pretty sure several of those courses do the same.  You should search on Nuwara Eliya and try to follow it


Note that these are not private courses, but they're not busy enough for the traffic to present serious problems.  At Himalayan The landing areas are at opposite ends of the shared fairway and there are good places for oncoming golfers to duck behind a tree while their opposite number hits.


Come to think of it, Painswick also shares this feature ... as did St Andrews, before it got too busy.

[Mike_Clayton]

Tom,


Do you have any plans to get up there while you're here?

[Tom_Doak]

Do you have any plans to get up there while you're here?

Mike:


I'd been hoping to find time to get there, but I had to pare back my trip to get home to our sick dog.  Brian Schneider tried to cover all 18 holes in detail at The National yesterday, and I was on the plane today - skipping a planned stop at Tara Iti.  (That's how important our dog is.)


Looks like I might not get back until mid September, in which case Cathedral Lodge may miss The Confidential Guide.

[Kevin Pallier]

15th P3 (138m) “Blossom” = put simply - is one of the best P3’s I’ve played.


Beautifully located in low lying land next to a creek it is in an idyllic setting.


The tee shot is played from land set in between a crop of trees. Kudos to Norman for building what is by far my favourite hole on the course.

[Mark Kiely]

Wow, what a hole! Love it! Is anything left of the green playable? Hard to tell how deep it is immediately left of the green (or if there's a hazard there).

[Sean_A]

I'm interested to see the pictures of 6 and 7 with the unique feature of playing 6 then driving off the 7th tee straight back down the 6th fairway.
There have been a lot of things tried in architecture over the years but surely a first?

Come to think of it, Painswick also shares this feature ... as did St Andrews, before it got too busy.

Painswick's is crazy dangerous though....not so clever.  Both ways it is blind and there is a blind house right so folks intentionally play toward the oncoming "half" of the fairway. 

Ciao

[Sean_A]

Sean A


The pictures dont do the fairways justice - they are wide and tilted more often than not to assist funnelling the ball away from the rough

Kevin

Thanks.  Are the fairways 60+ yards wide...cuz if you miss its light out Irene.  Regardless, I like the look of the course not trying to use fancy sand to draw the eye and appreciate the lowish numbers.

Ciao

[Adrian_Stiff]

Looks very hard to me and almost impossible to play. How thick is that long grass, hard to tell from the photos. Whilst I have enjoyed Kevin's tour I don't think much of the course at all.


That nub front right of that last par 3 green would kick the ball left into the crap for a drop par 3 5 years short, lots of huge design mistakes in my opinion. Don't like the 6/7 combo (and I am not against crossing holes). Don't like the bunker shaping and the sloping/angled faces don't even think the right routing has been chosen in places (though there may be reasons for that).....that aside without wishing to brown nose some of the archies on here I think most would make a better job of it.


Would be interested in their opinion even if it was in a PM.


How does it actually play? Somebody tell me why it is good I just can't see much and on this view I prefer Painswick.

[Kevin Pallier]

Is anything left of the green playable? Hard to tell how deep it is immediately left of the green (or if there's a hazard there).

Mark


It's a creek - there's no hazards marked at CL from memory.


The local rule (as told by the GM) is a bit like Barnbougle Dunes - "if you go into the long rough take a drop from point of entry"

[Kevin Pallier]

Looks very hard to me and almost impossible to play. How thick is that long grass, hard to tell from the photos. Whilst I have enjoyed Kevin's tour I don't think much of the course at all."

Adrian / Sean A

It's actually quite the opposite. It's a very "playable" golf course for all levels of players. The fairways are very wide and the lack of bunkers allows for golfers to spray the ball around a bit.

How does it actually play? Somebody tell me why it is good I just can't see much and on this view I prefer Painswick.

I will sum up my thoughts at the end of the course tour

[Kevin Pallier]

16th P4 (382m) “Sonya’s Drive” = has a centre-line bunker which dissects the fairway.

I recommend you try and go left as that provides an easier shot into the green. If you go right you are then faced with a long shot that has to cross bunkers to an angled green.

[Kevin Pallier]

17th P3 (172m) “Beauty” = the green is set hard against the creek and requires a long fade into it.
The hole is bunkerless so the “safe miss” is left.

[Kevin Pallier]

18th P5 (557m) “Ron’s Creek” = named after David’s father the hole zig zags back towards the clubhouse.


Ron’s Creek is a central figure and constant threat throughout this hole. A second fairway is located right but a large willow tree protects any person taking this approach.


The greensite is unbunkered and provides an idyllic finish to the round.

[Kevin Pallier]

Australian Golf Digest (AGD) recently released it's 2018 rankings.

Cathedral Lodge was listed at #16.

For mine, suggestions that CL is potentially a World Top 100 course are off the mark. IMO - there just isn't enough premium holes to warrant that premise.