Australia courses - my take

[Jeff Schley]

Just returned from a Australia golf trip and it was my lifetime highlight for sure.  10 rounds of golf –The Metropolitan, Kingston Heath, Royal Melbourne (Composite Course),  Cathedral GC, Cape Wickham (King Is), Ocean Dunes (King Is), Barnbougle Dunes, Barnbougle Lost Farm, New South Wales GC, The Lakes GCSo a couple impressions:

• The sun can be pretty intense there in the summer and liberal use of sunblock is needed on all exposed skin.
  
• Melbourne has a very deep bench of courses to pick from and not overly spread out.
• Not easy to get to King Island as you need a private charter, ours was delayed from taking off from Melbourne for 3 hours.  Flexibility is the key there.
• Flys can be a pest in the summer, particularly on King Island and Tasmania unless you have wind/rain.
• Snakes are everywhere it seems with warning signs all over.  I saw two and hate snakes so freaks me out.
• Royal Melbourne greens are fast! You got to be below the hole at all times it seems.
• Cape Wickham has ocean holes on probably 12 or 13 of their holes. Prettiest course I have played.
• Ocean Dunes is so tight with numerous blind shots and to top it off with very thick grass, like 3 feet high native grass.  I lost 11 balls and my playing partner (21 handicap lost yes, 21 balls exactly!).  Not fun, but did have great views.
• Caddies aren't typical there, nor are motorized carts
• New South Wales hole #6 wasn't open yet, but wow what a hole!
• Cathedral Lodge is a very private retreat for the very well to do in Australia. A couple very weird holes (Norman's climb is an uphill par 4) and 18 has a couple trees in the fairway.
  

Here are my humble rankings of the courses along with a brief about each:

• Cape Wickham - holy shishkabobs if this was in the US it would blow Pebble Beach away. Wonderful vistas all over the course. You go out for the first 13 holes then for the last 5 after the clubhouse 14-18 are spectacular holes with elevation changes, shots over water and playing from the surf literally on 18. Played this after Ocean Dunes and really there is no comparison IMO, more playable and beautiful golf course. I look for this course to get into the world top 25, it is that special. Historical lighthouse just adjacent to the course is a landmark as well like Turnberry. Again King Island isn't easy to get to.
• Royal Melbourne - We played the composite and the thing that stood out the most was very fast greens with some tilt to them. Have to be below the hole. Numerous 3 jacks or even 4 jacks were enjoyed by all.  The other architectural feature were the bunkers which were true hazards, which were deep but with uniform sand throughout fair. Forgiving off the tee for the most part. Supposedly 2700 members for the two courses with about half being active golfers is a little fact I learned.
• Kingston Heath - Great sandbelt course in Melbourne that was a great walk. Bunkers, bunkers and more bunkers. They are not uniform and collected the balls into the middle by not having sand on the faces. Needed caddies here to avoid the bunkers.  Greens were large so lag putting was needed. It was a constant focus to avoid a bunker on what seemed like every shot.
• Barnbougle Dunes - We played it in very high winds which contributed a ton to the difficulty. The par 3's were always into the wind it seems and fun offs on half the sides which made hitting them only for the most well struck shots. Several blind shots which would have liked to been afforded a second crack at this one. More exposed to the elements than the sister Lost Farm course. The par 5's were long and very playable. Wish they had more water views as you know it is right there.
  
• Barnbougle Lost Farm - We played it in constant on and off rain twice in one day as we were guttons for punishment.  I really liked this course and almost put it above the Dunes. The par 3's here were stout and stood out with 2 playing around 200 yards into the wind this day. Keep in mind they have 2 alternate holes so if you play both of them as you should the round is 20 holes. Pretty flat except for a couple climbs to the par 3's. The long par 4's played down wind. More trees to frame the course than the Dunes, they also had at least 3 pins in unfair positions IMO like three paces from the edge. Great view of the ocean from the restaurant and rooms. You can't really get a better view of the ocean anywhere in the world IMO, just spectacular.  BTW the shuttle to get between the two places takes forever.
• New South Wales - I wanted this to be higher, but too many blind shots IMO and the fact that #6 wasn't open yet. It was also probably blowing 30 mph when we played and if you didn't strike it pure it would balloon one way or another.  Generous fairways, but with the angles of the doglegs, it was pretty tough without a caddie to guide you.
  
• Ocean Dunes - Views were great on many holes, but just too damn tight and if you didn't hit the fairway it was lost.  We found 1 ball out of 32 in the tall stuff, have to play it as lateral.  Didn't have a good time as it was just too penal for us.  Nice property with plans to add oceanview cottages in future.
• Cathedral Lodge - Except for 2 holes it was a very fair and wonderful test.  Several shared fairways and generous greens.  A Norman course which only has 120 members at this point I believe so they are very successful and accomplished.  Great little halfway house with bar b que where the chef whipped up some great grub. They want to have a championship there in the future as it is only 3 years old.  Very hilly property and would be a challenge to walk for sure. Greens were very pure.
• Metropolitan - NO SAND in the bunkers, which really was an omission.  Hardly any sand, with mud/clay there.  Like hardpan everywhere.  It is a shame too, because more than any other course their bunkers cut deep into the green complexes and the greens are cut right into the bunkers without collars. Nice parkland design, but hard to get over the poor bunker conditions. Played it in 100 degree heat and although not hilly took it's tool on our group.
• The Lakes GC - Yes the back 9 has water on most holes and some very challenging forced layups like 17 where you can't hit anything more than 230, then have 250 plus into the green for a par 5. It was very windy this day and I played long all day to avoid getting rinsed constantly which led to it's own problems.  Kind of tricked up with it's water hazards and not all right in front of you. Not a bad course by any means, but with the bench strength of the above you can see why it was my best golf trip ever.

Thumbs up for Australia.  Victoria GC was closed for renovations and didn't get down to the National courses.  Love to play in shoulder season when it cools down.  Now that I have played it, the President's Cup in 2019 is going to have a great venue in RM.  You need putters Tiger, good putters!

[Joel Pear]

Thanks for the great write-up, Jeff.  Definitely on my bucket list, along with NZ!

[Jason Topp]

• Metropolitan - NO SAND in the bunkers, which really was an omission.  Hardly any sand, with mud/clay there.  Like hardpan everywhere.  It is a shame too, because more than any other course their bunkers cut deep into the green complexes and the greens are cut right into the bunkers without collars. Nice parkland design, but hard to get over the poor bunker conditions. Played it in 100 degree heat and although not hilly took it's tool on our group.

• [/l][/l][/l][/l]

I would be interested in some Aussie's commenting on this.  Are the bunkers in poor condition or is that how they maintain them there?
[/color]I did not play Metropolitan when I visited but enjoyed the fact that on other courses your lie could vary from concrete like firmness to relatively thick sand.  I found myself inventing new ways to escape bunkers that I still find useful 12 years later. 

[/list]

[Tom_Doak]

Barnbougle Dunes - We played it in very high winds which contributed a ton to the difficulty. The par 3's were always into the wind it seems and fun offs on half the sides which made hitting them only for the most well struck shots. Several blind shots which would have liked to been afforded a second crack at this one. More exposed to the elements than the sister Lost Farm course. The par 5's were long and very playable. Wish they had more water views as you know it is right there.

Jeff:


That's a lot of great courses in a very short trip, so I can understand that you wouldn't remember everything accurately, but Barnbougle has two par-3's that play to the east (5th and 13th), and two that play to the west into the normal prevailing wind (7th and 16th).  Getting all four of them into the wind on a single round would be very unusual.


P.S.  The only thing stopping you from having a second crack at the course was your own schedule 

[Tommy Williamsen]

Jeff, about NSW, I am always interested that folks mark a course down because of blind shots. I generally find that they add to the fun and challenge.

[Tim Martin]

Jeff, about NSW, I am always interested that folks mark a course down because of blind shots. I generally find that they add to the fun and challenge.

+1

[Tim Gallant]

Jeff,

Great write-up.


Talk to me about the snakes. Going there in Oct/Nov for the first time and am prepared to take about 50 balls. Hit one in the rough? Nope - not going in to get it. Just drop and play on.


Snakes and spiders are not my friends. But the golf needs to be seen and if I'm to die via snake, I'm sure there are worse ways to go than on a spectacular golf course

[Kalen Braley]

Tim,

Australia has the lions share of the worlds most dangerous snakes and spiders.  Its usually not an issue with a fair amount of awareness.  I was over there in the 90s and we found a Wolf Spider on the back side of our toilet.  The most common ones are the Huntsman, but they are relatively harmless and won't mess with you unless provoked.

As for the snakes, they have so many poisonous ones, I wouldn't go near em....

[David_Tepper]

I have never been, but my suggestion to anyone thinking of visiting Australia is to read Bill Bryson's In A Sunburned Country. Bryson describes a truly remarkable place, but there are more than spiders and snakes to worry about!

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-bryson/in-a-sunburned-country/
 

[Tommy Williamsen]

Yikes, I'd rather be confronted by an angry lion than a friendly snake. I am hoping to go in 2020. Do all the courses have them? What about New Zealand?

[Kalen Braley]

David,

Excellent post, and very important info especially when travelling to the northern parts of Australia. But in general when it comes to salt water crocs, dangerous fish, etc, you have to go to their natural environment.  Where as the spiders and snakes save you the hassle and come to yours. 

[Anthony Butler]

Tim,

Australia has the lions share of the worlds most dangerous snakes and spiders.  Its usually not an issue with a fair amount of awareness.  I was over there in the 90s and we found a Wolf Spider on the back side of our toilet.  The most common ones are the Huntsman, but they are relatively harmless and won't mess with you unless provoked.

As for the snakes, they have so many poisonous ones, I wouldn't go near em....

Good trip notes Jeff.. I was also back in Australia recently and played a number of the courses you mentioned with the addition of the National. I would agree with your comments on Metropolitan.. The lack of sand in the bunkers was surprising given the fact they hosted the World Cup of Golf there a mere three weeks before I played there.

The standard blast resulted in a bladed shot over the green on my first two bunker shots.. You have to take a smaller cut at the ball and kind of skim it out of there with a low bounce lob wedge.  Tricky shot with little margin for error.

Yes, there a number of blind tee shots at NSW.. although in fairness they are really holes where the landing area is not visible from the tee. The only true blind shots are from the third tee and the second on #8.

Still if that's not your cup of tee, its probably best you missed the National. There's 8 blind tee shots on the Moonah course alone.

[David McIntosh]

Jeff,

Great summary and detail on the courses you played. Sounds like an amazing trip.

Jeff, about NSW, I am always interested that folks mark a course down because of blind shots. I generally find that they add to the fun and challenge.

Tommy,

I completely agree regarding blind shots, provided it’s not overdone and you find yourself aiming at marker posts all day.

Blindness isn’t much of an issue at NSW though and I can only recall three blind shots during the entire round. Those being:

1. The drive at 3 (which is a bit awkward);
2. The drive at 5 (which works very well and anticipation builds as you approach the crest of the ridge and see this wonderful hole unfold in front of you...what a view); and
3. The second shot on 8 as you transition from the lower to upper section of the fairway on a par 5.

There’s maybe a 4th if you don’t clear the ridge off the tee on the 12th and end up hitting the second shot from a blind spot in the fairway.

[Thomas Dai]

Thanks for sharing Jeff. Interesting thoughts. I can’t imagine most posters herein would turn down the opportunity of an Aussie golf trip even more so if combined with NZ.
Atb

[Tim Gallant]

Tim,

Australia has the lions share of the worlds most dangerous snakes and spiders.  Its usually not an issue with a fair amount of awareness.  I was over there in the 90s and we found a Wolf Spider on the back side of our toilet.  The most common ones are the Huntsman, but they are relatively harmless and won't mess with you unless provoked.

As for the snakes, they have so many poisonous ones, I wouldn't go near em....

Kalen,

I always thought you were a nice! Why must you put these nightmares of the Wolf Spider in my mind!!   

[Mark Chaplin]

Jeff pleased you had a good time, looking forward to catching up in May, the flight to King Island must have been poignant for your group.


Will be interesting to see the new 6th at NSW I always thought it a very disappointing hole considering the wonderful topography.

[Tom_Doak]

Yikes, I'd rather be confronted by an angry lion than a friendly snake. I am hoping to go in 2020. Do all the courses have them? What about New Zealand?

There are no poisonous snakes in New Zealand.


In Australia, every snake should be considered poisonous, because the odds are pretty high.  When we tore up the rough to rebuild the Ocean Course at The National, I have never seen so many abandoned golf balls in my life, because the members don't go into the rough to look for balls.


I have spent more time wandering around in the long grass in Australia than most people, working on the routing and construction of Barnbougle and St. Andrews Beach, and I am still here to talk about it.  But, I did see three different poisonous snakes in three rounds of golf a couple of years back, at The National, Ocean Dunes and Cape Wickham -- a brown snake, a tiger snake, and a copperhead.  [Their copperheads are different than what we call a copperhead in America.]

[Tom_Doak]

Blindness isn’t much of an issue at NSW though and I can only recall three blind shots during the entire round. Those being:

1. The drive at 3 (which is a bit awkward);
2. The drive at 5 (which works very well and anticipation builds as you approach the crest of the ridge and see this wonderful hole unfold in front of you...what a view); and
3. The second shot on 8 as you transition from the lower to upper section of the fairway on a par 5.

There’s maybe a 4th if you don’t clear the ridge off the tee on the 12th and end up hitting the second shot from a blind spot in the fairway.

Also, if you don't hit a very good drive at the 15th you can't see past the saddle.  For that matter, the same is true if you hit a poor tee shot at 14.

[David McIntosh]

Royal Melbourne - We played the composite and the thing that stood out the most was very fast greens with some tilt to them.

How many opportunities do members get to play the Composite course per year? Are certain club/national competitions held over that configuration?

What about visitors? Is there ever any scope for them to play the Composite routing (other than perhaps as a member’s guest at one of the aforementioned events)?

[Scott Warren]

To be fair, there’s plenty of places in golf where if you hit a shit shot, your next one is blind. You’ve got to hit a pretty bad one at 14 to be blind for the second.


But blindness is definitely a feature of NSWGC. People who hate blind shots might find it bothers them, and that’s their prerogative.


Re snakes — I am 36 years old, grew up on acres adjoining a dairy that was my playground, spent summers on my grandparents’ bushland property, have played golf since I was 12 and have seen fewer than five snakes in my entire life.


Maybe I’m just lucky, but I think it gets overplayed. Sure, be aware in long grass in summer, but they’re not mugging you as you walk down George St, while kangaroos look on and say nothing!

[Tom_Doak]

Royal Melbourne - We played the composite and the thing that stood out the most was very fast greens with some tilt to them.

How many opportunities do members get to play the Composite course per year? Are certain club/national competitions held over that configuration?

What about visitors? Is there ever any scope for them to play the Composite routing (other than perhaps as a member’s guest at one of the aforementioned events)?

They have members' days on the Composite course a few times per year.


I've been there a lot and have never played it, though.  It would only happen during one of the days mentioned above.

[David McIntosh]

Blindness isn’t much of an issue at NSW though and I can only recall three blind shots during the entire round. Those being:

1. The drive at 3 (which is a bit awkward);
2. The drive at 5 (which works very well and anticipation builds as you approach the crest of the ridge and see this wonderful hole unfold in front of you...what a view); and
3. The second shot on 8 as you transition from the lower to upper section of the fairway on a par 5.

There’s maybe a 4th if you don’t clear the ridge off the tee on the 12th and end up hitting the second shot from a blind spot in the fairway.

Also, if you don't hit a very good drive at the 15th you can't see past the saddle.  For that matter, the same is true if you hit a poor tee shot at 14.

Thanks Tom.

I did think of some of the doglegs like 13, 15 and 16 and that you could be blocked out by the trees/bush if you didn’t hit your tee shot far enough but didnt include them as the next shot would only be blind as a result of poor play - as Scott has just said.

I didn’t consider holes where parts of the landing area/fairway aren’t visible from the tee (like 14) either as they’re aren’t truly blind.

[Buck Wolter]

• Metropolitan - NO SAND in the bunkers, which really was an omission.  Hardly any sand, with mud/clay there.  Like hardpan everywhere.  It is a shame too, because more than any other course their bunkers cut deep into the green complexes and the greens are cut right into the bunkers without collars. Nice parkland design, but hard to get over the poor bunker conditions. Played it in 100 degree heat and although not hilly took it's tool on our group.

• [/l][/l][/l][/l]

I would be interested in some Aussie's commenting on this.  Are the bunkers in poor condition or is that how they maintain them there?

I did not play Metropolitan when I visited but enjoyed the fact that on other courses your lie could vary from concrete like firmness to relatively thick sand.  I found myself inventing new ways to escape bunkers that I still find useful 12 years later.
[/q]




tried to blow this up[/list]

[Kalen Braley]

Scott,

I can't argue your last post.  I only encountered one snake in my 18 months in Australia, (curled up near the back door on a cool night). And I've certainly seen far more here in the states.

But the problem is, Down Under it only takes 1.. 

[Jeff Schley]

We were told the members get 2-3 cracks at the Composite Course each year so a rare treat for us at Royal Melbourne.

Something I did forget is that we saw Wallabies quite liberally on Tasmania. To the untrained eye you would think they are Kangaroos however they are the smaller cousins of them as they are smaller in size.  We never saw a Kangaroo proper during our entire trip although we were looking quite intensely.  Kangaroos are apparently similar to deer in the midwest/north in that they are overpopulated and hunting them is necessary to avoid a proliferation of road accidents. Lovely animals.

Would like a 2nd crack at the Dunes and NSW; on Tasmania there really isn't anything to do but golf and have helicopter/off road tours so if scheduling again would do Dunes 2x's that day. Tom is right in that all this golf in 10 days runs together and 5 was a crosswind that never helped me fade back to the pin with 7 being pretty much straight into the wind.  No one hit the green on 7 and quite funny to see a slight mishit being taken like a kite in the wind.  Also some guys went for a dip in the ocean and the water was warm this time of year, but the surf was very heavy so it wasn't really swimming but standing there getting pounded by waves. The dirt runway at Barnbougle is a nice touch as you are very close to the resort.  On our King Island to Tasmania flight we had to stop at another airport for more fuel to get there.

Bring extra ammo/rain gear to King Island and Tasmania as you can imagine there aren't any golf shops around so you have to pay proshop prices in a remote area. You absolutely need rain gloves!  If you don't have them you are totally screwed for the rain starts and stops multiple times during the round. 


Can't remember ANY negative interactions with Aussies at any of the courses, most were genuinely nice and very welcoming as several of the courses are member's only courses, with some outside/international play available.  Much less stuffy than a typical private club in the states. I gave my contact info to probably a dozen or so Aussies when talking in the bar/clubhouse and have already heard from 3.  Very welcoming bunch and think they could teach many in the states how to welcome outsiders.

In our group we saw a total of 5 snakes, with me seeing 2 of the 5.  One was in the fairway and multiple groups saw it. Again I don't care what it looks like I'm running the opposite way. The last was at NSW right by the clubhouse after finishing on 18.

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags: