Dave
Yes,Elleston is the best - I hadn't thought of it but no one can play it so what's the point.
Matt
The main difference between RM Composite (a course only the pro's play and the members a couple of times a year) is the routing attacks the wind from many directions.It is on a huge piece of ground and there is never a hint of parallel holes - they go around themselves beautifully.
At Barnbougle - because of the nature of the thin and long strip of dunes the holes go out and back on each 9 from a clubhouse in the middle.
The wind almost always blows in one direction - except at the two days of the opening when Tom and all his guys got to play the course completly the opposite way.
That has to be the significant advantage RM has over.
Barnbougle.
As much as I love RM,Barnbougle is even more beautiful especially when you get it in the right light late in the day.
The Composite course has only one real par five - the 17E which used to play as 17C but now plays as 9C (confused?)
The opening hole at BD is a 550 yard three-shotter almost always into the wind. It is a big hole to start and a good one - maybe better than 17E
The other 2 par 5's at BD are downwind with 11 playing particurally short - Geoff Ogilvy hit a wedge in a decent wind the other day and even I can reach with a middle or long iron.
It is however a fantastic two shot hole as are the other par five's on the Composite - 2w,4w.
14 is a wonderful 5 at BD - Diagonal bunkers down the right to set up the angle and to avoid running out long down the left into a small dune.
From there you play straight down with a long iron and pitch or choose to carry a big tongue of rough and a bunker to reach the green.
If you are talking of 3 shot holes BD has the advantage but as two shot holes 2w and 4w are awfully good.
On the West course there really is no hole that is a true five. Only 4w plays longer than 500 yards.
RM has world-class short holes all over the 36 holes.
5w,7w and 4e are the composite holes and 5,7 and 13 at BD compare very well.16 is the least good short hole and it is still a terrific hole.
13 with the Sitwell Park green is about as much fun as you can have on a par three - trying to bounce a 200 yard shot short, read the contours and judge what the ball will do as it climbs and falls around the green.
The great short 4 at RM is the 10th W (12 on the TV next week) but the 2 little holes at BD - 4 and 12 - are perhaps its equal. They are both about as good as it gets on drivable fours.Both are into the wind so some days they are drives and 100 yard 6 irons but downwind (Not often) they are great fun as well.
As for the rest of the par fours 2,3,6,8,9,10,15,17 and 18 - they are the only collection of 4's to rival 1W,3W,6W,10W,11W,12W,17W and 18W in Australia.
If you could take BD and put the exact holes on RM so the holes didn't attack the wind with such predictability it would be certainly it's equal.
But you can't obviously and as Tom said you have to knock out the champion.
Does RM win when only using the Composite?
Probably the West still easily compares - there are a couple of great holes on the west - 9 and 16 - that don't get on the Composite but it is obviously even closer if you are comparing it to the West.
If BD was a hundred years old and RM new I don't think it would alter the question of which was superior. RM's reputation is well earned simply because of the quality of the holes - not the MacKenzie mystique or the fact it has had almost all of the great players play there.
It is only a small point but playing off the fescue at BD is more fun than the couch/Poa at RM - and it is the best conditioned course in Melbourne.