Gunnamatta course, St Andrews Beach (pictures)

[Philip Gawith]

Thanks to Mark Ferguson's good offices, I had the chance to play this course on Christmas Eve. The wind was howling which made the course quite a challenge; Mark had the decency to say he reckoned the standard scratch was around 80, which made my paltry efforts feel more forgiveable.

Mark has analysed the course in some detail in the "My Home Course" section. My impressions:

Overall, a very challenging golf course. Although there is a lot of room off the tee, the green complexes are challenging, and varied, so it is quite conceivable that you have a good ball-striking day and still shoot a big number. Although inland, it is quite exposed and the set up of the course means it plays very much like a links (moreso, ironically, than Barnbougle, which is a genuine links).
Looking back at my notes, I thought 14 of the 18 holes were "stand-out" which must say something!

Briefly:

1 - great opening par 5, excellent vista, green hidden behind distant bunkers which lure you in the wrong direction.




2 - great short 4 with bunkering all the way up the left and natural green site, flag just visible behind left bunker.



3 - fantastic natural green site. Very demanding hole into the wind.



4 - first of a great set of short holes (197 metres off back) . Set on top of a ridge and very exposed. I love this picture which looks like a Salvador Dali painting, the green wrapped over the ridge.



5th hole - picture does not capture the green which is partly blind for second shot.



6 - the second short hole ( 169 metres) - only a well hit long iron will get up to this green. wonderful bunker on the right.



7th hole



7th green



8th




9th



Great looking approach to 9th hole



10th - excellent hole - one of the very best; only two good shots will get you home.



11- another difficult par 3 (147 metres) , especially if you play the right-hand tee and wind is whistling right to left. Left is dead, as I discovered.




13 - a brutal 457m par 4, way, way out of reach into strong wind.




14 - a good short 4. If you drive right, closer to the green, the second becomes more difficult.




16 - a long, redan style short-hole (197m). Nearly impossible to get the ball to curve right to left down the slope when the wind is coming from the left.



17th - one of the two par 5's (the other being the first)



Looking back up the 17th




18 - Nice finishing hole - necklace bunkers across the hole make you decided how much to chew off.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Philip,

Great pics.  Looks like a lot of fun.

[Tom_Doak]

Philip:

Thank you for the pictures.  It's been a year since I have been down there and the course is looking MUCH better than last I saw it.  Would appreciate if you could send a disk of some of those pictures, as I would like to have a copy.

One question:  it looks as though they have let the long rough grow back up to the edges of the fairways on many holes; we had it cut back last year so there would not be so many lost balls.  Was the rough as thick as it looks in the photos, and was it repeatedly in play for poor drives?

[Mike Nuzzo]

Wow.
That looks awsome - congratulations Tom.

Is it as big as it looks?
How many acres is the course?
Irrigated turf acres?
Is there any shared fairway grassing?

Thank you for the pics Philip - they are great.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Some really cool stuff going on there!

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[James Bennett]

Mike Nuzzo

Holes #9 and #10 share a common fairway that must be 150 metres wide.  Many other fairways might be 70 metres wide, although much area is grassed that is unlikely to be in play.  It is very deceiving to rely on the fairway lines at St Andrews Beach to tell you where to play your shots - no hints there.

I feel like a bit of a dunce, but until I read Phillip's picture essay above, I didn't realise that there was only 2 par 5's, at #1 and #17 at that.  Albeit #13 is a par 4.4999999 recurring!  I did walk the course rather than play it.

Deception has been a common thread on GCA lately.  Phillip, what were your views on the tee shot on #9.  I had difficulty picking the distance to the fairway bunkers, and would have been out in my estimation of distance by perhaps 45 metres.  It is further to the narrowing area than it looks.  I put that down to what I called 'the Las vegas effect'.  Everything is so big  (eg the rolling dunes) and the fairways so wide, plus an abscence of trees to give  a sizing aspect that everything looks closer.  To me, this was similar to the perceptions of distance on the Las Vegas strip - the next hotel or two look really close (because you are used to small buildings), until you realise after 30 mintes walk that a 50 storey building is actually a long way away.

Tom Doak, when I walked the course in late November, the rough was managedin a playable manner.

PS  I loved the 3rd hole and green site, and the 16th hole was just enticing a crack at a run-on shot.

James B

[Mark_F]

Philip:

That little digital thingymabob really does work a treat.  Almost has me considering my camera kit.  If I don't get the results I want on my own photographic sojourn this week I just might...

Which four holes did you not think reached the level of the others?

Tom:

The rough has only been like that for barely a couple of months.  It was pretty low through most of last year, and literally seemed to spring up from nowhere sometime around October.

It is pretty thick; it appears to be thinnish in quite a few spots, but you still can't do much more than hack it out.  On a number of holes - left side of 3, 5 ,13, 17 and right side of 12, 14 and 15  - it is pretty vicious, and it really isn't any use looking for your ball.

I would say it is repeatedly in play for poor drives - but I wish I didn't know how come it is.  

Mike Nuzzo:

The whole property is 175 hectares. I would guess each course is around 70?

7 and 8 also share a fairway, probably the same width as 9 and 10.

The Gunnamatta is quite sprawling.

James:

The fairway bunkers on 9 are around 240 -50 metres from the tee.  I don't know exactly because they never enter my calculations.  They are pretty much in play for reasonable hitters in calm conditions, however.  If you don't hit your drive with the proper weight, an unfriendly bounce on the other side of the crest will most likely send the ball careering into them.

Amazing how many good drivers don't calculate forward momentum upon landing...

[Matt_Cohn]

Oh my gosh, I want to go back to Melbourne...

[Chris Kane]

Matt, jump on a plane tomorrow.  You can stay as long as you like.

[Sean_A]

Excellent photos Philip!

What did you think of that monster hole, #13, a 500 yard par 4?  Does the course play long and tough or is this hole an anomaly?

Ciao

Sean

[Philip Gawith]

Tom - I will get the pictures to you; I have about 60 in all.

Re your question on the rough - well, although the fairways are very wide, I did manage to lose a few balls, albeit in very windy conditions, so I would agree with Mark. You expect to find your ball - because the grass is quite thinly spread at base - more than you do.

James - I can't remember the specifics of the drive on No 9; alas, my notes record that I lost my ball, so the distance to fairway obstacles was not a live issue. But I think your general point about distance perception on the course is correct. It came home to me on the 18th when I thought I could smash it over the fairway bunkers, only to find that the more distant ones were well out of reach and I had fortuitously fallen in between.

Mark - the pictures I have posted do not correlate 100% with the 14 "stand-out" holes I marked down. The four holes were 5,7,15 and 17. I would not take too much notice of that - I only went round the course once and am really just saying that those holes did not stand out in the memory as much as some others. But even as I say that, having looked at the pictures again I have a pretty good recall of 5 and 17 and have no problems with these holes ( i liked 17), just didn't recall them so clearly.

Sean - it was very windy the day I played so that did make it play long. Admittedly I played off the back, but that certainly left me with a long iron in my hands quite often (which I enjoyed). On the third, for example, after hitting a very good drive, I still had 174 metres left. On the 169m par three 6th I hit a three iron to get to the back of the green. On the 12th and 15th it took very good 3 and 4 iron seconds, on good drives, to get up on 389m and 361m holes. All these holes much wind affected.

Off the back the course is 6074m, 5627m off white tees. I don't think it is especially long, just a tough day. But I do think it is a pretty challenging golf course because the greens and set up are challenging. If you don't have a short game you will not score on it.

[ed_getka]

Fantastic work Philip.