Lake Karrinyup

[Marty Bonnar]

Very, VERY much enjoying Sky coverage of the Perth tourney this week. Course looking fabulous. Loving the bunkering. Any comments/thoughts for us, Clayts?

F.

[Josh Stevens]

Not sure if he made it across - although I understand his team is doing some work north of Perth at Sun City.

Pros seem to like it - very very firm conditions, tricky greens and a nice reliable 20mph sea breeze seems to be keeping them all on their toes.  Definately no bombing going on - lots of three woods to try to get the correct shot shape and position.

For some reason they are all gushing about the quality of the sand in the bunkers and want to pick it up and take it home with them?  Remarkable what people pick up on - pro golfers really do need to get out more

[BHoover]

I have to agree that I'm loving the coverage of this event. Seeing Lake Karrinyup only adds to my desire to visit Australia...someday.

[Mike_Clayton]

Martin/Josh,

I'm not over there this week but will be at Sun City next week and hope to drop into Karrinyup.
We rebuilt all the greens and bunkers and took out quite a few trees, especially at 10 and 11.
The course looks good on TV and seems to be playing well. It's a good course - very hilly and with some reasonable width from the tee and the greens look firm enough.

The sand in the bunkers is quite 'heavy' and really good to play from.It's hardly surprising the pros like it.

[Josh Stevens]

Greens have been very firm, but not as quick as they could be.

They usually run at 12-13, sometimes over for us, but were slowed to arond 12 for the tournament in case the wind got up, but made very very hard to introduce a bit of bounce.  It is the hardness rather than the speed that seems to have made the difference to how the pros play it.

[Mike_Clayton]

Josh

After the 2002 Open at Victoria, no one is going anywhere near those speeds again in Australia - certainly not the current local tournament director.
12 and hard is perfect at Karrinyup I would have thought.

[Josh Stevens]

they were touching 14 a few months back one saturday comp.  IT was a bit silly

[David_Elvins]

Martin,

I am disappointed to be missing the telecast, but I cannot recommend Lake Karrinyup enough.  There are really only 5-6 courses in Australia that are better.  It has that fantastic ability to be challenging whist still being enjoyable.  It is a beautifully balanced course.  

The course probably lacks a "great" hole but at the same time there isn't a weak hole out there.

Even though it is in Perth, the course design borrows significantly from the sandbelt.  A lot of courses have copied the bunker style from the sandbelt but nothing else, which misses the point of what makes the sandbelt courses so good.  The redesign at Lake Karrinyup does not have sandbelt style bunkers but it coppies many other principles that make sandbelt golf great - space to play, strategic greens with open fronts, elegant contouring, and well managed vegetation. 


A lot of sandbelt courses could learn a lot from a visit to Lake Karrinyup, if they visited with open eyes and minds.  

[Josh Stevens]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/golf/15176097/perth-a-big-hit-with-golf-stars/

This Bo person speaks quite well - for someone called Bo.

I like the line about the greens matching what the hole is supposed to do.  That is bordering on intelligent!!

[Greg Taylor]

I played it a few years ago, can't really remember much about the course now, which tells the story in itself.... Seem to remember that there were no weak holes, but somehow it lacked character. Was serious $$$ then too.

I certainly wouldn't travel all the way to WA to play it... Having said that there are some good courses out there... Sun City, Araleun and the best I seem to recall was Kennedy Bay. There's also Joondalup - great too.

[David_Elvins]

I played it a few years ago, can't really remember much about the course now, which tells the story in itself....

Greg,

I assume you played it before the redesign was completed in 08? 

Or you are not that interested in GCA   

It is a seriously good course now. 

[Greg Taylor]

I played it a few years ago, can't really remember much about the course now, which tells the story in itself....

Greg,

I assume you played it before the redesign was completed in 08? 

Or you are not that interested in GCA   

It is a seriously good course now. 

Yes, it was before the re-design so I will reserve judgement before throwing my hat in...!

I did hear Araleun fell into disrepair but has recovered; and I have to say the purists may scoff at Joondalup but I have a soft spot for a couple of nines. And Kennedy Bay - that is a golf course.