[James Bennett]

An example from Day One of the Jacob's Creek that illustrates what is so right about the place.  The third hole.

For what many consider a difficult course, RA has a comparatively easy start.  A shorter par 4, an par 5 that, depending on the wind, can be reachable (but with great startegy) and then the third, a 290 yard down hill classic without a bunker.  Von Nida took 12 (I think) in an Australian Open there.  This story illustrates the importance of flow - not the hole in isolation but in context of what precedes it.

I quote from todays local paper 'The Advertiser'.

" Stadler looked to be steaming into the tournament lead when he birdied his 11th hole (the 2nd) to go four under.  But, with the wind blowing from his right and the pin set back left, he took the bait and went with driver on the ultratight 3rd.  Turning it over into dense rough pin high, he still could not reach the green with his second and was lucky to escape with bogey.     "I hadn't even hit driver in practice on the 3rd, for good reason. It's a three-iron, sand wedge hole.  But I'd just birdied two straight so I thought 'what the heck'.  It won't happen again,"     he declared.

I saw the tv replay and he did really well to take a bogey.  His up and down from the greenside rough was a good outcome.

IMO, RA's layout seduced Stadler into an unbelievable play on the day.  By contrast, consider his practice rounds where he resisted the urge of the everyday player to just have a lash at the green because it is there.  I'm going to the golf tomorrow, and plan on seeing him play some shots somewhere.

Personally, I recall starting birdie, birdie, birdie at RA once - and shot about 80 or more .  I can't reach where Stadler went on the third, so the challenges for me are a little different.  But the third is still a key decision for the tee shot for me - play short of the crest/saddle and play a blind wedge from an uphill lie, or take the risk and play to the bottom of the crest to a narrower fairway, and risk an inaccessable pin from a shoter second on such a short 'birdie' hole because your teeshot meandered left.

James B

[James_Livingston]

12 is long and the green small - on some days into a westerly gale the green is unreachable. A great contrast to the shot needed to the other par threes.

So I take it you'll disagree with Brett Officer's comment on the telecast this afternoon that it was architecturally weak.  He then went on to say that with half a dozen bunkers and some mounding it could be really spectacular.  Let's hope there weren't club officials listening who might think that is a good idea.

[Mike_Clayton]

James L
Shame on you for watching the golf without the sound turned down - you deserve to hear ridiculous comments like that.

Neil.

I'm with you on the par threes.
Terrific variety of shots to hit and demanding of real precision especially when you are choking at 16 on Sunday.

[Neil_Crafter]

Looked for some Brett Officer courses but couldn't find any!! 12 is a case of less is more. One bunker at front left, slightly elevated green with banks at right and rear and behind bunker. Miss green = difficult up and down. With its elevated tee on the main dune, there is a great view of the hole and the club has resisted any thought of overdoing the bunkering here.

Mike, think you might have managed to hit the 16th a time or two back when I caddied for you at RA! If there's a weakness at RA its not the fault of the par threes. Some strange recent bunkering and ridges (c 1998) gives the course a Jekyll and Hyde feel that I would love to see remodelled more sympathetically. Also, they seem to have gone happy with Pine tree plantings in recent years on the main dune area - at least they pulled a number of old ones down behind 11 in the Crater.

[David_Elvins]

And that "pot bunker in the sky" on nine looks as ridiculous on TV as it does in person.

[James Bennett]

photos coming from today at RA, including the 3 par 3's!

By the way, I watched Kevin Stadler, Peter Senior and Metthew Ecob play today.  Shot about par but played better.  Some really tough pins today.  Good wedges would land and bounce 3 or 4 feet in the air, perhaps 10 feet on and then possibly stop.  Not spin back.  Lesser shots and shots from the rough were another matter.

I think the reverse slopes were getting to the guys by the end of the round.  Some looked a bit brow beaten.  The wind was really light but some of the scores were a bit higher today.  The course was winning by the end of the day..

And Kevin Stadler hit driver on 3 again, finished pin high 25 feet away.  The forecaddies spent 40 seconds finding his ball (they saw it, and he was pin high 25 feet away).  Lob wedge out of the thick couch that tolled 20 feet the other side and made par.  He also went left with fairway woods on #2, #9 (into an unplayable lie) and off the tee at #18.  My he looks relaxed, and if he doesn't hit the ball a long , long way, well what is a long drive today?.  Into the wind he was perhaps 50 metres longer than old man Senior.

James B

[Chris Kane]

Terrific variety of shots to hit and demanding of real precision especially when you are choking at 16 on Sunday.

Mike, is this golfclubatlas.com or mikeclaytonconfrontshisgolfingdemons.com?!?!  You seem to have mentioned choking a lot recently!

[Mike_Clayton]

Chris,

Just watch the final round today.The guy who wins will most likely hit a good to great shot at 16 and someone will lose it there by missing the green and making 4 - or worse perhaps.
Its an intimidating shot when you are nervous - much more intimidating than when you are not - and they are all nervous.
Remember the winner is basically guaranteed card on the main tour next year.

[redanman]

Wish I could chime in, but no experience in OZ.  Yet.  The comment of the routing never taking you more than 600 m from the clubhouse is fascinating.  I can barely think of a US course like that except for a Ross course or two built on less than 100 acres.

Our coverage on TGC starts at 1100 EST (-5GMT) so it will be over by the time I see it "tomorrow" a.m., but the "baiting" of some players  by some holes seems really interesting given the aggressiveness of the Nationwide Tour players as a whole.  

Note the lack of USA players at the top.    (2 or 3  in top 20)  If I calculate right, tee time is now time.

My internet searches shows RA in the top 5 in AU most of the time.  Is this too high?

[Sean Walsh]

I caught some of the replay on TV late last night and paid particular attention to the Par 3's.  

I watched at least 12 Pros go through 12 and not one of them hit the green.  They were all using either their long iron or a choked down wood.  The wind did look at least challenging, but not a gale by any means.

Also good to see Jarrad LYLE up near or at (I didn't see the finish of the round) the top.  

Spencer LEVIN was doing a nice job of blowing up.  4 or 5 bogeys in 6 holes.  Ryan ARMOUR wasn't having much fun either.

[David_Elvins]

My internet searches shows RA in the top 5 in AU most of the time.  Is this too high?

Golf Magazine rated it 54th in the world last year.  The only Australian courses above it were NSW, Kingston Heath, Barnbougle and Royal Melbourne.  No other Australian courses make the top 100.  Leaving Barnbougle out of it for the moment due to new courses needing time to settle in rankings, the ranking would indicate that RM, RA, NSW and KH are clearly above all other courses in Australia built prior to 1995.  

I think that it would be very hard to argue against that. Those 4 stand out fro the pack to me.

[James Bennett]

Pictures from Saturday as promised.  First of all the par 3's.  All were played from the original tees.  #7 new tees made a good spot for a wine bar and bbq stand.

#7 is about 155 yards, #12 about 225 yards (both into the wind) and #16 about 180 yards with the breeeze quartering from the right and behind, accentuating a draw and into the bunkers.  All 3 are plateau type greens, with #12 only slightly raised.

#7

#12


#16




PS - I'd love feedback on the photos - good or bad, too few or too many.  thanks

James B

[James Bennett]

And now some others
#8 postage stamp size green from the far right rough - hiding mound on front right, fall way at back left.

#10 approach, from downhill lie into the wind to a hard, convex green.

#11 - the crater hole, from back right of the green and from left edge of fairway/rough


#14 fairway bunkers.  These three have been here for decades (the right hand ones were added in late 70's, I think).  Note the larger hollow that contains the three bunkers.  Whilst these have been reshaped in recent years (to increase the internal slope) the general dimensions are the same.  These bunkers look similar to me to Cypress Point #2 fairway bunkers.  Both are set into the crest on the preferred line (these are on the right whilst I think Cypress Pt is on the left.  

#15 approach.  There are aspects of this hole that remind me of the schematic layout of #17 at Muirfield.  Don't know whether they are the same though - haven't been to Muirfield.

#17 approach and green.  The pot bunker left seems to my memory to have gooten bigger in recent years.  It is a gethering bunker.  The green is two-tiered and rolls off at the rear on both sides.  Very flat on the top tier until the roll-off.  This green is about 30 years old.

#18 fairway, green and clubhouse.  The fairway bunkers are circa 1998.  The green has played like this as long as I remember - falls from right to left, play from the right is intimidating with a 4 iron, not as bad with a wedge.  The rhs was out of bounds for the Jacobs Creek - that is where Michael Sim lost it.  He was probably 20 yeards off fairway (brreeze is across from the left, with large pins on the left side of fairway pushing play right)



The course aerial (from a previous post) was taken about two years ago.  Less fertiliser and iron that year - Jacobs Creek was played at Kooyonga.  Bill V - see the centrally located clubhouse.  By the way, the trains didn't run through the course during the tournament.


Hope you enjoyed the show - sorry the photo sizes jumped around a bit.

James B

[James_Livingston]

Thanks for the pictures.

The bunkering on 7 looks 'interesting'.  I'm guessing there may be a history of modification there?

Neil, I don't think I'd be looking for a Brett Officer course based on those comments.  Perhaps he takes his inspiration from Metro?

[Jason Topp]

From James Bennett's pictures - #7

[Jason Topp]

No. 10

[Matthew Mollica]

Neil and others, I'm genuinely surprised at the strong reaction regarding my comments re: RA. As you will likely know Neil, I put the course in my top half dozen, and rate it above both The National (Moonah) and St. Andrews Beach (Gunnamatta). I'm not saying RA isn't good, I'm merely asking if it belongs in the top three in the nation, as I'm not sure it does.

I've only played RA twice. My main criticism is the short holes, aside from some recent out of character work. #7 and #12 take their tee from the same mound, and run in the same direction. For me, that's simply not good enough for 2 of 3 par three holes on a fine course. #16 does play different to #7 but it would often put the same club in your hand as #7.

#7 is to me a very ugly hole visually, and somewhat strategically crude. Neither of the other two look that great. I feel this may be the worst set of par three holes of any top 10 course in Australia. Surely a valid claim, made objectively, and one which must have an influence on the course's standing.

Sure, RA's par three holes are all tough. Sure there are places to miss etc. Same with the short holes at National Ocean. Doesn't mean they're good though.

From a routing point of view, I would be very didappointed if I were given that block, and could only muster those three par three holes. Not what I'd want to hang my hat on as a designer.

MM

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

James,
Great pictures! It is so difficult to capture how deep those bunkers at 16 are, with a photo, isn't it?

[James Bennett]

Ben

and how shallow the #16 green is to play to from the bunkers.  Ot to hold the green from the other side (the swale) without traversing the green into the bunkers.

MM

If you hadn't posted your initial thoughts, we would not have had this much fun discussing and discovering the intricacies of RA.  Thanks for starting it.  

Do I agree with you - probably not.  I don't care that #7 and #12 play in similar directions, from a similar dune, on this occasion.  One is 155 yards to a large green, the other is 5 holes later, played downhill at 220 yards to a postage stamp.  And #16 is a hole that requires repeat play to appreciate.  It has taken me several years to understand the intricacies of #16.  

I understand some of your issues with the course from 2 plays - #7 is certainly so different.  As I said earlier, just remember that this green site was originally played from a line near the current #3 tee, 45 degrees away from the current angle.  Until a few years ago, I also recall seeing a steeplechase style bunker amidst the native vegetation short of #10 green - I haven't seen such a bunker anywhere since.  I think it NLE.

Are there any other par 3's that could have been built - absolutely.  Walk behind the ropes at the Jacobs Creek in the area between #13 and #9 and the most glorious dune land remains untouched.  However, MacKenzie came up with a plan that rerouted an existing course.  He didn't start from scratch.  And not everything was built as designed.  So, how do you amend an existing course with MacKenzie's preference to be frugal with the spend (I think)?  how would these additional holes be included int he routing?  Keep that in mind.

thanks for raising the topic - it has been fun.  I note your high regard for RA, it is just a matter of how high, and I don't really care where in that top flight RA fits.  It is just a pleasure to see and to study the evolution of it thru to today.

James B

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