Royal Adelaide Golf Club, Seaton, Australia - A Photo Tour - Hole 18 Up!

[Mark Saltzman]

Hole 15: Par 5, 467 Metres

The tee shot at the 15th is over the same broken ground as the approach to 14 and through a narrowed chute of trees.  It seems that there have been change through the years that make the hole harder, though not necessarily better.  Longer hitters have almost no opportunity to hit driver as the fairway is narrowed on the left by mounding, and water on the right at 240m from the tee.




Despite the utterly flat land, the composition of the fairway bunkering and the angled green serve to make a compelling second half to this hole.  Those intending to play a full third shot into the green will lay well back, short of a bunker 70m from the green that cuts the fairway in half.  Challenging the bunker means the golfer will have a pitch up the length of the green, but he will struggle to keep his second shot short of a left fairway bunker that is deceptively short of the putting surface.

[Mark Saltzman]

Hole 16: Par 3, 165 Metres

Remembering that MacKenzie proposed combining the existing 10th and 11th holes into a dogleg par-4, he had to find an additional hole later in the routing -- this addition came in the form of a par-4 with a tee somewhere behind the current 15th green.  This new hole would necessarily change the par-3 16th hole, which would have had a tee somewhere between the existing 15th and 17th holes and a green whose orientation would be changed but would be, more or less, in the same position as it sits today.  Nevertheless, MacKenzie's 10th hole was never built and the par-3 16th sits today in form similar to the Rymil Plan.

Though the hole is not particularly appealing to the eyes, it is nonetheless a strong challenge -- a mid-iron played slightly uphill and often into a crosswind to a green that will repel most shots.  Recoveries played from the deep bunkers left carry with them the substantial risk of a shot running off the other side of the green and yet the hollow on the right, with its almost vertical rise to the green, is the scarier miss from the tee.

[Mark Saltzman]

Hole 17: Par 4, ?? Metres -- The 17th hole was out of play, in the midst of renovations when I played in February 2014.  Below is a brief history of the recent renovations.

In 2008, the 17th at Royal Adelaide Golf Club was a snaking par-5 of 473 metres with a fairway width that mostly measured 20 yards and which topped out at 30 yards.

An aerial of the 2008 hole:




Mackenzie's 17th hole is reproduced below and called for a pair of centreline bunkers and the use of a small rise in elevation, which lay well out of play in the 2008 version.  




As part of its 2009 Master Plan, Ogilvy Clayton Design, inspired by and attempting to recapture Royal Adelaide's Mackenzie heritage, drew the following proposal for a new 17th hole:




By 2010, the new hole was built.  A 2010 aerial shows the completed version of the hole below.  Note the yellow line, which marks the entire width of the 2008 fairway in the same spot.  The change in width and scale is remarkable as the fairway now measured 105 yards wide and there was some 135 yards of corridor width.  A remarkable change.  I never did get to see the OCD version of the hole, but it's scale and style of bunkering was a radical departure from what existed before and what remains on the rest of the golf course.




The membership must not have been pleased with the results of the 2010 renovation as Tom Doak / Renaissance Golf have since been appointed the Consulting Architect for Royal Adelaide.  Aside from some minor tweaking, including expanded fairway cuts around the green, widened fairways, and removal of superfluous bunkering, Doak's first instruction was to re-work the 17th hole.  Doak and Brian Slawnik have kept the idea of the centreline bunkers, but have considerably shrunk their scale, turning the pair of 'J' shaped bunkers into two pairs of more traditionally shaped and slightly offsetting centreline bunkers.  The hourglass shaped and wildly contoured green has been moved back and to the right and replaced with a gently contoured front to back sloping green with a small kicker at the green's front left.  Of particular curiosity are the trio of back bunkers, which very, very rarely make an appearance in the Australian world of golf course architecture.  Perhaps they are a necessity to protect the 18th from approaches gone astray.

17th Tee:




Centreline bunkers:




Approach from over bunkers:




Green from left:




17th from behind:

[Mark Saltzman]

Hole 18: Par 4, 383 Metres

It was suggested to me that the 18th at Royal Adelaide is a better hole when played from the forward tee, and based on a very small sample size, I'd agree!  From the Championship tee, the hole sits at an awkward angle with the fairway bunkers hidden from view.  The photo is taken from the forward tee, which turns the hole into a straightaway, 330m par-4.




The left-side drive bunkers are a Thompson addition, and though they are aesthetically unattractive they do add strategic interest to the hole and are a take on the modifications proposed by MacKenzie.  The long and narrow green is best approached from near these fairway bunkers.

[Thomas Dai]

Watching some of the Aussie Ladies Open from Royal Adelaide on the TV. Seems like lots to like. Rather taken with the off-fairway areas.
Any thoughts from locals on how the course is playing, set-up etc?
Atb

[James Bennett]

Thomas
it is in excellent condition, but that is typical.The girls are playing something very similar to the members course - about 6600 yards.  The back tees are longer (about 7300).Fairways are running wo the holes are playing short.The girl's wedge play is outstanding.The greens accept good shots, but reject any mishits and anything hit with a draw, especially if the wind is from the right as well.
Lots of good scores on the front nine, but lots of shots get hemorrhaged on 10 to 14, plus 16.
Girls struggled with 17, probably needs a little local knowledge.  Doak/Slawnik built 17.

We have three GCA'ers visiting in threeweeks, will be interesting to see how they find it for a regular game.

[Mark Pearce]

We have three GCA'ers visiting in threeweeks, will be interesting to see how they find it for a regular game.

It would be astonishing if they didn't love it.  The most surprising of the courses I played in Aus, in that it's right up there in the group just behind RMW, and for whatever reason I didn't expect it to be as good as it is.

[Matthew Delahunty]

Hole 11: Par 4, 356 Metres


I was disappointed that I could not find a picture of the Crater Hole from early in the 20th century, or even one from pre-2010 which showed a forested green site, but from what I've seen the approach as it sits today is little changed from it's early days -- a wonderful sandy amphitheatre.

Mark,


here is a photo of the original Crater hole in 1909.

[James Bennett]

Dela
that photo would be taken from about where the member's 8th tee is now.Some of the highest peaks seem a lot flatter today, but the swales are still there.
In 1909, the course is routed per the Cargie Rymill plan.#11 is still the same hole today, with play from the top left of the picture.Mackenzie's plan was to approach the crater from the top right, but this wasn't implemented.
I'm sure you know all of this though Matthew. 
James B