Ben
you are obviously a man of perception and taste!
I was at the golf on Sunday, walked the 18 holes with an early group in the morning and watched the last 5 holes by the leaders. The greens were very firm, true and reasonably quick. If you were playing a shot down-wind, or from any of the roughs, heaven help you if you landed on the green. Into the wind, a 60 metre (yard) pitch could be made to back-up. Down wind, the first bounce was a good 15 feet, followed by a second bounce before the check. Most of the last holes were played with a 20 knot cross-breeze, the typical S-W sea breeze. A shot held-up into the wind (a fade) would hold #16 par 3, a straight shot or a draw went long.
The pins were reasonably tight (apparently the Nationwide tour set the front 9, and the Australian tour the back 9!). In typical MacKenzie/RAGC fashion, any attempt to cut the inside of the dogleg, and remaining on the inside was left with a nigh impossible shot to get near the pin. A shot played to the far side of the fairway would leave an accessible pin, with a good shot. #17 was played from a forward tee, with a shallow dogleg of fairway available. #18 was played from the middle tee. These tee's are required because of the public access and interaction with adjacent holes.
Looking forward to 2006
Even the Jacob's Creek red wine ( form the Braossa Valley an hour up the road) tasted lovely, and the Cooper's Pale Ale delightful (for those discerning beer-drinkers overseas, Adelaide is the home of Cooper's Ale).