[Scott Warren]

Announced in the club newsletter:

... Council has reviewed the role of our Course
Architect and has appointed Mr Tom Doak to advise the Club on upcoming
matters concerning our courses and practice facilities. At this stage the
number of upcoming projects is minimal but it is important that we have
an association with a world-renowned architect when we need advice. Tom
Doak has visited our club many times, rates our courses very highly and
is an expert on Alister MacKenzie.
 
In the coming months Tom will visit the Club. We are planning a Members
Information Evening to coincide with his visit, and Members will have the
opportunity to meet him. I am sure Members will give Tom a warm welcome.
 
The Captain has thanked Martin Hawtree for his assistance and
acknowledged his knowledge and professionalism in all his dealings with
the club. We are very happy with the results he has achieved, especially
with regard to the serious safety issues associated with the boundary
holes on the East Course.

[John Mayhugh]

Thanks for posting this Scott.

Congratulations, Tom.  That's about as good as it gets.

[Tim_Weiman]

Tom,

Congratulations! I am very happy for you.

[Matt_Ward]

Tom:

Ditto !

[Michael Taylor]

I agree with John.

[Pat Burke]

One of my favorite places in my tournament travels.
Congrats Tom. 

[Stephen Britton]

Wow, this is great.

Just made my day... no....actually made my year!

Paging Leo Barber...Thoughts?

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

You cannot get much better a notice of praise for ones work than that...congratulations to all at Renaisance...the venue remains number one on my list of venues to visit, now I knwo it will continue to be in good hands.

[Bill Brightly]

I was lucky enough to play Royal Melbourne on my way to the Boomerang in Tazmania. As I played the course, it was apparant to me that RM must have had a great impact on Tom Doak's design philosphy. The large sprawling greens, great fairway width,  bunkers that flashed high (most notably the 10th hole), etc.  In the bar afterwards I mentioned that to a couple of other CGAers and they agreed, the same thoughts went through their minds as they played the course.

I wonder if Tom would comment?

[Kyle Henderson]

Hurray!

Hawtree's contributions at RM certainly appeared to be an improvement over the bunker work done by Cashmore. But, I have no doubt that the Renaissance team will be able to restore/improve both courses at RM, given enough time and latitude.

Sir Doak,

I assume the club doesn't plan to touch anything until after the President's Cup. Will your work be confined to certain holes/one course or will you have free reign to make suggestions accross the entire property?

Also, is there any truth to the rumors that the club will purchase the adjacent Sandringham course and renovate it to complement the existing two courses?


Appreciatively,
Kyle

[Tom_Doak]

Bill:

It's an honor to be named consultant to Royal Melbourne.  Since I doubt I will ever be needed as consultant for The Old Course at St. Andrews, it's as good of a gig as I can imagine.

I was first there 27 years ago tomorrow, in our winter off in the middle of building High Pointe; so the timing was perfect for it to have a profound influence on my designs.  Of course, I had seen a lot of other MacKenzie courses before that, and many of them had the same features which you mention, so you can't put all of my tendencies to the one course; but it's probably as close to my ideal as one could get.  I wrote somewhere a few years back that Royal Melbourne is the course Augusta National wants to be, and now that they've got the conditions back to where they need to be, it's hard to beat.

P.S.  I do wish the title of this thread were a bit different; it sounds like it's bashing Martin Hawtree in some way, for no apparent reason.

P.S. to Kyle:  I heard a rumor about Sandringham when I was in Australia in December, but dismissed it as one of those crazy golf rumors.  I can assure you no one at Royal Melbourne has mentioned anything of the sort to me, though it would be a lovely surprise!  As to the 36 holes of Royal Melbourne, there is no specific assignment at all right now.

[BCrosby]

Tom -

ANGC has made dramatic changes over the years, purportedly because it hosts the Masters and needs to keep up with the pro game.

RM regularly hosts a range of professional tournaments. Has RM undergone similarly dramatic changes based on the same rationale?

Bob

[Tom_Doak]

Tom -

ANGC has made dramatic changes over the years, purportedly because it hosts the Masters and needs to keep up with the pro game.

RM regularly hosts a range of professional tournaments. Has RM undergone similarly dramatic changes based on the same rationale?

Bob

Bob:

They have not -- in large part because they are up against the boundaries of the property on many of the key holes.  All four of the par-5 holes on the West course are quite short ... only the 17th on the East ever requires three shots from the pros now.

I suspect that is one of the main subjects I will have to help the club with -- whether that really matters or not, and what are the alternatives for addressing the problem if they want to try.

[Kyle Henderson]

Tom -

ANGC has made dramatic changes over the years, purportedly because it hosts the Masters and needs to keep up with the pro game.

RM regularly hosts a range of professional tournaments. Has RM undergone similarly dramatic changes based on the same rationale?

Bob

Hopefully Sir Bertram will also chime in. During our dinner at Yarra Tarra, he gave us a fantastic summary of the changes (or lack of modifications) to each hole during his tenure with RM.

[Jason Topp]

Congratulations Tom.

When I visited I played the West Course alone on a very hot day.  The course was empty - particularly the West because of green conditioning problems.  When I finished the 16th (the last hole across the street), I was startled to find that the gates had been locked. 

That was an interesting dilemma - spend as long as I could playing the holes in the paddock or climb the fence (which, as one might imagine, is gigantic).   Having a family waiting at the hotel and wanting to see 17 and 18, I climbed the fence. 

I bet I might be the only person to have ever climbed the fence to sneak out of Royal Melbourne.

[Tom_Doak]

Jason:

You did try pushing the button to open the gate, didn't you?

[Carl Rogers]

Tom,
I hope that over time your client at RM and your own willingness will allow you to discuss some of your work there on this site ...
Though it seems like most of it will be very micro in scale.

[Jason Topp]

Jason:

You did try pushing the button to open the gate, didn't you?

I would like to think so but I cannot remember one way or the other.

[Leo Barber]

With the greatest respect, hopefully this closes the unfortunate chapter of tinkering with Russell and Morcoms wonderful work.  Hopefully Tom just helps the club retain what they have and hold on to everything thats good about the place......the same stuff that has made the course one of the greatest examples of architecture in the golfing world.

[Scott Warren]

Tom D:

I do wish the title of this thread were a bit different; it sounds like it's bashing Martin Hawtree in some way, for no apparent reason.

I assure you the title has nothing to do with "bashing" Hawtree.

It's simply the clearest way to describe the contents of the thread in less than 10 words.

[Ben Stephens]

Tom D:

I do wish the title of this thread were a bit different; it sounds like it's bashing Martin Hawtree in some way, for no apparent reason.

I assure you the title has nothing to do with "bashing" Hawtree.

It's simply the clearest way to describe the contents of the thread in less than 10 words.

Scott,

I have heard that Martin Hawtree doesn't play golf - is this true?? if so it doesnt help in some ways to understand how the game is played.

Tom,

I wish you all the best with your future work at Royal Melbourne look forward to what you come up with.

Cheers
Ben

[John Mayhugh]

Jason:

You did try pushing the button to open the gate, didn't you?

I would like to think so but I cannot remember one way or the other.

You would have had to in order to get across the road in the first place, unless someone else was doing it for you.

That's quite the climb, though.  I'm impressed.

[Jason Topp]

Jason:

You did try pushing the button to open the gate, didn't you?

I would like to think so but I cannot remember one way or the other.

You would have had to in order to get across the road in the first place, unless someone else was doing it for you.

That's quite the climb, though.  I'm impressed.

I'm pretty sure I pressed the button.   I'm not exactly Mr. Mechanic but I did spend some time trying to figure out how to open the thing.

[Benny Hillard]

Congratulations Tom!!

I love Royal and I can't wait to see what changes will be made in the future.

Also on my last visit to the West course (a month or so ago) I noticed that the 4th fairway is no longer divided into two sections.
Can anyone explain why this has happened? I'm assuming it has something to do with the changes to the East closing holes.

Benny

[Tom_Doak]

Tom D:

I do wish the title of this thread were a bit different; it sounds like it's bashing Martin Hawtree in some way, for no apparent reason.

I assure you the title has nothing to do with "bashing" Hawtree.

It's simply the clearest way to describe the contents of the thread in less than 10 words.

How about:  "Tom Doak named as consulting architect to Royal Melbourne"

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