I had one of those great days of golf on Saturday - a morning round at Newcastle followed by a visit to Magenta Shores, which I have wanted to play for years. David Elvins was a fantastic wingman.
I had played Newcastle before - once, more than a decade ago - and it was even better than I remembered and even more enjoyable for the country atmosphere of the club. 4-7 has to be one of the best stretches of golf in Aus (and 1-3 and 8-13 are pretty fantastic too, with a few highlights in the closing stretch as well).
So fresh off the back of a great morning at Newcastle (where Elvins showed why he ought to be playing off much less than 14!), we arrived at Magenta.
I hadn't heard or read much about the place beforehand, other than that a lot of people have quiet enjoyed it with a caveat or two and that Golf Australia magazine rated it #25 in the country. Having now played it, I'd agree with both those sentiments. I'd place it just behind the likes of Peninsula (North) but ahead of, say, Yarra Yarra and I really enjoyed myself with the exception of a few factors that grated on me.
There's some pictures and individual hole discussion below, but on the whole, breaking it down to drives, approaches and greens, I'd say:
Drives: The course repeatedly asked for a draw off a distant bunker on the RHS, either around or near a LHS bunker - often with the land assisting that shape. The driving zones also seemed to lack much benefit for hugging the hazard, with the man-made undulations equally severe in the "ideal" spots, reducing the benefit of hitting the ball there.
The holes were also generally quite narrow, with three holes squeezed into a parcel suited to two, or two in a 1-1.5-fairway corridor, almost all the way through the front nine, while the back is largely one-hole corridors through what will eventually be a residential area (glad I got there before that happened) and is wider.
Ross Watson doesn't really seem to believe in building drive bunkers that the golfer can challenge/attempt to carry heroically, it's more a case of sidling up to them as the ball rolls out. Between R. Sydney, Bonnie Doon, Concord and now Magenta Shores, I can't think of more than three or four examples.
At Magenta, it seems often driving near the fairway bunkering is both formulaic and not greatly beneficial.
Approaches: This is the course's major strength. The par threes are all quality holes, IMO, offering great variety - which is probably just as well given the course was largely man-made. As with Watson's work elsewhere, courses mentioned above, the par threes are probably the highlight.
And at Magenta Shores, if we disregard the drives on the par fours and fives, they almost all present an approach shot that is at the very least extremely appealing visually. They are fun shots to play and to look at. There is some advantage to be had from lateral placement.
The bunkering at the greens is huge in scale and is extremely appealing. The size looks great, the shaping is pleasant to the eye - another highlight of the course.
Greens: The greens are quite wild in places and will present some challenging and adventurous putts, but it seems they haven't really been designed with consideration for the hole at large.
In lots of cases, the wild undulations don't seem to take into account the shot you'll be playing into the green and don't set up so that the golfer who has played the riskier shot off the tee is rewarded. In isolation they have some great features, but those features don't seem all that well combined with the rest of the hole.
There's also some fairly over the top greenside runoff shaping that I might start another thread about because it is best looked at alongside comparisons from other courses.
Reading that back it seems a bit overly negative. Magenta Shores has some really fun holes and a heap of really attractive shots, and looking back at the course guide it seems some of my criticism of the fairway bunkering might have been addressed by playing the middle tees, as someone who carries a driver about 215-220m
The course:
The first head-scratching moment was at the par five 2nd (523m/493m - which uses up all the oceanfront land - and for the last 300m of that you are playing at a slight angle away from the coast and so you need to look away from the golf to see the ocean. And further to that, the tee is built so low down that the tee shot view, despite being toward the water - with the town of The Entrance off in the distance, doesn't really take in the ocean at all. There's a dune 10m to the right (man made) that offers great water views: why not build the teeing area up to give it the same feature?
This view of the approach to the 3rd (404m/391m) from between the bunkers that sit either side of the drive. A celebration of electricity and mobile communication!
The green at the 186m/169m par three 4th sits in an amphitheatre with a sever tier stepping up in the middle of the green. You can miss short right and leave a fairly easy chip. The green gathers from the left and there is a really vicious back right pin position.
The 6th is a par four of 314m/284m - the green is visible over the RHS bunkers. For mine it's a more engaging hole from just back of the 245m ladies' tee, which leaves a carry of about 200-210m over the bunkers to try to challenge the green. From further back, you're going to be leaving yourself a pitch anyway, so why try to bite off any of the shorter bunkers and take a risk? Plus, the green has some really tough recoveries around it that you're more likely to encounter if you have a crack and miss. The green is so large that a miss with a wedge is going to be tough.
Had to snap this from left of the green. Advertising board, cart path, housing... how's the serenity?!
The 7th, the second of the par threes, plays at 135m/117m. Offers a bail out short right and a really daring line to challenge the upper back left pin position.
Two shots below of the approach to the par five 8th (474m/444m). An aesthetically pleasing hole, but for me too narrow to tempt you to be daring.
The Redanish par three 12th (nothing worth seeing really on 9-10, though 11 does offer some nice risk reward and a pretty green) plays at 165m/137m and the ball will kick forward and left from over the front right bunker.
Approach to the par four 13th (326m/307m) after a blind drive over a hill and between two trees that sit within the fairway.
Approach to the par four 14th (381m/356m) - a dogleg left protected by a bunker inside the dogleg.
Par three 15th (124m/119m) has a slightly angled green with some strong movement and deep pockets of fairway long.
Par four 16th (392m/375m). The preferred line is from the left of the fairway bunkers, which sit between 174m and 232m from the back tee. The greenfront shaping also rewards a shot from that left-hand side - something I'd have liked to see more of on the course.
Looking back up the par four 17th (dogleg left, 361m/338m). Such a pity that view will eventually be blighted by houses. (On this hole we sped past two six-balls, including a midget, smoking weed and chugging bourborn while they played. You can't make this shit up!)
A view from the driving zone of the par five 18th (550m/533m). It seemed to me that by carrying those lay-up bunkers and ending up on the left you have a third shot over a deep bunker, whereas if you lay-up short and right of it you have a clear 100m shot up the unguarded length of the green.
