The Metropolitan Golf Club: A Pictorial!!! (18th hole posted)

[Kyle Henderson]

#13
This hole was in the midst of a reconstruction effort during my visit.

I believe the diagram below, represents the previous iteration of the 13th.


A view of the new effort from well short and right of the green.

[Kyle Henderson]

#14:


The 14th is a shortish par 5 that can be reached easily when the bunker on the inside corner of the left-turning fairway is properly negotiated.


A drive to the right leaves a longer 2nd from a poorer angle.


The ideal placement of a lay-up shot is near the foreground bunker, while a long second that carries this trap has room to chase up and on. Beware the lake behind if you tend to skull your wedges…

[Scott Warren]

One of the best flat ground holes I've played. Really clever bunkering.

[Mike_Clayton]

Scott,

I did not think it was that hard to work out the strategy on 14 - and like you I think it is an interesting hole to play.
Many members however think it boring. It seems it is too easy to just hit down the right and avoid the trouble - which it is.
Then they face the pitch - or more - over the big right hand greenside bunker and wonder why they keep making six.
Bobby Jones called it giving a man all the rope he needs to hang himself.

[Kyle Henderson]

Scott,

I did not think it was that hard to work out the strategy on 14

It can't be if I guessed it correctly.

[Mark_F]

It can't be if I guessed it correctly.

Kyle,

If the members at Metropolitan had any intelligence, they wouldn't be members of Metropolitan - with one exception, of course. 

[Kyle Henderson]

It can't be if I guessed it correctly.

Kyle,

If the members at Metropolitan had any intelligence, they wouldn't be members of Metropolitan - with one exception, of course. 

That's a Capital idea...

[Kyle Henderson]

#15


As from the 14th tee, players are met with the view of a tree-lined fairway turning left past corner-positioned bunker complex.


And again, like the 14th, a lay-up is best positioned near a left-hand bunker placed a wedge flick from the green. However, here the green runs diagonally from short/left to long/right whereas the previous green is pinched narrowly between bunkers at the front and widens to the rear. Thus, 15 beckons a fade approach much more strongly.

[Kyle Henderson]

A short par 4, the 16th can be attacked in several ways.


Pros may work a long ball around the corner to the right. Lesser players should attempt a straight shot that stops just short of the fairway’s far edge.


The right-hand tree line is trimmed back enough so as to not unduly penalize conservative (long-iron) or poorly struck tee shots.


With an ideally placed drive, the approach shot is among the easiest on the property.

[Kyle Henderson]

#17


The penultimate hole forces players left by "virtue" of a small clump of trees placed ever so unnaturally on the right ~ 90 yards short of the green. I found this feature to be woefully contrived and out of character with the rest of the course.

[Mark Chaplin]

Before I'd paged down I was thinking "have they got rid of those dreadful trees on 17" clearly not!

[Kyle Henderson]

#18


The last hole offers a rather anticlimactic finish. The hole is wide and straight enough to allow for sloppy play.  Any tee shot that stays between the trees should keep par on the table. The mounding left of the fairway is unsightly, IMHO.


Tucking the pin near this prominent greenside bunker adds considerable difficulty to birdie bids, but conservative approaches should yield reasonable two-putt opportunities. As I visitor, I was glad to play this hole as the 9th so the round could end on a much higher note.


Metropolitan is a very enjoyable track that would be the standout of most American neighborhoods. But, as Melbournian golf goes, one can find a half-dozen courses at least its equal within earshot. That’s pretty astounding.

[David Kelly]

The penultimate hole forces players left by "virtue" of a small clump of trees placed ever so unnaturally on the right ~ 90 yards short of the green. I found this feature to be woefully contrived and out of character with the rest of the course.

Agree completely. One of the most ridiculous and out of the blue features I've ever encountered on a top golf course. 

Thanks for the tour.

[Mike_Clayton]

David.
As one who has hit balls over, past and around those trees for 37 years now let me explain their presence.
The original back nine (technically 10-17) was lost in the late 1950s.
The current 10th tee was the tee for the 11th (the new 19th is built where the old 6th was) and it played onto a green that is the rise you drive up onto off the current 17th tee. The dam was obviously not there at that time.
Players then went to the left and played out and down toward Commonwealth. Only a narrow road separated the two.
Coming back the 17th hole played down a fairway on the other side of the left trees at the current hole.It used the same green.
Those trees split the two holes.

Of course they are a comedy and I have long since given up on the argument to remove them It is staggering the level of passion they arouse from their defenders but I have yet to hear a coherent argument for keeping them.
 I have never heard anyone advance the argument I would if I was called to defend them - which is that the player who drives left and close to the bunker can see the green and does not have not have to deal with them.

[Scott Warren]

And you might consider that argument a bit longer if it were a really lovely specimen tree or something, but it's three or four unsightly conifers/pines...

[Mike_Clayton]

Scott,
The emotion attached to them is extraordinary.And I am sure there are some members who are convinced I would like to cut down every tree on the course and 'make it into a links'
Staggering really!!

[Mark_F]

And I am sure there are some members who are convinced I would like to cut down every tree on the course and 'make it into a links'
Staggering really!!

Mike,

If you had a choice, would you remove the mounds on 18, or the trees on 17?

[Mike_Clayton]

Mark

The trees - but it is the one green on the back nine - perhaps 10 as well - that does not advantage one side of the fairway over the other.
Even 16 does that albeit from about as far from the fairway bunkers as you can get.
I think the hole is a bigger question than just the trees.

There used to be bunkers in the mounds on 18 and if you could put them back and get them looking good it would be a win. You can see why they were filled in though - horror story of a shot from there and by definition they are punishing those who have already punished themselves enough by that point in the round.

The mounds 80 yards short of the 3rd green used to be bunkers and it was a pity they were ever filled in. Presumably it was the 'they only affect bad players' argument.

[Chris Kane]

I would keep the trees, using the Paul Daley argument that they are almost the only example of eccentricity on the sandbelt. Its a really bizarre hole though!

Mike, has the club done much thinking about what they'll do when the trees reach the end of their life?

[Mike_Clayton]

Chris,
The greenkeeper is planting out the original fairway to the left - so in time they may move the whole thing across and get it away from the dam - but that is 30 years off.
I am assuming the club think the trees will go on forever. I have no idea how long Californian swamp cypress last. At least I think that's what they are.

[Matthew Mollica]

I am assuming the club think the trees will go on forever. I have no idea how long Californian swamp cypress last. At least I think that's what they are.

That's exactly what they are Clayts. The fact they're introduced is another factor in favor of their removal IMHO.

There have been times I've visited where they all look as dead as doornails. Then a few months later, green foliage abounds

MM

[Kyle Henderson]

Why did they not import one of these instead?


...or better yet, plant trees of a variety already found on the property?

...or better yet, go treeless and work with the available ground contours and improve the bunker placements?

[Mark_F]

Metropolitan is a very enjoyable track that would be the standout of most American neighborhoods. But, as Melbournian golf goes, one can find a half-dozen courses at least its equal within earshot. That’s pretty astounding.

Kyle,

The last three holes let the course down badly.  16 has a pretty good green, with some nice pockets in the surface, but it is a terrible hole.  17 has some nice fairway movement, but those stupid trees and an over-mounded green complex, and those mounds on 18 ruin what is a fine albeit straightforward hole. 

Maybe that is why they send visitors off the 10th - so they leave with a good impression.

[Mike_Clayton]

Mark,

Poll the members and my guess is that a significant number would rate 16 as one of the best 2 or 3 holes - probably along with 5.
At all of the best short 4s in the country the choice of club off the tee is an enduring dilemma - but here it's driver every day and you either go over the bunker or not and going over leaves a shorter shot but nothing else and it's not of any particular advantage to be 60 yards away over being 100.
And it's not like a tweak here or there is going to improve it although it would be more interesting of there was fairway to the right of the bunkers so you could open up that impossible to get at front right pin.

The mounding down the right is just unbelievably ugly but there is some hope there at least. They were built to improve spectator viewing - always a great reason.

I have never thought much about those mounds at 18 - but perhaps removing them and returning the bunkers would be an improvement.
It is hard to imagine the bunkers were built into those mounds - not  mounds that high at least.

[Mark_F]

Mike,

It's strange how so many members seem to like the crap holes that could be improved, and dislike the good holes. 

A lot of people rate Pen North 6 as amongst the best few holes on the course, and whilst it is far from crap, they also don't see how it could be so much better with not that much work.  A selfish case of not wanting their golf interrupted for a few weeks whilst a better hole that enhances the course and club is built I guess.

I am still surprised that South 8 green is there considering what I heard this time last year.

I guess the fact that Metro has hosted several big tournaments and has had Five times work his magic means many members think it is bulletproof.

Are they still complaining about the new 13th?