Royal Canberra Golf Club Redeveopment with OCCM

[Don Jordan]

A bit of a long post this one but I hope it is interesting.

Royal Canberra is six months into a three year redevelopment. We have 27 holes; 1-18 is set in the Westbourne Woods Arboretum and was designed by Commander Harris. Although the club just celebrated its centenary we have only been on the current site since the 1960’s. An additional 9 holes designed by Thompson/Wolveridge opened in 1997 with 6 of the holes across the road on a relatively clear block of land with some great views.

Ogilvy/Clayton/Cocking and Mead were successful (yay) in winning the bid to develop and implement the master plan. Around the same time we were very fortunate to recruit Andrew Boyle as our superintendent. It took quite a long time to get the master plan to a vote but it won by an overwhelming majority when it did. The major argument against the pan came down to some members not believing we needed to do overhaul the entire course and could get away with just doing the greens, and not wanting to close down 9 holes a year for the next three years. As 1-18 is in the national arboretum a lot of work was needed to secure government support and clearance, the ‘friends of the arboretum’ were helpful and acknowledge the excellent work of the club in preserving the area.

The master pan and strategic goals can be seen on our website in the public areas at

http://www.royalcanberra.com.au/cms/about-us/about-royal-canberra/course-master-plan/

You can follow Andrew Boyle on twitter @RCGCsuper he posts lots of pictures and updates progress regularly.

From my perspective the changes were almost immediate – the new super and greens committee reduced the rough and there is a lot more short grass now, this is great as it was one thing that put me off when I joined a couple of years ago. As a 35 year old 2 marker I was struggling to get a 5 iron out of the rough, I don’t know how our lady and older members were coping, simply it wasn’t fun.
I will reserve judgement on the changes but overall I see the sense in all of them, there is a fair bit of straightening out of holes, 5 and 12 make sense given the current reverse camber dogleg that exists, I am not so sure the change to 2 was needed though. The 9th hole (picture below) is looking great, love that the bunker on the corner is gone as it required a mid-iron to be hooked around and under a tree to find the green! If you are still reading thanks, I will post more photos as I get them and you know how it plays when 1-9 open on August 01.

Photos



9th hole from fairway pre-work, note the bunker on the left corner



9th green before work



9th green redevelopment including new back bunker



5th green gravel layer

[Mike_Cocking]

Thanks for the post Don.

Work has been progressing well - we just got back a couple of days ago from finishing off holes 4, 5 and 9 for grassing to go with the first 3 three which were seeded a few weeks ago (6th, 7th and 8th).  The final three holes should be ready in the new year.

The plan includes rebuilding all the greens, tees and bunkers and at the same time the club are re-grassing the fairways and roughs.  The holes all follow the same corridors however as you've pointed out there are a couple of altered tee positions but not many - 2, 5, 6 (back), 12.  Perhaps the most interesting new tee will be reinstating the 'harris tee' which sits fairly close to the existing 13th tee and requires a long carry over the edge of Lake Burley Griffin.  

Many people talk about the course being the 'Augusta of Australia' and certainly elements of that course (and indeed the sandbelt) have been incorporated into the design.  Wider fairways, bunkers cut close to the putting surface (they were previously 3 or 4 metres off the edge of the green).  Coupled with this are a set of greens which will require more thoughtful placement off the tee to gain the best line to the pin. All fairly simple strategies that should make for a significant improvement to the course.  

BTW - 2 hasn't shifted a long way right probably only 20m - so that dogleg nature of the hole still exists, as indeed the draw drive, fade second will.  

We've been posting a few photos each week on our twitter page as well, you'll see a few of the recent ones on there including 4, 5 and 9 which have all turned out well.  @OCCMGolf.

Not sure if you came along to the member walk throughs last month but if not make sure you come along in the new year if they repeat them.



Mike Cocking.

[Paul Gray]

Very interested to see and read about this. Please keep them coming as the work progresses.

If I ever make it down under for my dream golf and Ashes tour, RC is certainly on the list. If you could possibly arrange for a test match to be held in your capital city I'd be very grateful. 

[Mike_Clayton]

Don

Like Perth's Lake Karrinyup RC is by some way the premier club in the city. Both have a beautiful ambience and many members and visitors equate ambience and experience with the course being 'great'. In this sense, both jobs are very similar and those who don't place great weight in the quality of the architecture did not think any changes beyond the agronomic were necessary.
Both had - and in RC's case still have - some really average holes and shots which didn't work and the plan in Canberra addresses the problems.
The 5th and 12th were really poor holes both turning hard against the natural tilt of the land and the 12th is additionally blighted by the trees on the inside corner of the dogleg. For those familiar with Augusta 14 think the same but with 20 yards of trees poking out of the high left corner of the tee shot.
There was way too much rough when we saw the course pre-job interview and the basic philosophy of getting rid of all the grass above fairway height has made for a better looking and playing course.

Like Karrinup the changes are not going to be anywhere near as dramatic as the work we are doing at Sun City and Bonnie Doon -both courses which were making almost no use of the brilliant land they occupied.
Rather the changes to the bunkers, the greens and the strategies are  small,subtle yet still significant. The short 4 7th hole, for example, will be much more interesting now there is a point to playing close to the bunkers as opposed to away from them.
The work should make a course where the quality of the architecture matches the quality of the experience of playing the course. Hopefully even those who don't look or see past the beauty of the site, the nice condition of the course and it's 'difficulty' will notice how the holes are both more fun and more interesting to play.
Of the work going on now on the front 9 the run from 4-6 should be much improved.

[Pat Burke]

As a tournament player back in the late '80's I played a tournament at Royal Canberra.

Often times in my life, I have been in a dark place about my career, and it is funny how many times
a very late day, finishing just before dark has turned a light back on.

One of those times was the practice round at Royal Canberra.  I honestly cannot remember what hole it
was, but I was carrying my bag, it was getting dark and I was playing alone.
It was perfect outside, with the only sounds being the outrageous bird calls from the trees.
As I played a fairly sharp dogleg left, I came around the corner, and the slope behind the green was covered with kangaroos.
I was having a great day already, but as an American, the fact that I had a kangaroo gallery just got me laughing like a fool by myself.
Maybe just noticing there is more going on the the 74s I was shooting was what it took, but RC made the latter part of my trip back then.

I hope everything turns out great, it has a special place in my heart...good luck!

[Mike_Clayton]

Pat

Sounds like the par 5 15th - always a dodgy tee shot when you have to hit a 2 iron or 3 wood off the tee to stop from running into the trees through the dogleg. Now, of course, the longest hitters just fly it across the trees and hit short irons to the green.
The following hole is beautiful as well as being the best on the course - and that corner of the course is always covered in kangaroos.

[Josh Stevens]

Are you pulling many trees out just for the sake of widening and letting in light?  HAvent been there for a few years, but last time was in winter and it was like playing at the bottom of a bloody canyon.  So dark and wet, no idea how the grass survived

[Mike_Clayton]

Josh

The 15th might be the darkest fairway in golf - so low and surrounded by pines.

Because the course was built in the arboretum it is tricky to get out some particular trees but mostly we can remove the ones negatively impacting the holes and the turf around the greens. Fortunately taking out the Radiata pines isn't a problem and they were culprits in a few places.

Of course a big part of the debate was about trees because everyone assumes we pull them out for fun, we love the arguments and 'Mike Clayton hates trees'
It would be a whole lot easier to not bring the trees up but if you want to improve poor holes like the 12th there is no other choice.

[Don Jordan]

Thanks for the comments Mike and Mike. The front nine will be great but I am really looking forward to the back nine, sorting out 12 is desperately needed the only holes that play worse are on 19-27, the 27th in particular. I think 13-16 has the potential to be one of the best stretch of holes in the country.

I think of 14 and 15 as a par 9, they are both 4.5 par with the prevailing wind, on Saturday in the medal round I hit Driver – 3 iron to both. The proposed changes to 14 will make it a far more strategic option. I know you say it is not great to have to hit fairway/hybrid of 15 but it is one of the few holes that you don’t pull driver on so it doesn’t bother me, 12 off the front tee and 21 the only others. I have always found driving at Royal a test of skill rather than strategy with no real choices.

I do respectfully disagree with your assessment of the 5th. I find the reverse camber dog leg brings the trees on the right into play, the closer you go to the trees the more you can take off. Since the rough has been cut down on the outside of the corner there is plenty of room to bail out. By straightening it out it could become a bit like the 10th where you have to land high on the fairway to hold it at all, at least with hitting fade into the slope and consequently around the dog leg you could counteract this, just my thoughts.

Paul – we are an easy drive down from Sydney (about three hours) throw in a trip to the war memorial and it is a nice overnighter

Pat – unfortunately the course is not really long enough for a men’s tournament anymore but we have hosted the women’s Australian Open recently which was great – there are still plenty of kangaroos around, even on a bad golf day it is still a really nice walk.

[Josh Stevens]

Any drainage work to be done as its a pure clay base and not a speck of sand within 50 miles.  Or is there enough undulation to let it run off. 

[Don Jordan]

Drainage is one of the key drivers of the master plan, just a few mm of rain would see the course close. We had far to many of these days and the greens and bunkers vould not handle it. The fairway grass also needs a lot of water on hot days to stop it from dying off. it go so farcical that we played lift clean and place in the womens Australian Open because they pumped so much water into the fairways to look after them, in some places it was even bubbling under the surface.

[Pat Burke]

Don,
Was a fun place, that left a great impression on me.

Hope it all goes well!