Changes to 5 West at Royal Melbourne?

[Scott Warren]

I saw this on Twitter from one of the greenkeepers:

https://mobile.twitter.com/itsnotbarry/status/663609578538401792

Just a slight flattening in steep places per recent relay of 6 West green?

[Mark_F]

First the 6th hole, now the 5th - Mollica must have wished he joined Huntingdale all those years ago.

[Tom_Doak]

I took a picture yesterday of the green and approach stripped of grass with nearly twenty guys working on it.


The changes to the putting surface are smaller than what we did on #6 two years ago ... small enough that we did all of the work with flat shovels and no machines on the green.  Most of it was cutting out sand buildup from the bunkers at the edges [anywhere from 3-8 inches depending on the bunker], but we did also try to gain a bit more depth in the hole locations, basing our work on an RMIT topo map of the green from 1989.  I wish I had an earlier one, but you go with what you've got.


For those who don't know the history, of the 15+ courses that Dr. MacKenzie "worked on" during his six weeks  in Australia, 5 West was the only green that was built while he was here.  He suggested it as a sample, sort of like he'd done on the Gibraltar hole at Moortown, so that Alex Russell and Mick Morcom could work on the construction with him and get a real sense for the bunker style in 3-D.  Needless to say, Brian Slawnik and I have been pretty careful not to screw it up.

[Scott Warren]

Thanks Tom.

I've seen old pics of a back left pin that wouldn't have been feasible the past few years I don't reckon.

Sounds like this work may make that area more of an option for hole locations.

What others greens on the course could benefit from work to redress the effect of sand splash? I'm thinking maybe the RHS of 2, front of 3, RHS of 9, 13 and possibly RHS of 17?

I know the work on 6 West was very well received, and I'm sure this will be as well.

[Tom_Doak]

Thanks Tom.

I've seen old pics of a back left pin that wouldn't have been feasible the past few years I don't reckon.

Sounds like this work may make that area more of an option for hole locations.

I have seen the same picture, but we did not go that far.  It is hard to see how it would have worked, based on the rest of the information we have ... it's about 6% slope in that part of the green, and even steeper once you get off the back.  The "back left" hole location we worked on is actually more middle left.


For working on the greens there I always ask John Green, who wrote the history book, to come out and tell me how he remembers it.  He was club champ many years ago despite being a short hitter, so he really had to know the details of the course and what positions he had to avoid in order to save his pars.  In this case, though, he described a ridge through the back center of the green that was very severe ... if you were right when the pin was left, your putt would swing away and 35 feet down the slope.  No way the committee would let me put it back to that extreme, but we did make a more subtle ridge where the old one was.