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Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« on: May 10, 2018, 02:34:45 PM »

By way of a test of this new BBCode link thingy from Flickr, here’s the start of a few things ‘Australian’:
The excitement and anticipation of about twenty years is about to be fulfilled...


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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Jason Topp

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2018, 03:44:27 PM »
Keep us updated.  Very excited for you!
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Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2018, 04:09:36 PM »
Quote from: Jason Topp on May 10, 2018, 03:44:27 PM
Keep us updated.  Very excited for you!


J,
All happened about three weeks ago now. Just getting round to posting some thoughts on the trip...
Cheers,
M.
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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2018, 05:04:25 PM »
I quite enjoyed the very gentlemanly gentle handshake of the first hole. Quietly understated, not giving too much away of what’s to come...

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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2018, 05:08:14 PM »
...although what’s cool about that pic, is that there is a nice little hint of the detail of the idea of transition from fairway, through light rough and sand to ‘bush’. That was neat.
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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2018, 05:19:19 PM »
...and then we arrive at tee 2 (no, don’t worry, I’m not going to post every shot - that would break the interweb!). The first evidence of what is going to be the single overarching theme of RMGC - the exquisitely bunkered internal corner of a dogleg. Not to say there isn’t a multitude of other wondrous bunkering, but this is so obviously a constant, we should call it KbRM

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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2018, 05:26:47 PM »
...and if, by some freak chance, your ball happens to find said bunkers, then, despite the shot penalty, you still have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enjoy the delicious agony of their shaping and detail. Yes, that’s my ball. I, ehm, deliberately put it there, of course...

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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Jeff Schley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2018, 08:16:49 AM »
more more..... I can tell this will be one of my favorite threads!
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"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice your gifts."
- Steve Prefontaine

Peter Flory

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2018, 01:34:38 PM »
I really love the look of that region.  I think that besides the mix of greens and browns, it is the density and sort of the bulkiness of the vegetation.  Those don't look like trees that are 90% air. 
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Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #9 on: May 11, 2018, 02:02:03 PM »
...around the corner to the green with those bunkers. I’m completely infatuated with that detail!

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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #10 on: May 11, 2018, 02:03:52 PM »
...so infatuated, I had to get closer...

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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #11 on: May 11, 2018, 02:07:43 PM »
Then came one of the finest ‘greenscapes’ - in terms of landscape integration, if nothing else! - it has ever been my pleasure to witness...

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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Jerry Kluger

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #12 on: May 11, 2018, 02:36:02 PM »
You can definitely see the influence on some of today's golf course architects - I mean this in a very positive way.
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Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #13 on: May 11, 2018, 03:34:21 PM »
And then you step off that green to be confronted by - well, words, for once, fail me.

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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #14 on: May 11, 2018, 03:36:47 PM »
Of course words don’t fail me!


This is right up there with CPC15 as one of the most exciting/enlightening/engaging par3s I’ve been lucky enough to see. Almost made the whole trip to Oz worthwhile on its own!
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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +2/-1
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #15 on: May 11, 2018, 04:31:20 PM »
Quote from: Jerry Kluger on May 11, 2018, 02:36:02 PM
You can definitely see the influence on some of today's golf course architects - I mean this in a very positive way.


Oh, heck yeah.  When I was struggling how to build 3-D bunkers in the middle of building High Pointe, I made my first trip to the sand belt, in March of 1988.  And I've taken a lot of the guys who have built a lot of those bunkers (for me, and for others) in the years since.


I also had the honor of rebuilding those bunker edges in Marty's last photo, two years ago.  They were so built up (from years of bunker play and wind erosion) that you couldn't cut a hole anywhere near the bunkers!  The 5th is the only hole Alister MacKenzie built in his time in Australia, to show Alex Russell and Mick Morcom what he had in mind.  They were quick students! 😀
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Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #16 on: May 11, 2018, 04:46:43 PM »
Marty,


Does the green surface in that last pic extend to what looks to be 8-10 feet lower than the upper portion? If so thats quite the elevation differential like Pasa 16 or a few Jim Engh greens I've seen.
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Peter Pallotta

Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #17 on: May 11, 2018, 04:51:57 PM »
Thank you, Marty - and needless to say I'm happy for you.

In my neck of the woods, when I was a youngster, there was a commercial for "Red Rose" tea that had an elegantly dressed older couple from the upper crust of British society having tea and being very impressed by the quality/taste, and the tag-line was:

"Only in Canada, you say? Pity".

The specific weather, turf, sand, space, and sky -- no golf course in my neck of the woods (and quite a ways beyond) can possibly have such an ideal confluence of (golf-perfect) factors...   

"Only in Australia, you say? Pity".
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Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #18 on: May 11, 2018, 04:55:25 PM »
Kalen,
Maybe not 8-10, but certainly 6-8. Sure some of the locals could chime in more exactly. In addition to the false front and the big seaswell roll of ground down into the hollow, it’s a wonderful beast. I was a hair short from the tee and ended up down there, bottom left. My chip failed to achieve the necessary level and rolled back down, PAST ME, to leave an even longer third...still loved it!
 ;D


Peter,
Book the flight tomorrow. Those Aussie boys are great hosts!
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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #19 on: May 11, 2018, 05:11:51 PM »
A particular touch of genius is the use of scaled bunker groups to, ehm, ‘mess’, with your head.
Look at these groups marching off into the distance but looking like they’re all way closer to each other than they actually are...have to think this was the subject of a MacK memo!

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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Peter Pallotta

Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #20 on: May 11, 2018, 05:14:49 PM »
Not likely in this lifetime, Marty. Not complaining - fine with experiencing it vicariously and pleased that my friends have the chance. More just meant that, with the golf-y qualities/factors that Australia and Scotland (and maybe Nebraska and Oregon) enjoy, it's amazing that any course from the north-east United States can crack the world's Top 20 list
P
« Last Edit: May 11, 2018, 05:16:50 PM by Peter Pallotta »
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Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #21 on: May 11, 2018, 05:23:16 PM »

P,
It was super-special and I’m very grateful that I could make it happen. Been a long term dream. Agree though that there is an amazing abundance of golf courses worth visiting around the world. There’s places I’m sure I’ll never get to either. Oregon is on my wish-list, but I can’t see it happening soon.


Back to the tour...Is this final proof that MacK bunkers often reflect cloud shadows?
 ;D

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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #22 on: May 11, 2018, 05:48:00 PM »
And then revel in the quality of this. Those edges, the variety of edge treatments, the interaction between green and bunker distances. Flashed up faces, but still plenty of flattish bunker floor. Look at the different tilts of those little fingers. Some down, some up. Just oozes a message that someone has taken a lot of care to detail small features. Gives me goosebumps.
To me, this is everything Golf Course Architecture is - or at least should try to be.

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The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Rob Rigg

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #23 on: May 12, 2018, 12:36:58 AM »
The Sandbelt is quite simply golf nirvana - So much quality.

Enjoy Marty!

Very much enjoying living vicariously through your pics and commentary - brilliant!
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Mike_Clayton

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Royal Melbourne: Remain Calm!
« Reply #24 on: May 12, 2018, 03:04:29 AM »
Marty,


Even though it's really obvious and even though I've played countless rounds here since my first in 1974 it took until a few weeks ago for someone to point out the bunkers between 8w and 1e (post #19) serve holes on two seperate courses - west and east - and to ask if it's something unique in the game.


Anyone think of any others?
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