[NAF]

I have found Tom Paul's ideal maintenance meld   and all he does is have to travel half way around the world to find it.  I am sitting here writing this in Melbourne after having played two rounds at Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath, Victoria, Metropolitan, Yarra Yarra as well as the National Moonah links (a course destined for the top 100!).  All I can say is I have never had more fun (outside of heathland in summer) playing golf.

Metropolitan had the best conditioning of all these courses (with Royal Mel right behind).  You could hit 240 yard 5 irons in spots of Metropolitan with perfect conditioning that would go 185 in the air and bounce the rest of the way with good control and land on the greens.  Almost every putting green there rolls true and perfectly.   One can play bump and run down here or any variation of shot and factor in roll and pitch which makes strategic thinking have just one more element.  The ground has this perfect shade of green and slight brown as the couch grass here is just coming out of dormancy but it is the perfect color for my kind of golf.   I would say the only course I have ever seen play like the Sandbelt is Woking this past summer.  There are some limitations to playing here though, if you are one who works excessive sidespin on your ball, you'll be off in the thicket or eucalyptus trees looking for you ball.  The fairways do amplify the effect of a hook or a slice and in some spots you'll never find a ball but that is the penalty for hitting a bad shot here..You won't be in the rough as at home.  That being said I didnt lose a ball at Kingston Heath or at Royal Melbourne twice.

Royal Melbourne is also in perfect shape and the greens are rolling about a 9/10.  Pick a line and you've never seen a truer putt go (unless you played ANGC).  Royal Mel is by far the most strategic of the courses I've played down here and the element of the perfect meld just adds to the fun of playing it.  Almost any shot is possible.

Kingston Heath is doing their aeration of fairways (they have a local word for it I can't remember) so the conditions were not as hard or fast as the others (despite a real yellow/brown tint to the fairways.  One odd thing about KH that the other courses have not had is watered down collars around the greens that are very green and slow down any approach shot, i.e. limited bump and run. There are also several swales in front of greens which along with the collars impinge on a bump and run type approach.  My friend Jim Reilly and I were unsure if we liked that type of MM but realize we were not playing the course under the best of conditions so it is hard to say.

The course we were really impressed with down here so far as a surprise is the National's Moonah links.  Ran has a great write up here but in all my travels I cannot see how this course is not top 75 in the world.  Great bunkering, conditioning and strategy.  It was a real treat to play.  The Bass strait nearby lends a freshening wind and the landscape is one that reminded me in parts of Prairie Dunes and Sand Hills.  It is a must play down here (thanks to Paul Daley for recommending it).

Wish I could go into more detail but it is sunny, 80 degrees here so time to go out and play more.   Still have Commonwealth on the agenda and hope to see that in fine shape.

NAF

[A_Clay_Man]

May i be the first to cringe with jealousy.

Just kidding Sounds like the way to live. As the book is titled "Follow the Sun".

[brad_miller]

NAF, can't wait for the pics, "go boy go"

[Debbie Stevens]

NAF:  Royal Sydney is the only course I have ever played where a player is encouraged to pull his/her trolley across the greens in order to save time.  How can the greens be so hard that they don't show wheel marks?  

The members at Australian clubs are the greatest.  I often showed up at clubs unannounced with no tee times, and members always asked me to join them for a round of golf!

[TEPaul]

I've said it before but should mention it again that although I've never been there it sounds to me like something very right is going on in Australia with their courses and ideal maintenance practices!

[A_Clay_Man]

I wonder if that isn't because of every aussie I ever met seemed to have a modicum of common sense. Juxtaposed to us Americans where it ain't so common.

[FORTSONATOR]

TEPaul,

For as long as I have been coming to this website I have never known what this "Maintenance Meld" thing is.  Could you either explain this to me or send me to the right topic so that I can understand what all of you are talking about?

Thanks,

Jeff F.

You can email it to me if you like at:

jfortson@hotmail.com

[TEPaul]

Jeff:

I'll see in a while if I can find one of the threads on the back pages that talk about it (maintenance meld) and bring it back to the top.

[Greg Ramsay]

Naffa, great to hear you finally got out here to enjoy the superlatives of the Sandbelt.  I wish you had played Portsea while you were down the Peninsula, it is a wonderful experience.

Hopefully you'll be around for long enough to spare a day to pop down to Tasmania and see Barnbougle.  Keep enjoying yourself and the golf courses

Greg Ramsay
www.barnbougledunes.com

[Chris Kane]

Greg,

Now that you mention it, have things progressed very far at Barnboulge since your last update?

[Greg Ramsay]

NAF, a point on your 240yard 5-irons, a lot of people feel that many of the Sandbelt courses are playing too short now b/c of the amazing run that the Santa Ana Couch grasses provide.  Great long 4's which used to be a drive to the corner and a nailed 4 iron are now a 3 iron through the corner and then an 8-iron, so i'm sure you can understand that some holes have suffered.  Santa Ana is also a very high input grass in comparison to the mix of grasses at Royal melbourne.  I believe the courses that still have a mix of winter grasses and then couch through the summer are pleased with the year round colour and conditioning.

Yes Chris things are progressing v.v.quickly.  I am currenty frantically working on my offer documents and expect them to be launched in the near future.  Reservations for Foundation Memberships have been fantastic.  Looking to start construction early next year and opening in December.

Greg Ramsay
www.barnbougledunes.com

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Noel

I must admit that your report of a 240-yard 5-iron (including 55 yards of roll ) made me wonder if this "maintenance meld" was really ideal.  We've played together, and unless you've been OD'ing on the Creatin over the past year and/or taking ball flight lessons from Gib Papazian, something's rotten in the State of Victoria!

All the best

Rich

PS--all you Oz-heads out there, well done on putting the Poms/Auld Enemy in their place today at the Gabba!

[Mike Clayton]

Debbie Stevens
In Melbourne they get mad at youy if you dont wheel the buggy across the green. Nobody goes across the same part and its much better than everybody going around the same edge and killing the grass -which is what happens on the few courses that dont do it.

I'm a member at Metropolitan and i'm not sure its so great that you can run it onto the greens from 55 yards short.The bounce is so predictable and the grass so perfect there isn't much element of judgment to it and basically it lets the members hit a lot of skanky shots that finish up on the greens.
The greens are generally much more receptive than the other courses so the play generally is to fly the ball all the way to the green.
And as Greg says the course is so much shorter,especially in the winter, than it used to be because it runs so far.It used to really change character from dry and fast in the summer to long and softer in the winter .Royal Melbourne is the only club to have stayed with poa fairways in the winter and consequently its the only course that enjoys that character change and I think its better for it.
Running it onto 4,8 and 14 is always fun though.
Certainly there is so much more variety of shot around the greens at all these courses just because there is no long grass around them.
To us its very curious the way you Americans have so much long grass around the greens.

Rich
Just how bad are those Pommy poofters at cricket?

[D. Kilfara]

As a diehard fan of England cricket...well, I should probably stop there before anyone laughs at me. Suffice it to say, I'm glad I turned in early for once last night!

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Mike

The Poms aren't that bad, it's just you guys are too good.  All that athleticiscm and dedication.  Why, it's just not cricket!  I think you Aussies ought to just give up the game now that you've perfected it, just like Bobby Jones did with golf.  Give the rest of the world a chance!

BTW, I'm assuming your comment about running pull carts across greens was for real.  I never would have thought of it, but it now seems so obvious.  I've seen too many cases of holes that have had large patches of worn turf around the greens just because the conventional wisdom is to guide players along narrow pathways, all too often between greens and bunkers.  Any well prepared sand based green ought to be able to stand up to wide wheeled pull carts, shouldn't it?

[RJ_Daley]

This maintenance meld commentary on turf practices down in OZ is always inspiring to read when yet another of the die hard faithfull makes the pilgrimage down under and sees the light.  

Tom Paul and Adam speculate why it is that the Aussies seem to have this common sense and sporting attitude when it comes to their preferences for their type of games and fields of play.  I have never been there, but in observing from afar, I believe it has to do with their more homogeneous cultural make-up.  They seem to be more ruggedly and rustically oriented in the manner of American Wild West cultures of 50+ years ago.  They have the benefit of a great climate to promote the immediate enjoyment of their great outdoors, and a high adventure/energy level to go out there and "just do it".  They don't seem to have much time for the dilletentes that get all hung up on artistic appearances of their golf properties and the status of who lives near/on them.  While they pay homage to the architects of their great courses, I don't think it is a high society trademark or trophy to them, it is just respect for a good craftsman who did a great job.  And they seem more interested in playing than being seen playing...

As for that cart pulling across the green, I think it starts with the fact that everyone carries or pulls the cart, NOT RIDE in a darn motorized contraption.  It is really time that the GCSAA get busy and promote this practice and start saving their green collars.

Noel and Jim, are you two writing a journal on your on-going golf and pub travels to be published at some future date?  If it becomes a movie, what rating will it get?    

[Eric Pevoto]

This month's Golf Digest had an interview with Stuart Appleby and in it he spoke to what RJ Daley said about status in Oz.  

Appleby said something to the effect that in America if the teaching pro drives up in fancy, luxury car the student is impressed and thinks, "this guy must know what he's doing."  In Australia, the students thinks, "this guy must be charging me too much."  Pretty funny.

I also agree that the sporting attitude is key to those playing conditions.  I too wish there was more of it here in the States.  Maybe a little more humor about the game, as well.

[Ken_Cotner]

NAF, a point on your 240yard 5-irons, a lot of people feel that many of the Sandbelt courses are playing too short now b/c of the amazing run that the Santa Ana Couch grasses provide.  Great long 4's which used to be a drive to the corner and a nailed 4 iron are now a 3 iron through the corner and then an 8-iron, so i'm sure you can understand that some holes have suffered.  

Greg and other Oz-ers,
Are the Sandbelt courses playing that much shorter simply due to the equipment and balls, or has something changed with respect to turf and maintenance?

Speaking of cricket (of which I know zip), I was listening to a collection from one of my favorite songwriters, Paul Kelly from Oz (Melbourne I think).  There was a nice one which was an homage to a man named Bradman, apparently a cricket star from the 30's.  Was there such a guy?

Ken

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Vis a vis "Was there such a guy?" ( as Bradman).

Ozmen, I'm not going to play that ball., even though I could hit it for a six.

[Paul_Turner]

Bradman?  Never 'eard of im!

Us poms losing at cricket is a wonderful tradition, I love it, life just wouldn't be the same if it ever changed.  

You can pull your trolley over the greens at Pacific Dunes, for the same reasons.

[TEPaul]

Apropos of what Eric said about Appleby's statement above, my Dad (who was in the golf business) used to say the professional shouldn't drive around in a car that was grander than the members--and I mean he used to say that all the time. In his way he thought that idea was looking out for the employment status of the professionals almost every single one of which he knew.

I had a lot of respect for my Dad and many of the things he said but I don't think that oft-quoted remark was one of them!

Otherwise Walter Hagen never would have been the break through professional he was in many ways--like the Rolls Royce or whatever that was he was chauffered around in!

And that would also mean if Terry Hertzog at Gulph Mills had to downplay his mode of transportation below the typical member he might have to ride around on a bicycle and clearly that would not be very convenient otherwise for Terry.

[Chris Kane]

Ken,

I'd say the sandbelt courses are playing a lot shorter: with the equipment being the primary reason.  For example, Royal Melbourne's 18East (final hole on the composite course) is being approached with wedges and short-irons now, rather than the mid-irons they were hitting maybe a decade ago.

I don't believe that the "maintenance meld" has really changed over time, the courses have always played firm and fast.  This type of conditioning has become the expectation, which is a good thing.

If anything, the danger these days is for the maintenance meld to go the other way, in the quest for GREEN.  I hear it from people all the time "the course will look better with some rain, then the colours will be right".  It's got to be the Augusta Syndrome.  A shame, because surely a light-green/brownish appearance looks better than a bright unnatural green, especially in the summer.

Bradman?  Greatest cricketer who ever lived: equivalent of Michael Jordon.  He played from 1930-48.    

 

[Mike Clayton]

Ken
The balls and equipment have made a huge difference but the santa-ana couch has meant the ball does run further than it used to.
The Open at Victoria will be very interesting next week. The greens are going to be seriously hard and fast. I played 9 holes with Geoff Ogilvy -60 something on the US Tour this year and one of our best young players- and it is ridiculous how far he hits it.
With the mearest of helping wind on the third he hit and 80 yard sand iron into he 440 yard hole.At the 18th -500 yard par 5 - Driver 9 iron.
Insanity.
Every year he says he has got 10 to 15 yards longer and like most of us he completly despairs at the inability of those who are supposed to be in charge of the game to do anything about it.
Here is a question
John Sloan,one of my design partners ,is in charge of the course set-up for the Open.
The first is a short par four -260 yards- with a relativly small green that is as hard as the other 17 on the course.
The AGU have decided the hole ought to play as a 200 yard par three but there is a deep bunker guarding the front left and a not insignificant bank at the front right that makes it difficult in the extreme to run the ball on.
Slightly downwind last night Ogilvy hit a huge high soft bomb with a 6 iron that landed in the front third of the green and still never looked like staying on.
The question is Do you make the green softer than all the rest so the hole -which is sure to attract a deal of justifiable criticism anyway- is more playable than it is now?
Into the wind it is fine but the most likely wind is from behind.

Bradman?
A God in the world of cricket. He averaged 99.9 per innings when the next best in the games history is about 62.
2 handicap at golf as well.

[Ken_Cotner]

Ken,

I'd say the sandbelt courses are playing a lot shorter: with the equipment being the primary reason.  For example, Royal Melbourne's 18East (final hole on the composite course) is being approached with wedges and short-irons now, rather than the mid-irons they were hitting maybe a decade ago.

I don't believe that the "maintenance meld" has really changed over time, the courses have always played firm and fast.  This type of conditioning has become the expectation, which is a good thing.

If anything, the danger these days is for the maintenance meld to go the other way, in the quest for GREEN.  I hear it from people all the time "the course will look better with some rain, then the colours will be right".  It's got to be the Augusta Syndrome.  A shame, because surely a light-green/brownish appearance looks better than a bright unnatural green, especially in the summer.

Chris, thanks.  Interesting how it seems to be debatable whether firm & fast makes a course easier or harder.  Case-by-case basis, I'm sure.  I like it!

Bradman?  Greatest cricketer who ever lived: equivalent of Michael Jordon.  He played from 1930-48.    

Ah, now I get it.  Kelly's song namechecks a few other guys, some of whom I gather were Aussies, maybe 1 Brit.  I think I read that Bradman heard the song and made a somewhat wry comment about it not being too awful!

[Chris Kane]

Here is a question
John Sloan,one of my design partners ,is in charge of the course set-up for the Open.
The first is a short par four -260 yards- with a relativly small green that is as hard as the other 17 on the course.
The AGU have decided the hole ought to play as a 200 yard par three but there is a deep bunker guarding the front left and a not insignificant bank at the front right that makes it difficult in the extreme to run the ball on.
Slightly downwind last night Ogilvy hit a huge high soft bomb with a 6 iron that landed in the front third of the green and still never looked like staying on.
The question is Do you make the green softer than all the rest so the hole -which is sure to attract a deal of justifiable criticism anyway- is more playable than it is now?
Into the wind it is fine but the most likely wind is from behind.

Mike,

I'd say leave it as it is: with a rock solid green.  When there's absolute mayhem on each day of the tournament, with players taking so much time to finish the hole, maybe the AGU will actually realise that it made a mistake!

If holes like 18 are really beaten (ie. averaging around 4 or less), I hope the members don't take it to heart.  It's a reflection of technology, not the golf course.

Interested to see Craig Parry interviewed on TV last night, saying that the technology has "improved the game".  I guess we all see it differently.

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