On Par – All about golf in Australia

Finally, Tiger has announced that he will return to competitive golf for the first time since the infamous car crash and resulting revelations at the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in April.

On his website Tiger writes: “The Masters is where I won my first major, and I view this tournament with great respect. After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I’m ready to start my season at Augusta. The major championships have always been a special focus in my career and, as a professional, I think Augusta is where I need to be, even though it’s been awhile since I last played.”

So who will be looking forward to his return, and who wont? Opponents: The rest of the PGATour field wont be that happy that Tiger is back, there has been an extra spot in the top 10 of tournaments recently and no Tiger effect on the back nine of the final round. However they will be happy with the extra patronage, viewership which leads to more sponsors and richer purses!

Media: The media will be jumping out of their socks. Media will outnumber spectators at the Masters, watching Tigers every move, pity the golfers paired with Tiger in the first round, the atmosphere on the first tee will be electric.

Broadcasters: The Masters could be the most watched golf tournament in history, Broadcasters will be VERY happy. The Masters will also be broadcast in 3D for the first time ever!

PGATour: Tournament Patronage has been down 20% since Tiger started his exile, PGA Tour and golf in general needs Tiger to be on the course not the gossip mags.

Bookies: Have already installed Tiger as favourite for the Masters. Time will tell if the whole incident, excessive media, possible negative crowd have an impact on his game. Will we see calm, relaxed Tiger or frustrated, angry Tiger

Good luck Tiger, good to see you back doing what you do best, playing golf.

Jamie and Mike head up the 18th fairway at Sandhurst Club, their 73rd consecutive game this year.

Joined Jamie and Mike again at Sandhurst Club as they continue their epic trip around the globe playing golf every day during 2010, a year of Sundays!
Yesterday they had tackled the National Old course, a layout with many changes in elevation, undulation, killer rough and superb views. Sandhurst is a Thomson design resort layout, much tamer than the National. We played the Champions layout. Weather was super, Jamie took out the split 6s comp with 5 birdies in his round, his win for the day over Mike meant he is the blogger for the round! My game was good, tee to green pretty consistent carding 44,40 for an 84.
Jamie and Mike are about to play a week of Sandbelt courses, likely to be one of the best weeks of their trip, where every day is a great day for golf! Keep an eye out for them on Channel 7s Sunrise program this week and keep progress of the trip on their blog

Played yesterday with Jamie and Michael, two Kiwi golfers who are playing a round of golf every day for 2010. They are travelling the world playing some of the worlds best courses and raising money for a NZ based junior golf program – First tee of New Zealand. Had an enjoyable round playing Moonah Links Legends course and finding out more about their awesome golfing adventure. This was their 67th consecutive round of golf and they are holding up remarkably well so far, and playing some good golf! The previous two days had included massive storms so we were very lucky with the weather, though Jamie and Michael probably have a closer connection to the golfing gods than many of us!

Both guys have ditched their day jobs, left their girlfriends at home (the hardest part of the trip) and embarked on the ultimate blokes golf trip. Most of the golf has been sponsored by the courses, and the rest of the trip is on a shoestring making the most of contacts, networks and human spirit. For Jamie and Mike, its all about the experience, the people they meet along the way, the stories, and of course the golf, which by the way is 6,570 holes of golf and if they play to handicap, an astonishing 525,600 shots, give or take a few!!!! The guys plan to write a book when they return, will be worth the read.

Check out their site – http://www.puregolf2010.com/. Our round is summarised in their blog.

Jamie and Mike – Moonah Links

Driving on the 14th hole at Moonah Links Legends

Video review compiled by Jamie and Mike of their Moonah Links rounds

GPS and Golf
Golfers are constantly looking for something that can help the game and save a couple of shots here and there. Over the last couple of years, Golf GPS systems and software have become more widely available. Basically, a golf GPS device or mobile application uses preset points to give the club/casual golfer the type of information that a professional has access to via their caddy’s notebook. Distance from ball to carry hazards, to centre of green etc. That can be golden advise to the golfer, and can definitely save a couple of shots if used well.

Sureshot GPS 8850 Review
I was lucky enought to get a Sureshot GPS 8850 for Christmas. This compact handheld golf GPS device can store up to 100 course layout details providing distance details to hazards and front, centre and back of greens. The device can also measure driving distance, and record stats during the round including score, putts, greens in regulation, fairways hit and sand saves. The Sureshot GPS 8850 comes packages with USB cable to download courses, charger, clip and protective cover.

Road Test
Course details are downloaded from the Sureshot website to the device. Coverage for Australian courses is excellent, I havent found a course Ive played yet that wasnt available. There are over 14,000 courses available worldwide. Of note, although the device can hold up to 100 courses, only 3 courses can be downloaded initially. A Sureshot Membership needs to be purchased to download more courses, this can cost between $30 to $100 annually. This is essential if you plan on playing more than 3 courses!

On course, the Sureshot GPS 8850 is easy to use, and very accurate*. On the tee, the display can show up to 15 hazards including bunkers, water, mounds etc noting distance to and carry for each hazard, the display also shows distance to front, middle and back of each green. The device can then be read from anywhere on the hole providing distances to hazards and green. Ive found that approach shot distances are extremely helpful, particularly on deceptive distances.

The statistics are a nice to have, but generally I have been just saving my score and not worrying about the additional stats. These details can all be downloaded as a spreadsheet after the round.

• A note on accuracy – The distances are only as good as the initial course measurement. Each distance to hazard and green is initially manually entered, Ive noted a number of holes where hazards havent been included at all. The Sureshot website clearly notes whether a course has been professionally measured or player mapped. In some cases, a player mapped course may be better as the player has spent more times adding hazards and reference points.

Competitions
The use of measuring devices has historically been illegal in golf competition, even though detailed yardage guides and manual distance notes could be used. Recent changes in the rules of golf by the R&A now allows the use of Golf GPS devices whilst playing in competitions, providing a Local Rule has been approved by individual Golf Clubs. The measuring device can measure distance only and must not be able to measure other conditions such as wind speed or direction, slope of the ground or temperature. This therefore allows GPS devices and mobile golf GPS applications.

So ensure you check with the local club rules before playing competition with a GPS. My local club, the Growling Frog Golf Club has a local rule allowing GPS devices in all competitions except for Monthly medal.

The word
The Sureshot GPS 8850 is a good golf GPS device, the battery life is more than enough for 36 holes of golf, distances are accurate and the GPS connectivity is very good. The device is also very robust, Ive dropped it a couple of times, and in an extreme road test, had it bounce out of a golf cart and then driven over by the cart, apart from a small scratch, the Sureshot kept working!!! There should be no problem finding the course you need to play, especially in Australia. The GPS unit is an allowable aide and any assistance to the game of golf is worth taking!

As I recently blogged, two Kiwi golfers are currently working their way around the globe playing a round of golf, every day for the entire year. An epic adventure, and one that will turn many golfers green with envy. They are currently playing their way through the Mornington Peninsula, then Melbourne’s sandbelt and West along the Great Ocean Road. Im planning on joining Jamie and Michael at Moonah Links, it will be their 67th round of golf for the year, it will be my 8th round of golf!!!

Here is their amazing schedule for March alone! Check out their site for more details.

1 March – Eagle Ridge

2 March – RACV Cape Shank

3 March – Rosebud CC

4 March – Rosebud CC

5 March – St Andrews Beach

6 March – The National

7 March – Moonah Links

8 March – Moonah Links

9 March – Flinders (TBC)

10 March – Portsea

11 March – Sorrento

12 March – The Dunes

13 March – The National

14 March – Sandhurst

15 March – Mornington

16 March – Woodlands

17 March – Yarra Yarra

18 March – Huntingdale

19 March – Victoria

20 March – Growling Frog

21 March – Kingston Heath

22 March – Royal Melbourne (East)

23 March – Southern

24 March – Commonwealth

25 March – 13th Beach

26 March – 13th Beach

27 March – Port Fairy (TBC)

28 March – Millicent (TBC)

29 March – The Grange

30 March – Glenelg

31 March – Royal Adelaide

Is this the ultimate golfing challenge? Two kiwi golfers are on their way around the world aiming to play a round of golf every day for the entire year. Now thats a seriously impressive challenge. Jamie and Michael started their trek on January 1st playing Kauri Cliffs and if all goes well, they will play their final round on 31 December at Cape Kidnappers. In between they will travel and play golf through Australia, USA, UK, Europe, UAE and Asia. All that golf must be starting to pay off, they played Cape Schank on the Mornington Peninsula today, Michael carded back to back eagles on the 9th and 10th holes!

The guys are also raising money during their adventure for The First Tee of New Zealand. The First tee is a New Zealand based junior golf program.

Check out their progress on their website, http://puregolf2010.com and you can follow them on twitter and Facebook

Played Saturday competition at the Growling Frog Golf Club, shot 31 points with the short game lacking consistency. Then had a lesson with the local professional Wayne Rogers.

Some of the swing thoughts from the lesson include: * Relax! * Relax the leading forearm through impact. My swing has a tendancy to tense up the forearms leading to inconsistent shot making and turning the club over instead of swing through the shot * At one stage I was hitting with a club with some medievel torture device attached, it was in reality a swing guide, aimed at ensuring the arm was in the correct spot in backswing and follow through. It clearly showed that I was turning the club too far in the follow through. Relaxing helped! * Keep down through the shot, have a tendancy to lift up on some shots

This explains the tendancy for me to hook the crap out of my hybrid! The Taylor Made Hybrid I have is built for the common garden variety slicer, so has draw bias. So hitting it with hook just enhances the draw and creates the huge hooks. Relaxing the forearm and hitting through the ball lost the hook and straightened up the hybrid. (So maybe I dont need a new one!)

The latest edition of Australian Golf Digest arrived in my mailbox this week, and there were no surprises to learn that Kingston Heath had indeed knocked off Royal Melbourne for top spot in the Top 100 courses in Australia. Kingston Heath narrowly beat New South Wales Golf Club, with Royal Melbourne West, Barnbougle and Ellerston rounding out the Top 5.

Kingston Heath – Australia’s new number one course

The Top 100 listing is always going to be subjective but provides a strong comparison of the best courses in the country and generally is pretty spot on. A couple of issues that the list raises:

To Composite or not to composite
This year AGD ranked Royal Melbourne seperately rather than as the composite course. This is the way it should do, as for 99.9% of the time it has two courses – the East and West. Only during professional tournaments, and a charity event once a year does the composite course exist.

Out of bounds
Ellerston is ranked at number five in the country, a fine course it must be, but who would know. The private Packer course is one of the most exclusive courses in the country, typically 6 people play the layout per week. Should it be in the list of best courses if no-one can play it?
Conditioning v Layout
One of the reasons that Royal Melbourne suffered was its conditioning, the drought has taken a toll on the course much more so than other sandbelt clubs. The AGD rankings however weight ’shot value’ twice as important as design variety, memorability and conditioning. So an excellent layout testing accuracy and finesse that loses condition, will still rank higher than an ordinary layout that is brilliantly conditioned. Hence Laguna Whitsunday is still in the top 100. Laguna is in a sad state at the moment, and has fallen 32 spots to 53rd. But is this still too generous, it is still an excellent layout, but I would not go back until its had a lot of TLC!

Access
Australia is lucky to have public access to many of its top golf courses, such as #4 ranked Barnbougle Dunes which also ranks in the Top 100 in the World. Its also good to see St Andrews Beach on the Mornington Peninsula ranked at #32. For a while there it looked as though this links layout would cease to exist but thankfully its back and is open to the public.

Victoria is the place to be
With more than half of the top 40 courses in Victoria (21), 10 of the Top 100 in the sandbelt and a further 9 on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria has again proven its place as Australia’s golfing Mecca.

For the record
I’m lucky enough to have played 49 of the Top 100 courses in the country including the 6 of the top 10. Having played Kingston Heath late last year, I completely agree with the top ranking.

Plenty Views Golf Park located in Plenty in Melbournes North East used to be a busy driving range on weekends, most bays were full with all types of swings on display, the driver being the most used club. The driving range also has a great cafe with wood fired pizza and work had been underway to finish a bar area as well

That was all until last year when new neighbours moved in, and took offence to the number of golf balls landing in their backyard (well away from the house!), buyer beware you would think. However the buyer took the owners of the driving range to court, and won!

Suddenly the whole business plan for the driving range was thrown on its head, unable to allow balls to be hit next door, they have turned the range into a short game target golf range, and are also adding a Zorb park (those huge balls that you climb inside and roll down the hill

We took our kids and a handful of short irons to have a hit, the kids loved the short game targets, however the owner said that 90% of golfers were walking away as they couldnt hit drivers! So he is now targetting familys and kids in a dramatic change of customer, thanks to the new neighbours! Hopefully it all works out, or the neighbours move on!

Plenty Views Golf Park and ‘Sfear factor‘ Zorbing is located at 206 Yan Yean Road, Plenty.

Steve Keipert, Editor of Australian Golf Digest (definitely worth a read) was interviewed recently on “The Pro Shop”, a weekly locally produced golf show on OneHD (definitely worth a look). Steve was discussing the bi-annual ranking of the Top 100 Australian Golf Courses. The Top 100 ranking like any other ranking is always going to be subjective, but at the same time is a great comparison and snapshot of the world class courses throughout Australia, and is always a topic of discussion.

Steve didnt give away the number one spot which will be announced in the March 2010 issue of Australian Golf Digest, but did note that it wont be Royal Melbourne for the first time since they started ranking courses. This is likely to be a result of the course being ranked as two layouts (East and West) for the first time rather than as the Composite and courses like Kingston Heath and NSW getting additional work and conditioning due to hosting key tournaments.

I would put my money on Kingston Heath to take the Number one ranking, its a classic sandbelt layout requiring plenty of thought on all shots, exquisite bunkering and can be tamed but will also tame. Kingston Heath will have plenty of competition from New South Wales, host of the 2009 Australian Open and even Barnbougle Dunes, the Doak designed links layout in Northern Tasmania. Word is that the new Crenshaw design course, the Lost Farm at Barnbougle is due to open in October 2010 and when matured will be even better than the current layout and will also threaten the top spot!

It will also be interesting to see what happens to some of the other courses in the Top 100, Laguna Whitsundays was listed at 21 in 2008, but when I played there in January 2009 it was in very poor condition and whilst the layout is still superb it didnt rates as a Top 100 course.

The March Issue of Australian Golf Digest will be out in the next week or so.