On Par – All about golf in Australia

Its Augusta with Gum trees! Be prepared for some high scores if your game is not to form when playing Brookwater, located south of Brisbane. Designed by Greg Norman who must have been in a particularly aggressive mood at the time, Brookwater winds its way up, down, across a series of dramatic ridges surrounded by tall, ever present gum trees, large bunkers and small, often narrow greens. The layout requires an accurate game, especially off the tee with placement often crucial to setup the next shot. The first five holes are awesome, right from the first tee you are faced with an undulating fairway, bunkering to narrow the approach zone, and huge gums on either side. This doesnt let up for the whole round, no open links holes here. And with the course spread over a large area, holes dont run side by side to give the big hook or slice a chance of hitting another fairway, just goes deeper into the gum trees.

2nd Hole – Trees everywhere, even in the fairway No cruisy start at Brookwater. After surviving the classic opening hole, the tee shot on the second needs to be long enough to bring the green into view and range, but also far enough left or right to bend around the set of gums that Norman left in the middle of the fairway! The green is very narrow with sand left and a creek right.

4th Hole – Take your breath away You need a good couple of minutes to size up the 4th hole. First impressions – “oh my god!” From the elevated tee you look down on a rolling fairway, well bunkered dropping to a plateau, and a hidden water crossing. The hole then rises up a ridge to an elevated green. At over 500 metres, the driver is required to get to the plateau, and set up the second. This is a true 3 shot par 5.

16th Hole – Start of a tough finish The 16th is a good short hole with water punishing anything left, trees and sand grab anything right. The undulating green played havoc with my average putting game.

17th Hole – Keep left A short but testing par 5 follows the contours of a hill with a creek running the entire length on the right. A good drive can take on the bunkers on the right, though the trees leap out and grab balls with a fraction too much fade! Second is all setup unless you are close enough to have a go, though with a very narrow green surrounded by serious amounts of sand and water to the right, good luck!

Looking back on the round, I really enjoyed the course. Its not a layout for the high handicapper or the weak hearted, unashamedly tough, a mid round lapse in concentration really hurt on the score card. The first five holes are amazing, so are the final three, the others are just really good! GPS on the carts mean that you always know where you stand with distances, free range balls mean that you should be warmed up by the time you get to the first.