South African Louis Oosthuizen was dominant in the 2010 British Open, he clearly handled the conditions and St Andrews course the best over the four days. Ooose won by 7 shots from Lee Westwood, and Rory McIlroy who will regret his shocker of a 2nd round. While it was a fine display of skill from the little known Oosthuizen and a major win, ratings and media coverage for the Open fell away as the lead grew. Unfortunately, a dominant sporting win can be boring. But this shouldnt take anything away from Oosthuizen, a seven shot win in a major is rare, just not as exciting as a duel down the 18th!

If I went around 18 holes with a score that was three times my age Id probably give the game away for a while! Rory McIlroy did just that today in the first round of the British Open at St Andrews, but he is only 21 and shot a remarkable 63. Other notable mentions include twitter favourite, John Daley on 6 under, and Tiger doing nicely on -5. Woods opened with a 66 at St Andrews in 2005 and went on to win comfortably, a lot has happened since then!

The early starters have had the better of the conditions, with afternoon winds likely to restrict the low scoring.

Check out all the live scoring at http://www.opengolf.com/

My colleague Nige and I had advanced through to the Second round of the Herald Sun Matchplay pairs tournament, last month we had won our First round matchup with a resounding 6&4. We were matched with Paul and Nick from Yarrambat, both single figure handicaps, it was going to be a tough game. Neutral venue selected was Waterford Valley. Unfortunately due to a lot of rain over the previous 24 hours, the emphasis was on ‘Water’, a lot of casual water, some more formal water and rather muddy conditions. Luckily though, the weather had cleared and it was game on.

Our challenge got tougher after the second hole with Paul sinking a birdie to go one up. I parred the next to get us back to even, and then we halved the next five holes in a very close contest. Nige was hitting the ball solidly, and my swing was really dialed in, the driver was on fire and my iron shots solid. A par on the 9th gave us a handy lead into the back nine. Then another par on the 11th and we were 2 up. Our opponents hit back on the 12th, with another birdie to Paul and then wins on 14th and 15th put them 1 up. Nick and I both nailed approaches to the 16th and putted out for pars. We then won the 17th to draw level. Again, Nick and I hit great shots into the tough 18th and putted out to halve the hole leaving us all square after 18.

With darkness approaching, we ventured on to play our 19th hole, the dogleg 10th. Nick hit into the rough and was out, leaving Paul, Nige and I on the faiway. Nige found the bunker, I hit one of my worst approaches for the day and left it short, Paul saved one of his best for last and his par was enough for victory. A great game played in good spirits, but a sour end for Nige and I coming so close, yet falling at the first playoff hole. (We had agreed that if we were tied after 2 playoff holes, it would be decided by sudden death puttoff!!)

The golf hole is the ultimate island green, forget the 17th at Sawgrass, the Lake Moonemere hole has a tee perched high on the bank of the lake with a very small pontoon with a landing area the size of a dinner table moored about 110 metres away in the middle of the Lake. The hole itself is generous, a bucket. The hole has been open for a year, and the prize for a hole in one, $500 worth of wine, is yet to go off.

Balls are $1 each, or as part of the Walkabout, 3 balls were provided for participants. We all had a go, most balls going into the water, though I did manage to land a shot on the pontoon, bouncing off into the water (no hold on the synthetic turf!). Winemaker Michael was kind enough to shout a bottle of Shiraz for hitting the target!

If you are in the Rutherglen area on a golf trip, or sampling the reds, stop in at Lake Moodemere and have a crack at one of the more unique golf holes in Australia!

For a start, Jamie and Mike have purchased a Dodge Ram Van to travel across America. A Van that is the classic badguys getaway van in bad 70s cop shows. Complete with Star Trek style interior seats, the lads are definitely travelling in style.

Puregolf have also teamed up with Loudmouth, made famous by John Daley, and more recently, the Norwegian Curling Team. Luckily they have the game to match these in-your-face golf pants, the lads are definitely walking the courses in style!

Keep up to date with Mike and Jamie on their blog. http://www.puregolf2010.com/

The rakes left out of the bunkers argument takes a glass half full/empty conversation, personally I think rakes should not be left out of bunkers as Ive seen a well hit drive miss a fairway bunker but hit a rake and bounce in, but others will argue that the same rake can deflect a ball away from said bunker. But rakes should stay in the bunker and not be left dropped randomly in the near vicinity of the sand which could include fairway, green, rough, water or drinks cart! Keep the rake in the hazard and away from my ball (which normally finds the sand of its own accord).

Rakes in or out? What do you think?

Played two man Ambrose this morning at the Growling Frog with Mick, Damian and Stewie, three guys who love their golf and love a laugh. Ambrose is always a fun format bringing in a team strategy to the often mentally solo game of golf. Pressure is off if your partner has hit a good shot allowing you to take a crack at a tough drive or low percantage approach, but it doubles if they hit a bad shot or miss a makeable putt. Mick and I shot a 66 leaving too many out on the course, I wasn’t much help closer to the greens with the short game failing again.

Caught up with the puregolf kiwi lads Jamie and Mike for a few beers after the game who played Growling Frog today, hosted by Ray, the club president and Simon from the club. Was also joined by Jerry, the Club President who had invited local press to speak to the Puregolf lads about their odyssey. Jamie and Mike were made to feel welcome by the Club, and recently blogged about their round. Jamie and Mike also took the competition win with a nett 60 for the day!

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

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

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.