On Par – All about golf in Australia

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.

Played St Andrews Beach Golf course on the Mornington Peninsula recently with Scott and Anthony, and its well worth a visit. The Tom Doak designed Gunnamatta layout opened in late 2005 and was planned as an exclusive private 36 hole layout. The second course (Fingle) was to be added over the next year or so. Played the course just after it opened and was impressed with the layout and condition. Australian Golf Digest ranked the layout at 30 in the 2006 top 100 courses in Australia.

Unfortunately the ambitious project struggled, land sales and memberships didnt meet targets and the course eventually fell into receivership and closed. Thankfully a consortium of saviours reopened the course in October 2009. The following information from the website explains the current situation: “Since reopening in October as a result of the demise of the former ownership structure, much has happened and whilst we have a long way to go in changing this once exclusive and private golf club into one of Australia’s premiere pay to play venues, some major hurdles have been overcome.

For the record, Golf Services Management P/L, has a 3 year management contract to operate the golf activities as a pay to play venue and has no connection or association with the former company Golf Club Properties P/L whatsoever. The maintenance is carried out by The Golf Course Company P/L.”

Thankfully the course is still well and truly playable, the greens are excellent and the fairways are still in great condition. Id recommend packing the clubs into the car with a couple of fellow golfers and playing St Andrews, and a word of advice, if its hot, or you arent feeling too energetic, grab a cart as its a fairly tough walk! Review to follow soon.

This echidna wasnt happy with golfers intruding on its space on the 10th fairway

Stayed at Inverloch in South Gippsland (2 hours from Melbourne) over the Australia Day Long Weekend. Packed the clubs (of course) and played nearby Leongatha Golf Club with Jack and Kim, and the two boys. Leongatha is an excellent country course, heavily treed, undulating and great condition. The course winds over a large hill, with many dogleg holes, blind tee shots and changes of direction, The two boys played nine holes, we continued on for the full 18. The game itself fell away from the career best form at Moonah Links, and much like the Echidna above, turned spikey. So got frustrated early, then combined with poor shot selection on a course that needs thought and local knowledge, the score ballooned. Nonetheless, and enjoyable morning of golf.

Leongatha can be added to the official “Hidden Gems” list, definitely recommend if in the area

Had a quick short game lesson with pro Kevin at Albert Park with Rob.
Problem: stance too open, too much wrist. Lead to inconsistent distance, decellerating downswing, fat, thin, in short, a mess!
Solution: straight stance, swing with shoulders/arms, min wrist, 70% weight on left. Move ball fwd in stance for higher flight.

Overview
Moonah Links Legends Course is part of Melbourne’s golfing Mecca on the Mornington Peninsula. The sister to the Moonah Links Open Course, Legends has quickly developed a strong reputation as one of the best layouts in the country. In 2008 the Australian Golf Digest Top Australian Courses ranked the Legends course at 14th, the Australian Golf Course Guide ranks the layout as the 2nd best public access course in the country behind Barnbougle Dunes, high praise indeed.

The par 3 5th Hole

The Layout
I agree with the rankings, the Moonah Links Legends course is a great layout. The variety of shots that are required, the change in landscape, the bunkering and many risk and reward opportunities makes this a tough but fair course. Designer Ross Perrett states “The course is a loop of 18 holes that generally follow the valleys through a variety of landscapes ranging from ancient Moonah woodlands to open links land. The fairways are generous and the putting surfaces gentle, but the bunkering style is bold and wild in appearance. At 6,315 metres, the course should be fun, but it won’t be a pushover”

Condition
In one of the countries best regions for golf courses, the Legends course is always in excellent condition. As at January 2010, the fairways were perfectly grassed and great to hit off, off fairway the rough is often long grass and Moonah trees. The everpresent bunkers are a mix of links style pot bunkers through to huge expansive waste bunkers where a shovel may be a better option than a wedge. The greens are large and undulating, firm and fairly fast. The 15th green in particular is massive, the largest green in the Southern Hemisphere can play anywhere between long iron and wedge depending on pin position and wind.

Favourite Holes

After easing into the round with a short par 5, and a short par 4, the third is a tough par 3, then the golfer is confronted with a tee shot from an elevated tee to a sharp dog leg left. The hero line is a driver with draw hugging the left hand tree line over the bunkers to the raised fairway plateau. Mere mortals should gear down to an iron and hit the fairway leaving a tougher mid iron to the green.

After emerging from the wooded section of the course, holes 7 through to 13 are played in open links conditions, the 8th hole is a classic links hole, played with a semi-blind tee shot, fairway bunkers are strategically placed to capture drives. The approach shot to a double green needs to be up to avoid the false front.

The par 3 10th hole is a tough start to the back nine. At 177metres from the back, the hole is tough enough, wind will make it a true test! A waste bunker captures anything too short, and a nasty pot bunker protects the front of the green. Steep slopes around the green will impact tee shots that arent on target.

The dogleg 15th will wreck a good round if not played with thought. Anything long off the tee will run into rough, anything left into a waste bunker. There is reward for trying to draw a long drive but the landing area is tiny. A well placed iron is the best choice, then a tough approach to an elevated green with trouble everywhere!

The Word
Moonah Links Legends course lives up to its rankings as one of Australia’s best layouts. It should always be part of the itinerary for the Mornington Peninsula golf trip, and teams up nicely with the Open course for a weekend. A golf cart is recommended for all but the fittest golfers, the landscape would make for a tiring walk.

Course details
Moonah Links – Legends Course
- Par 72
- 6,315 metres (Black)
- 5,939 metres (White)
- Address: Peter Thomson Drive, Fingal, Mornington Peninsula
- Proshop: (03) 5988 2088
- Course Bookings

Nige chips up to the short 5th hole on the Moonah Links Legends Course

After a warm up nine holes on the Open course the previous afternoon, Chris, Emma, Nige and myself teed off on the Moonah Links Legends course. The Legends course is a very different layout to the Open course, it winds through undulating woodlands and open dunes, with the local Moonah tree ever present. Rugged bunkering and changes in elevation, combine with large green for a great golfing experience. The Legends course is consistently rated higher than the Open course, I agree, its a great layout with a number of memorable holes, and requires thoughtful shot selection – review coming soon!

The form from the previous day continued, driver still accurate, long irons working well, and the gap wedge came into play a number of times. Nige got the driver back on track and carded a solid round, Emma made the most of a borrowed Callaway Diablo driver cracking some excellent drives, Chris was lured to many of the Legends massive bunkers! Finished with 35 points, which included two wipes, so happy with the form.