"It has become a course for the strategist, with some risk and reward holes and others that players will leave thanking the golfing gods they have made par."

Peter Stone files a Sydney Morning Herald story on Mike Clayton's total redo of The Lakes, host of this week's Australian Open.

Anyone who has not been to The Lakes since the last tournament there, in 2002 - the now defunct modified stableford ANZ Championship - will not recognise what lies before them. Firstly, the old dysfunctional, circular clubhouse is gone, replaced by a grand, modern structure that was completed in 2005.

Some have called him ''Chainsaw Mike'', and the layout barely resembles what was there before. The pines, willows and various other trees have gone, replaced by a sandy wasteland and a links land golf course several kilometres from the sea.

Anyone who hadn't seen the old Lakes would be impressed - but you look at the holes now and remember what was there before. The fairways are wider, but that sandy waste is present on almost every hole. The greens are new, with more humps and bumps.

It has become a course for the strategist, with some risk and reward holes and others that players will leave thanking the golfing gods they have made par.

There is a hole-by-hole tour on the official site, but I'm trying to locate an online gallery of before/after shots so you can see just how dramatic of an overhaul this was by Clayton and friends.

There is also this story posted on GolfAustralia.org by John Huggan.

“Over the years, the course had veered away from the early 1970s design by Devlin and Von Hagge in that it was almost covered in foliage,” continues Clayton, who recently formed a new course design partnership with former U.S Open champion Geoff Ogilvy.

“Our brief was to restore the original feel of the course. Prior to the freeway being built, it had hardly any trees on it at all. Plus, much of the bunkering and many of the greens had been altered by various architects over the years. Most importantly, however, there were too many holes where the only route to the green was from the middle of the fairway. There was only that one strategy on almost every hole.
That one-dimensional quality is now long gone, replaced by a more open feel that is designed to give the players options and, hopefully, make them think."