One Last Word On Royal Melbourne

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I've been a little surprised at some of the reactions I've heard about Royal Melbourne's setup during the Presidents Cup. The complaints and grievances were from people who were speaking up not for the sake of griping, but instead, expressing their disappointment at their sense players could only play defensively due to excessive green speeds and the putting surfaces appearing dead.

There is no question that during Friday's hot, dry wind day the golfers were on defensive, but it would not have mattered what the staff and PGA Tour did to the greens, it was just one of those days. But they never lost control of the course.

As for the rest of the event, I would say we saw the ultimate in strategic golf and that the reaction people have had has more to do with how rarely we get to see the merging of strategic design, setup, and conditions calling on players to think.

First, on the subject of purple greens. A few things to remember:

- Royal Melbourne's bent, unique to the course and not available anywhere else, is a very dark shade of green, almost black, with some purplish blades. I was shocked by it at first sight and was even more shocked to see an iron application Tuesday of tournament week, but that was designed for a number of reasons, including the desire to not hear people say that the greens were purple.

- Television filters skew things. Did you notice the day the teams wore light blue shirts (twice for the Internationals, once for the U.S.)?  To some of us the shirts appeared almost purple on television. So just like the yellow waves of Torrey Pines each year, we learn that television cameras and filters alter colors. That may have been the case here too.

- The club also uses a dark sand topdressing which may give hints of purple, while the sand the greens grow out of is a very dark color. But I can say having walked on them all four days, the greens appeared very healthy.

- Royal Melbourne's greens were never close to dying, nor were they prepared at a speed higher than 13 any day of the event. They were in the low 12s during Saturday's rain event. Fast for those contours, but never unmanageable if you were attacking from the proper angle.

And that leaves the "defensive" issue. Longtime readers know there is nothing I hate more than watching golf when players are constantly on the defensive and unable to attack a well-designed course with good thinking and shotmaking. If that was the case at Royal Melbourne, I'd be the first to point it out.

Instead, what I saw repeatedly was incorrect placement in the fairways or a refusal to hit run-up shots, leading to approaches not finishing near the hole.  If a player and his caddie considered the hole location, figured out the best angle to approach from, the best shot to use and executed, he was rewarded.

But on many of Royal Melbourne's best holes, the line between best approach angle and a not-so-good angle is so fine that without announcer explanation of the course nuances (eh hem, Johnny!), the golf could look defensive or even goofy. This was definitely not the case at Royal Melbourne. And the positive player reactions would validate this.

After all, if the set-up was over-the-top, you would have heard them say so. Royal Melbourne was brilliant, I only wish we had more golf like we saw there.

Australia Round-up: Mornington Peninsula Courses

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Thanks to Darius Oliver for arranging a whirlwind two-day tour of the Mornington Peninsula region south of Melbourne, home to some of the sweetest golf terrain imaginable along with some world class designs and the exquisite vanilla slice in the lovely resort town of Sorrento.

There really is no terrain quite like it, so picture the Hampton's melded with a seemingly endless view of linksland, ancient trees, shrub-covered hills and you have some idea what the second home area for Melbourne's elite looks like.

The standout courses are featured, with images below or on the Photos page (the course website links below have much better shots than my quick snaps captured in between shots).

The National, Moonah Course

This Greg Norman Bob Harrison design is held back only by a routing that finishes with a long, uphill stretch, and I'm told that this is more a product of the land planning done by another architect who divided up the plots at this 54-hole complex. Otherwise Harrison's mix of holes, green complexes and opportunities to hit some wildly fun run-up shots makes this the stand out design on the peninsula. The club has two other courses and from the glimpses I saw, they are no match for the world-class golf found on the Moonah. Norman gets the credit, but the vision behind the architecture, beautiful bunkering and overall fun is Harrison.

Stand out hole: short par-4 11th with a beautiful exposed sand area off the tee with a semi-blind second to a punchbowl green. Pictured in the slideshow below, which also shows the fantastic bunkers on this beautifully maintained example of firm, fast golf.



St. Andrews Beach

In immaculate condition, this Tom Doak-designed public course with input from Mike Clayton would be a standout gem in any other reason, but because of its checkered financial history, eccentric design touches and the more straightforward golf in the region gives the impression that this one is (unfortunately) is all too forgotten about. As with some of Doak's early work, a few greens struck me as too small for the contours and slope, but that shouldn't overshadow the many fascinating holes found here. Also note the small, temporary clubhouse. It's probably all most courses need: a pro shop, bathrooms and a nice place for a post-round beer.

Standout hole: the par-3 16th, played from the forward tees. A stunning Redan-like downhill three also features a "Doak" tee 235 yards away, which negates the fun of playing the run-up approach shot. (pictured in gallery)



Portsea Golf Club

This is the real heartbreaker of the region. The scale and beauty of the property is ideal for golf--think Royal Dornoch meets a heathland course). Unfortunately, the club has sold key plots of land to raise money, causing changes to the 9th hole and now the beautiful first. This should be a course on the top of all Peninsula lists but because of its lack of distance in the modern era and the recent changes to the property lines, will likely lose relevance with many. But even with the changes, Portsea still features plenty of super holes and should be celebrated for its smaller, more intimate scale as compared to the courses at The National. It's a must play and the kind of place you'd like to play everyday thanks to the variety, terrain and beauty.

Standout hole: short par-4 13th set atop a knob with a wide area to play to but trouble on all sides, with an exposed green making second shots tricky.



Peninsula Country Club - North Course

Technicaly closer to the sandbelt courses than the peninsula, this 36-hole facility features the longer South and more intimate North, which plays over ideal territory and featured what you'd expect to find in a region influenced by MacKenzie: interesting greens rewarding well thought out angles of attack and cleverness around the greens. It wasn't always that way, as Peter Thomson's work has been modified by Mike Clayton to better reflect the sandbelt values. A few more trees could be removed and the rough (so gladly seen after years of drought) trimmed, but all in all this is an ideal members course in that it will test an elite player while proving playable for the average member.

Standout holes: the par-3 second and par-3 14th are both stunning to look at and fun to hit shots too, while the par-4 18th makes for a solid finish.

Five Really Minor Royal Melbourne Quibbles

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As I continue on in the land where Internet access went to die, a few final reflections from Tasmania on the Presidents Cup week at glorious Royal Melbourne. The week wasn't without a few minor hiccups worth noting for the next time championship golf returns there.

  • The horrifying, absurd and totally unnecessary rough in several places that could be replaced by firm, sandy scrub, maintaining the challenge while returning the beauty. Golfers might also be able to see the sixth hole (West) fairway bunkers again. (Example of sandy look, left photo.)
  • The dreadful landscaping effort down the 15th fairway (17 East). New mounds and out-of-place landscaping need to be replaced by the new consulting architect who presumably replaces the person that came up with this.
  • Using the first and second holes of the West Course as the Presidents Cup finishing holes. Even though they were not reached a lot, I still wonder if they should have been the openers and the 18th on the East the finisher (instead of playing as the 16th on the Composite). The course might have had a slightly kinder opening flow, and a stronger finish.
  • That the bunkers being so groomed during the Presidents Cup. Instead, go for the look seen at the rest of the sandbelt and rake 'em just a couple of times a week, leaving the floors nice and firm.
  • That we won't be returning to this magnificent, endlessly fascinating and ideal venue for championship golf anytime soon, or for a major championship. But the women will be there in February and we'll get another fix of this amazing place.

10 Great Things About Royal Melbourne

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With the holiday week and my need to inspect Tasmania's finest golf, not to mention a 15 hour plane ride home, posting will be light. Still, I just can't let go of Royal Melbourne yet, so there's my Golf World Monday item with a few player quotes and here, in a stunning world exclusive, a few more thoughts on the course.

Frankly, it's morbidly depressing to think we won't see a tournament golf course this fascinating for a while. I could have filed a book on what I saw out at Royal Melbourne this week, but I'll only bore you with a few observations.

  • The course gets more interesting, more fascinating and more beguiling each day you study it. I watched five days of golf there and feel like I hardly know it.
  • The greens are complex, yet the key features are easy to remember. This is vital in attracting the affection of players who want to shape shots off of the contours (and therefore, makes the strategy so much more interesting.)
  • The conditioning. So firm, so fast and so pure, yet not too green or unnatural in appearance.
  • The bunker faces are firm with little-to-no sand on them while the floors are raked. There is simply no excuse for not doing this in the United States and elsewhere.
  • The club has the best members-only logo in golf. I'd post it, but what's the point. We aren't members.
  • Not all of the best holes on the property are on the Composite course, meaning the tired suggestion that it's not great because it requires a Composite 18 is, well, tired.
  • The par-3s. Tiger said it after the round, and it was echoed by several players: par-3s do not need to be 250 yards to be interesting. They can be 150 yards and still all the best players can handle...assuming the architect did his job. And to think they left out several others on the property that would have been just as fascinating to watch.
  • Every Presidents Cup match played the most interesting holes on the course. Yes, many of RM's standout holes came early in the round, but every match passed through the first through sixth holes, and for that matter, the seventh through thirteenth. It was considered an unusual flow, but it worked well.
  • They open their doors to professional golf. The Presidents Cup this week, the LPGA in February.
  • The Composite course features three of the best short par-4s in the world. As in, top 10 on my or most sane individuals' list of favorite short par-4s: 1, 6, 10 on this year's Composite, better known as 3 West, 10 West and 1 East.

Quick Initial Reaction: Royal Melbourne

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The place lives up to the hype as one of the world's great courses thanks to the green complexes and bunkering. I studied the first 10 holes of the Composite Course plus several others on the property, but it's impossible not to love some of the features. A few of which I explore in these Tweeted cell phone video snippets.

A look at the transitions from fairway to approach you'll see during Presidents Cup coverage this week.

The 10th at RM (18West), nice subtly explained in shaky cell phone video. Should be noted that Bubba Watson drove it in the fairway bunkers here this week. So much for the strategy!

The 1st hole this week (3 West) will be pivotal this week and has some great hole location-based strategy I try to explain in this short cell phone video.

And on a cooler note, these ommemorative tools were the only mechanical instruments in building of RM.

*******Links should now work. Hopefully the PGA Tour will be kind enough to extend the 24 hour grace period by a few minutes.

********And now I see the host, YFrog, is down. Good times!

Just a few images...

New South Wales GC Review And Images

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My first taste of Australian golf came at the classy New South Wales Golf Club where Darius Oliver and Michael Goldstein kindly tolerated my jet lag swing. As you'll see in the image gallery posted below (and viewable permanently on the Photos page), we played the day after a huge storm and in the midst of maintenance work.

As far as golf course sites go, New South Wales is on par with Cypress Point and Shinnecock Hills in terms of diversity of terrain, stunning views and a fantastic routing offering interaction with the coastline on both nines. Architecturally, the course has suffered a few too many tweaks over the years, leaving a hodgepodge of ideas, looks and design philosophies throughout. The bunkering sums it all up: sod-stacked pits along with some attractive scruffy waste areas near the fairways and most unfortunate of all, some newly installed scrub to narrow a few landing areas. It's a big leap from old photos showing traces of Alister MacKenzie's influence. Throw in some unnecessary fairway contours and new changes by Greg Norman to man the place up, and it's hard to understand what the vision is for the design: more fun for hearty-but-older membership or trying for another Australian Open?

Most golfers won't notice the architectural inconsistency simply because the setting is so supreme and the club so ably operated. The facility is second to none, kicking off with one of the game's great, understated entrance drives (no road sign, just the national park sign), finished off by a beautifully divided car park which immediately lets you know you've arrived at one of golf's flagship properties.

Nonetheless, it's easy to envision a restored design and properly revitalized set of green complexes vaulting the course to top 20 world status. And as you'll see in the images below of the 15th tee view and a historic shot from the clubhouse walls, the old dunescape has badly overgrown. In some places the plant life is protected, but in others, it's nothing a little brush fire can't fix.

 

HORSE Course Images Gallery, Australia Coverage Warning

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The blog will be a bit different for the next few weeks as I am heading to Australia. There will be plenty of Australian Open and Presidents Cup coverage, but I'll also be soaking up the culture and golf. Translation: there may be a less news coverage than normal and posting times will vary, but I think I'll be able to supplement that with something better in the way of cool photo galleries showing golf and life in Australia.

Which reminds me, if you are in Melbourne, The Woodlands will be hosting a special evening featuring yours truly, John Huggan, Mike Clayton (moderating) and others in a roundtable discussion. Cost is $100. For more information on what should be a fun evening at a great club, you can email Matthew Mollica at matthewm@mpx.com.au

To give you an idea how these galleries may look, here's a test run with some images just sent to me by Robert Nelson of The Prairie Club's HORSE Course, which we built in the summer of 2008. Good to see it evolving nicely and thanks Robert for the photos.

I'm still fine tuning how these galleries display images, but they will all be posted on my new Photos page and also embedded in posts. Here's the HORSE Course collection...