When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
An online betting outfit is challenging Robert Allenby and Geoff Ogilvy to hash out their differences in the ring, all in the name of charity.
Greg Chalmers won for the second time in Australia this year, adding to his Australian Open win with a playoff victory over Robert Allenby and Marcus Fraser.
Allenby, who hated the greens at The Lakes three weeks ago and couldn't putt the "real" greens at Royal Melbourne defended the state of his game after his opening round of the Australian PGA, as quoted in an unbylined FoxSports.com story.
If anyone knows what the final quote means, please feel free to translate.
While Allenby admitted that not winning an early match-up robbed him of some confidence, he said the end result could have been vastly different with a bit of luck.
He also admitted that the criticism of him had got under his skin.
"I guess everyone said I played poorly, but if you think about it, I played pretty good with Retief (Goosen) on the first day," he said.
"I hit a lot of great shots, but I didn't get the win.
"Everyone's making me feel like I'm playing s***."
Now where would they get that idea?! People!
Allenby said his failure to strike a blow at the Presidents Cup was not based solely on his form.
It was a team event, he said, and as such he was relying on his teammates to perform.
"Sometimes it's not you. Sometimes other people are hitting you in the shin," he said.
"I'm just sick of people saying I'm in a slump.
"Go get your own slump. This is mine."
Even better, Allenby blamed his teammates for his Presidents Cup points shutout. Mark Hayes reports:
He said Retief Goosen had missed several makeable birdie putts after "I hit it inside 10 feet a few times" in Thursday's foursomes.
He said Y.E. Yang had left him playing alone too many times in the closing nine of Friday's fourball matches.
And that Geoff Ogilvy had "hit me in the tree three times off the tee and I had to chip out three times" in Saturday's foursomes.
That's probably what prompted this Ogilvy tweet Sunday:
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).
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.
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)
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.
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.
It's wishful thinking, but I'm advocating in this week's Golf World Monday that the PGA Tour's possible fall kickoff for official money starting in 2013 include consideration for an Australia event(s) based on what I saw last week. In other words, stop obsessing about emerging markets and figure out how to tap underutilized or appreciated markets. Thoughts?
A few random non-golf thoughts on Sydney before heading to Melbourne and the Presidents Cup…
- The downtown area is arguably the world's most beautiful city--think San Francisco, only cleaner, warmer, a little less hilly and almost as difficult to navigate. Photos don't capture the scale and beauty of the harbor. And if you win the lottery, shack up in Rose Bay, join Royal Sydney and you'll live happily ever after.
-Driving on the uh, proper side of the road remains a challenge. The windshield wipers were activated in lieu of the turn signal on a 2:1 ratio. My rental wanted to veer left so I hugged many a line, earning plenty of honks, stares but unlike in America, never a bird flipping. When I left my shoes atop the car for four blocks, many kind Aussies tried to get my attention before one kind pedestrian came over to the car to hand them to me at the traffic signal. Also bodes well for the traction of that pair.
-Needless to say, the people are remarkably kind and patient. Me, driving like Woody Allen blindfolded, would be my evidence.
-Even the most touristy restaurant offers fresh, delicious tasting food. And when they make a fresh smoothie here, it's actually fresh and made with real, non-frozen fruit. Novel stuff.
-American accents often earn stares and at times, glassy-eyed awe. I suspect this speaks less to our empire's lofty place in the world and more to just how rare American tourism is with the price of everything.
-Yes it is expensive. And accessing the Internet reminds me of 2003, only three times the price and half the speed. What are you going to do?
- The fitness fanaticism here makes Californians look like couch potatoes. And they start so early.
- Koala bears and kangaroos live up to the hype. Thanks to reader Josh for the Koala Park Sanctuary tip.
- They read newspapers here. Papers are stacked in the hotel, with your choice of rag delivered to your doorstep if you so choose. And everywhere you look in the mornings, papers are tucked under arms or pored over at breakfast. And the papers themselves are quite bulky, full of these mysterious things called ads. Something else you don't see in America.
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.
Darius Oliver has authored three of my favorite reference books, most notably the stunning Planet Golf and Planet Golf USA books, the product of five years seeing and playing courses across the globe, studying more than 900 layouts in 45 countries. He is currently the architecture editor of Australian Golf Digest magazine, operator of the Planet Golf website and a design consultant.
In preparation for the Presidents Cup, I've asked Oliver about planning a trip to Australia, the state of the game here and about the real star this week, Royal Melbourne.
GS: Golf in America is struggling with our economic woes, how would you characterize the health of the sport in Australia?
DO: In similar terms, because many second-tier clubs are struggling to attract members and the professional game has been on the slide for years here. They are both related. Back in the 1980s and 90s, when Greg Norman was in his peak, golf was a mainstream sport in Australia. We had a healthy professional circuit and were able to generate plenty of media coverage.
Apart from walking, running and cycling, golf is still the most popular game in Australia, so plenty of people play the game but the media has lost interest and clubs are finding that attracting and retaining members is becoming more and more difficult.
There are many factors for the downturn in Australia, and unlike America those don’t really include economic issues. It’s more about our changing lifestyles, the increased time pressures on family men and women and more competition from other sports. Also, the fact that our best players are largely foreign to the average sports fan in Australia is a major concern.
I point the finger of blame at golf administrators in Australia, who are largely disconnected from those of us who picked up the game during the Norman era and have been largely devoid of ideas and leadership in the recent decades. We have great courses here, a perfect golf climate and a stack of high-quality professionals. So the game has solid fundamentals, it’s just that recovery seems unlikely without a serious clean-out at the upper levels of administration.
GS: A golfer and spouse have 7-10 days, a budget and want to make a trip to Australia that blends the Royal and Ancient with sightseeing? Could you give us a dream trip in terms of courses, sights and maybe suggestions on how to get on private courses?
DO: Firstly private clubs in Australia aren’t difficult to access if you are a member of an international club, and reasonably flexible. You just need to write to the club and request manager introduced access, and then be prepared to pay what is often a fairly inflated green fee.
But to answer the question of where to play and what to see, you’d have to start with Sydney, which is clearly one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I’d suggest a round at the NSW Golf Club and a day sightseeing in the city. From Sydney you would fly south to Melbourne and Tasmania. Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania is now a must-play destination, with two wonderful courses that you could either play once or twice over a two day, one-night visit. The rest of the time should be spent around Melbourne and its surrounding Peninsulas.
In terms of golf, it depends how keen you are but you should include Royal Melbourne (West) and Kingston Heath at an absolute minimum. You can add others on the Sandbelt, or head to the Mornington Peninsula to check out the wineries, the popular beach towns and golf courses like the Moonah at The National and Tom Doak’s St Andrews Beach. On the other side of the bay is the Bellarine Peninsula, which is only a short ferry ride from Sorrento on the Mornington side. The ferry takes you close to Barwon Heads and its charming old links. If you want to see kangaroos you could then play Anglesea as well, before embarking on Victoria’s world-famous Great Ocean Road drive right along the southern coast. At the end of the Great Ocean road is the small fishing town of Port Fairy, which also has its own fun links.
That’s probably more than 10 days in total, so the other option is to stay in Melbourne the whole time and play other Sandbelt courses like Victoria, Metropolitan, Commonwealth, Woodlands and Peninsula. You could then include the odd day trip as well. Phillip Island is always popular for its nightly penguin parade and the city of Melbourne itself is an under-rated gem for those who like walking around cosmopolitan cities.
I’m massively passionate about Australian golf and always struggle to limit itineraries here to 7-10 days because the country is so big and there is so much to see. No matter how long you stay there are things you are going to miss, whether great golf courses or attractions like the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsunday Islands, Uluru, Kakadu, Margaret River etc. If golf is your priority though, then three nights between Sydney and Barnbougle and the rest (4-7) around Melbourne is about right.
GS: You recently wrote a piece about the "resuscitation of Royal Melbourne" where you recount how the club's reaction to Ernie's 60 in 2004 led to a lot of positive improvements. But considering how much has changed in just seven years, won't players still find Royal Melbourne short or even shorter?
DO: The short answer is yes, that Royal Melbourne will still play short for the Presidents Cup. And it’s not a difficult course either, but that has never been part of the allure of the place.
What happened after Ernie Els shot his 60 was more about the climate here in Victoria, than any need to future proof or toughen the golf course. The new fairway grass, the broader leafed Legend couch, will eventually become more drought resistant than its native cousins, and it has the added benefit, if you like, of reducing roll on fairways and slowing down the bigger hitters. But the reality is that RM is a short course, and it’s the greens that protect it from the technological advances made over recent years. The greens are now better (ie firmer and bouncier) than in the last decade thanks to the new stormwater harvesting system that has not only increased the supply of water but also improved its quality.
In my view, the current set-up is perfect for the Presidents Cup and for other professional events in the future. If I were a member though, I’d lament the loss of the native couch because playing RM with tight, bouncy fairways was incredible.
GS: You speak highly of the special Presidents Cup routing, while others have groaned about it. Tell us why you think this composite course works.
DO: I have to add a caveat here, and say that while I prefer the 2011 Presidents Cup routing to the previous Composite routing, an earlier Composite version was clearly the best. The last incarnation ended with seven straight par fours and, like the Presidents Cup plan, was created to ensure the final few holes were close to the clubhouse, to help with spectator flow. So if we accept that organizers now need the 16th and 18th to be near the clubhouse, then this newest version is better balanced and seems to work well. Plus it includes the brilliant par three 16th on the East Course, in place of the harder but far less impressive 4th.
As good as it may be, an earlier Composite course that was used throughout the 1980s and 90s, to me, was hands down the best layout ever in this country. That layout started with 1 West, which is a somewhat uninspiring hole but ideal as an opener. This year it will play as the 17th hole. The flow of the older course, with its par 3, par 5, par 4 finish, seemed the perfect way to showcase the holes at Royal Melbourne. Plus you end with 18 East and all the drama of that wonderful green complex.
After the more intimate front where holes move back and forth on a smaller scale, The Lakes back nine opens with a tight short par four before exploding on a grand scale with several dramatic holes highlighted by striking water hazards.
Because of an approaching storm, I was only able to get solid shots of the first four holes of the back but I think you'll enjoy seeing the architecture and quality detailing work by Mike Clayton and his team.
The images show the narrow, short par-4 tenth, followed by the neverending three-shot 11th, the long 12th playing to a skyline green, and the fantastic driveable downhill 13th. From there the water takes over to set up what should be a dramatic finishing stretch before intimacy returns with the short par-3 18th.
The front nine at The Lakes doesn't get the respect it deserves because of the grand scale of the back nine and generally sad perception that great golf must be on a large, sharply undulating scale.
The first plays with water on the left--certainly not ideal--before crossing under a road and traversing back and forth on beautiful terrain. The holes are separated by sandy areas which look old and full of character despite having been unveiled less than two years ago.
The greens are large and bold, with a plethora of great hole locations and only a couple that struck me as not being of great interest. The tee complexes sit in the ground beautifully and offer plenty of options, as well as a model for "proper" tees. Little splashes of sand and scrub make the blend in beautifully, but never get in the way of setting up the hole.
But mostly, the front has the appearance of being a fun, challenging nine with a solid variety of holes if you can look past some of the routing constraints. Hopefully these images help supplement the television coverage starting Wednesday night at 11 p.m. ET. (Click on the photos page to see captions.)
Darius Oliver has authored three of my favorite reference books, most notably the stunning Planet Golf and Planet Golf USA books, the product of five years seeing and playing courses across the globe, studying more than 900 layouts in 45 countries. He is currently the architecture editor of Australian Golf Digest magazine, operator of the Planet Golf website and a design consultant.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...
Welcome to our world mates! Tim Dick reports:
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
