Going to assume your WA trip got cancelled/postponed @GooduckJonathan ?! 
@MG82 unfortunately it did, we were supposed to be leaving on Saturday 
Will let you know when I reschedule, but considering Feb 5 was supposed to be set in stone, who knows when that will happen
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Played Huntingdale and Yarra Yarra the last two weekends for pennant practice, can confirm both are very nice. If I’m picking one, it’s YY all day though. So good.
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Played Horsham GC for the first time on the weekend, was super impressed - the condition was top notch - controversially I said to a mate that their greens ran better than Victoria GC’s - just thought that as they rolled out while I thought Vic was too slow. Only photo I took was the par 3 8th with the massive bunker on it
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I played Yarra Yarra in December. After being in the gallery many years ago during the women’s Aus open I had the memory of a pretty heavily tree lined parkland layout that was mainly up and down the central hill on which the clubhouse sits. The renovation by Brian Slawnik and Tom Doak really seemed to open up the corridors and vistas of the site and showcase some of the subtle movement of the fairways. There was usually a more strategic line to take on each hole and good variety in par 3 length and orientation. It does suffer (as does Huntingdale btw) is having the majority of holes running north-south (15 of the 18) so in a strong wind that can be tough. I really enjoyed the green runoffs and seamless transitions to the next hole. Had the feel of playing a “course” rather than a sequence of disparate holes.
I had heard reports that the new greens were too severe and hard to hold (typical Doak) but I thought in the main they were fun. The #10 mound green was probably the most stark one, but it’s a short par 4 so it didn’t bother me at all. It’s a bit different.
Anyone played Woodlands and have any takes? Likely playing there in a couple of weeks on a trip to Melb.
Yeah they’ve removed a lot of the tea tree and it opens it up a lot more, which is unreal. Allows you to be way more aggressive off the tee, but still makes you hit a really good shot in to the greens. It was actually blowing 40-50kmh when I played it, but I think because the majority of the holes were into or down, it sort of made it easier to play in a way. That 10th green is a cracker, gotta put yourself in the right spot otherwise it’s almost impossible to hold. As you said, the transition between green & tee were fantastic, flowed so well. I ended up shooting +3 for the day, which was nice given the amount of wind around the place.
Typically, I find people who say Doak (and also Clayton/Cocking) greens are too severe and hard to hold have been approaching from the wrong part of the fairway.
The middle of the fairway doesn’t necessarily give you a green light to all pins and I reckon a lot of people struggle to recognise that, or even accept it as reasonable once they do notice.
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Totally agree. There is usually a path to the green, you just have to think it through. Perhaps you need to run it up from a particular angle. Or feed the ball off a slope (not so much at YY but at BD or StAB).
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Yep, or people who want the shot imperfection / punishment curve to be a straight line.
Unless the ball gets wet or sandy. Plenty of folk don’t mind disproportionate punishment if they hit it 2 metres right into a pond, but if it’s 2 metres right and still on grass then I DEMAND that I have a FAIR outcome for my GOOD shot.
Lots of fun. I’ve always thought of it as a bit of different test to the rest of the Sandbelt, with a bit more of a premium on accuracy and hitting the right shots both off the tee and into the firm, small greens, but a great course none the less.
Opening stretch of 2-4 should definitely set the tone for the day, outstanding holes.
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Excellent call - good example of this that comes to mind for me is the 7th on the Gunnamatta - left hand side of the fairway you’ve got a simple pitch uphill into plenty of green. Right hand side of the fairway it’s almost impossible to hold the green.
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Played Copperhead today. Good course. Not outstanding but good.
Playing in carts, with compulsory cart path only is not my cup of tea.
No frost delay but a little chilly to start. Got paired with two connecticut guys (with florida homes) who were normal. they shared a cart. guy in my cart was some Swiss guy (with a place in Naples). The guy didnt bathe. 4.5 hours of bad aroma. OMG.
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Wait a sec… I feel you may be referring to Melbourne in Florida rather than Melbourne in Australia?
I like this crossover
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Oops.
My apologies.
Thinking the better Melbourne for January.
One of my favorite cities of the world.
The nine damaged RM greens were re-laid (with turf from RM - they didn’t need to raid Sandy in the end) and have reopened for play a month later.
Pretty remarkable effort.
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Good news!
Thats great Sandy was not used - there is a tournament coming up there shortly - saw it advertised somewhere
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The Athena looks like a pretty cool event across Sandy Links and RM
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