Golf Favourite Golf Course's

[Talart248]

Favourite Golf Course's - Kingston SE

Half hour drive from my home course I always enjoy a round at Kingston. Just been redesigned and several holes rebuilt in the past two years. Tree lined fairways with grass mounds and deep holes bunker style but grassed as hazards to test the accuracy of players.

[youtube]Z8m-dOJIWQo[/youtube]

 

[Talart248]

Favourite Golf Course's - Naracoorte Sth Aust.

Have been getting to Naracoorte only in the last season (2011). Events there always clashed with my home trophy rounds or I was away. This season played in the Masters Games at naracoorte and even though I finished with a bronze and a silver struggled around thetrack. Can get through the front nine okay yet the back nine at this course always has me on the ropes. Fairways are a must to playon as there is natural gum tree bushland lining them and once off the fairway the nxt shot has to be a recovery one trying to clear the bush. A good selection of sand bunkers makes accuracy in green shots a must as well.

Wellworth a game if you are passing through and the members like most country people are hospitable and good to socialise with.

[youtube]PtzzUXMdgn4[/youtube]

 

[peternorth]

Re: Favourite Golf Course's - Naracoorte Sth Aust.

ah moonah course @ national. one hour miserable weather, next hour perfect conditions*


*with a lot of wind

 

[peternorth]

Re: Favourite Golf Course's - Naracoorte Sth Aust.

pure aesthetics.

[youtube]gO33dLyo7m4[/youtube]

 

[Noobz0r]

It's my home course, but it will always be my favourite. Hartfield CC in the Perth Hills (anyone in WA, I encourage you to try it).

I love it because it is so technical, and to post a decent score you really do need to exhibit good course management. Over the last 10 years it has really improved, and the fairways, bunkers and greens are in excellent condition.

 

[Peter maxwell]

In Perth - Joondalup followed by The Cut. Both picturesque and challenging layouts

 

[aussierulesrules]

Here is some more really good footage of the Old Course at The National.
He's pretty boring to listen to, but you can put it on mute and skip through to the 5 minute mark, which is where he starts to show video footage of each hole, as he goes along during his round. It's almost like you're walking around the course with him and it's one of the most amazing settings for a golf course on the planet.
For that reason it is for sure in my top 10 for courses in the country that I want to play (that I haven't), along with the Moonah Course at the National, and the likes of Barnbugle Dunes and Lost farm, Royal Melbourne, NSW, Ellerston (has anyone here played there?) and probably the Cut and Bonville.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KopFfmaTG6Y

Another good course that I can recommend is Settlers Run, in Cranbourne. It's a recent Greg Norman design and, like St Andrews Beach, down the peninsula, was built to be a fully private course, but it seems with the global financial meltdown, things haven't gone as well as they expected, so they look to have thrown their doors open to all in sundry and at relatively good prices. I see you can play as many holes as you can fit in there for just $45, after 3pm, for instance. Very good value. It's a pretty open and exposed course, though and long, so going there on a very windy day is not necessarily ideal. Some really good holes there though and a nice undulating design, with some long, sweeping, rolling hills. I had family living just down the road from there and used to drive along that road and think what a great setting it would be for a golf course and then Norman happened to drive down there one day (on the way to Phillip Island, or his course at the National, or whatever) and reportedly he thought the same thing. And so he set about getting a course built there and it's now already ranked in the top 70 in the country.
Another good course just around the corner from that is Ranfurlie (another top 100 in Aus course) and you can also get a game there on certain days. Again, it's very exposed, so you might want to pick a still day! (Although still days don't really exist there!)

 

[peternorth]

Here is some more really good footage of the Old Course at The National.
He's pretty boring to listen to, but you can put it on mute and skip through to the 5 minute mark, which is where he starts to show video footage of each hole, as he goes along during his round. It's almost like you're walking around the course with him and it's one of the most amazing settings for a golf course on the planet.
For that reason it is for sure in my top 10 for courses in the country that I want to play (that I haven't), along with the Moonah Course at the National, and the likes of Barnbugle Dunes and Lost farm, Royal Melbourne, NSW, Ellerston (has anyone here played there?) and probably the Cut and Bonville.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KopFfmaTG6Y

interesting perspective.

moonah lacks character? such a weird comment. perhaps compared to the old?

personally i think the old is the prettiest, but the god damn hardest.

 

[aussierulesrules]

I was also pretty surprised to hear him be so negative about the Moonah course! It looks fantastic to me (from having seen some holes from the driveway, the day I played the Ocean Course and also lots of photo's) and it's ranked the 6th best course in the country, ahead of the likes of Royal Melb East, Metro, Victoria, The Lakes, Royal Adelaide, The Australian, etc, so you'd think it has some things going for it! I see it's also ranked 87 in the world, according to the "top 100 golf courses of the world" website, which is a fair wrap.
I agree that The Old is certainly a more spectacular course, though, as it's built so much higher, up on the hill, and has the amazing views of the ocean and I love the thick tee tree on the sides of the holes, too. Seeing the footage from youtube just makes me want to play it more now!

 

[peternorth]

I was also pretty surprised to hear him be so negative about the Moonah course! It looks fantastic to me (from having seen some holes from the driveway, the day I played the Ocean Course and also lots of photo's) and it's ranked the 6th best course in the country, ahead of the likes of Royal Melb East, Metro, Victoria, The Lakes, Royal Adelaide, The Australian, etc, so you'd think it has some things going for it! I see it's also ranked 87 in the world, according to the "top 100 golf courses of the world" website, which is a fair wrap.
I agree that The Old is certainly a more spectacular course, though, as it's built so much higher, up on the hill, and has the amazing views of the ocean and I love the thick tee tree on the sides of the holes, too. Seeing the footage from youtube just makes me want to play it more now!

well everyones entitled to their opinion, so i cant begrudge the bloke for that.

did you try the driving range mate? as ive said here before its better than some public courses.

playing moonah and ocean 3 times each between weds and sunday. jelly?

 

[aussierulesrules]

Too true and no, I didn't try the range. Where is it, up the hill in amongst/behind the trees, or what? The praccy fairway over the road at Cape Schanck is pretty good, overlooking the ocean, but I don't recall ever having come across the one at the National. What makes it so good, the condition of the grass?
How do you get all these games there, by the way, or do you have a membership? That would be one of the best places in the world to have a membership, I think it's fair to say. And if you're walking all those rounds your legs prolly will be like jelly! At least the extreme heat is due to be gone by then.

 

[peternorth]

Too true and no, I didn't try the range. Where is it, up the hill in amongst/behind the trees, or what? The praccy fairway over the road at Cape Schanck is pretty good, overlooking the ocean, but I don't recall ever having come across the one at the National. What makes it so good, the condition of the grass?
How do you get all these games there, by the way, or do you have a membership? That would be one of the best places in the world to have a membership, I think it's fair to say. And if you're walking all those rounds your legs prolly will be like jelly! At least the extreme heat is due to be gone by then.

ah well, sometimes practice before 18 is overrated anyway.
the practice fairway location? you know the first on the ocean? its behind it. so from the clubhouse, walk straight up and over the hill. the first on the ocean is to the right as you walk up the hill. the first of the old is to the left.

condition of the grass is great. lots of space, and there's also undercover and exposed mats. each day the club decides where you can hit from.

an image for your consumption

yep, am a member there. even tho its a hike to get to there are 3 courses to play and you can always get a game. the members there are all really nice people too.

yep, always walk (except for extreme conditions a la storms/heat over say 35). its always a bit cooler down that way anyway, and the ocean is exposed to the sea breeze.

anyway, good golfing!!

 

[neroblack]

Heading to Eagle Ridge later this week, don't know much about it. Have played Moonah down the peninsula but not too many others. What does it compare to?

 

[aussierulesrules]

I used to play Eagle Ridge a heap in the 90's and we also had a time share at the resort next door, so I'm very familiar with it (as long as they haven't made any major changes in the past couple of years, which I don't believe they have).
The last time I played there was 2008, when I made the mistake of booking and making the long drive to a course without asking if the greens were being cored, or anything like that at the time. So I arrived to find that, from memory, both the greens had been either recently cored, or sanded, or both (which is like putting on bumpy sand) and the fairways were a patchy, blotchy, crappy mess. (Thankfully the tees were good!)
Unbeknownst to me, the course had been closed for the 2007/2008 summer, so that they could change the fairways to a more drought tolerant couch grass and when I went there it's fair to say I thought the course should pretty much still be closed, as the general condition was terrible.
At the very least, I thought they should have told me what it was like when I booked (to give me the option of playing there or not), or charged half price or something, because that used to be one of the best conditioned public courses in the state and that was what I expected to find and get for my money. To say I was disappointed with how the course was presented would be an understatement, as the great condition the course used to be in was one of the major reasons I wanted to play there again.
Anyway, hopefully that is all well and truly fixed up by now and that you find it in the superb sort of condition it used to be in (or better). As for the course, it is interesting and fun to play, with long (but not too long) rolling fairways (often reasonably narrow and "snaking"- no real "dog-legs"), lots of bunkers (about 70, some HUGE), several water hazards and top quality greens. It's not as exposed and barren as some of the courses down that way (like the Dunes or Moonah Open) and has some thick tee-tree on the sides of many of the holes (especially on the front 9), which give them a nice enclosed feel.
Like so many of the courses down that way, it is very peaceful and quiet, as there is pretty much nothing else nearby but rolling hills, huge sand dunes and paddocks (which you can see on the 2nd 9, which overlooks them from a great height). If it was the Open course you played at Moonah, Eagle Ridge isn't as brutally long or difficult and is probably a bit like a cross between the Open and Legends courses there, as far as the style of course goes. It has the tee/moonah-tree enclosed fairways a bit like the Legends Course, but isn't quite as hilly or long as that one can be and the fairways probably aren't as wide.
It's a top quality course and is ranked in the Top 100 public access golf courses in Australia, by the Ausgolf website. It doesn't get as much hype as some of the courses down there, but is still miles better than most of the public courses around Melbourne and they have lots of deals during the year to make it excellent, to fantastic value.
It has also recently become an even more attractive course since they've done a lot of landscaping work around the greens and tees in recent years, so it can look great with all the plants and flowers in those areas.
If you click on this link (which is a great golf course website) you can see some pics of the course, especially if you click on "show all 123 images", about half way down the page.

http://www.golfselect.com.au/armchair/courseView.aspx?course_id=362

I look forward to hearing how you like it and what sort of condition the course is in, as I'd be happy to go back there if it is back in great shape.

 

[aussierulesrules]

ah well, sometimes practice before 18 is overrated anyway.
the practice fairway location? you know the first on the ocean? its behind it. so from the clubhouse, walk straight up and over the hill. the first on the ocean is to the right as you walk up the hill. the first of the old is to the left.

condition of the grass is great. lots of space, and there's also undercover and exposed mats. each day the club decides where you can hit from.

yep, am a member there. even tho its a hike to get to there are 3 courses to play and you can always get a game. the members there are all really nice people too.

yep, always walk (except for extreme conditions a la storms/heat over say 35). its always a bit cooler down that way anyway, and the ocean is exposed to the sea breeze.

anyway, good golfing!!

Thanks for that, I figured it must have been, as I hadn't seen it in front of the clubhouse. If/when I play there again I'll hopefully have time to spend some time there, as I don't believe warming up is overrated, especially when you have a dodgy back!
I probably got there in a rush when I played there and it was time to sign in and have lunch (it was a Bays Hospital Charity day, with lunch, golf and magnificent buffet dinner).
As I expected, it sounds like a great place to have a membership and I'm glad to hear you like the others there. I imagine you'd sleep well if you walk the Old Course most times. That is one hilly course!
Anyway, good golfing to you too!

 

[peternorth]

just got back from howling 30+ knot winds at the national. cross winds all day. storm on the horizon but still played. told the storm to come at me, it didn't.

ocean tomorrow, then moonah, moonah the days after

 

[neroblack]

I used to play Eagle Ridge a heap in the 90's and we also had a time share at the resort next door, so I'm very familiar with it (as long as they haven't made any major changes in the past couple of years, which I don't believe they have).
The last time I played there was 2008, when I made the mistake of booking and making the long drive to a course without asking if the greens were being cored, or anything like that at the time. So I arrived to find that, from memory, both the greens had been either recently cored, or sanded, or both (which is like putting on bumpy sand) and the fairways were a patchy, blotchy, crappy mess. (Thankfully the tees were good!)
Unbeknownst to me, the course had been closed for the 2007/2008 summer, so that they could change the fairways to a more drought tolerant couch grass and when I went there it's fair to say I thought the course should pretty much still be closed, as the general condition was terrible.
At the very least, I thought they should have told me what it was like when I booked (to give me the option of playing there or not), or charged half price or something, because that used to be one of the best conditioned public courses in the state and that was what I expected to find and get for my money. To say I was disappointed with how the course was presented would be an understatement, as the great condition the course used to be in was one of the major reasons I wanted to play there again.
Anyway, hopefully that is all well and truly fixed up by now and that you find it in the superb sort of condition it used to be in (or better). As for the course, it is interesting and fun to play, with long (but not too long) rolling fairways (often reasonably narrow and "snaking"- no real "dog-legs"), lots of bunkers (about 70, some HUGE), several water hazards and top quality greens. It's not as exposed and barren as some of the courses down that way (like the Dunes or Moonah Open) and has some thick tee-tree on the sides of many of the holes (especially on the front 9), which give them a nice enclosed feel.
Like so many of the courses down that way, it is very peaceful and quiet, as there is pretty much nothing else nearby but rolling hills, huge sand dunes and paddocks (which you can see on the 2nd 9, which overlooks them from a great height). If it was the Open course you played at Moonah, Eagle Ridge isn't as brutally long or difficult and is probably a bit like a cross between the Open and Legends courses there, as far as the style of course goes. It has the tee/moonah-tree enclosed fairways a bit like the Legends Course, but isn't quite as hilly or long as that one can be and the fairways probably aren't as wide.
It's a top quality course and is ranked in the Top 100 public access golf courses in Australia, by the Ausgolf website. It doesn't get as much hype as some of the courses down there, but is still miles better than most of the public courses around Melbourne and they have lots of deals during the year to make it excellent, to fantastic value.
It has also recently become an even more attractive course since they've done a lot of landscaping work around the greens and tees in recent years, so it can look great with all the plants and flowers in those areas.
If you click on this link (which is a great golf course website) you can see some pics of the course, especially if you click on "show all 123 images", about half way down the page.

http://www.golfselect.com.au/armchair/courseView.aspx?course_id=362

I look forward to hearing how you like it and what sort of condition the course is in, as I'd be happy to go back there if it is back in great shape.

Thanks for that. Yep it was the Open course at Moonah that I played, am planning on getting through a few of the others on the peninsula in the near future too. Ony got half a round in this morning (elsewhere) due to rain, but tomorrow looks good so I'm looking forward to it!

 

[aussierulesrules]

Thanks for that. Yep it was the Open course at Moonah that I played, am planning on getting through a few of the others on the peninsula in the near future too. Ony got half a round in this morning (elsewhere) due to rain, but tomorrow looks good so I'm looking forward to it!

You're welcome. Did you like the Open course? That is one of the few courses down the Peninsula that I haven't played (the others being the Old and Moonah courses at the National), but I knew as soon as I saw them both up close that I'd prefer the Legends course there, so that's where I played when I went there for a round. Just love that course and it's probably my favourite on the Peninsula (that I've played).
If you like Eagle Ridge, I highly recommend Moonah Legends and also there's St Andrews Beach (which has been ranked in the top 10 courses in the country and is now fully public), The Dunes, Cape Schanck (which is terrific and fun and has amazing views over the ocean and surrounding landscape) and others like Portsea, Rosebud Country Club (which is "inland" and totally different from the rest, but still terrific and superbly maintained), Sorrento and Flinders, which is shorter than the rest and not as well maintained, but is still fun and has great views of the ocean.
Hope you enjoy Eagle Ridge!

 

[rideclutch]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KopFfmaTG6Y

Cheers for posting that, and everyone else who posted videos, they were great. That Old Course looks amazing.

Though I would need literally 1,000 balls to even get through 9 there

 

[aussierulesrules]

Cheers for posting that, and everyone else who posted videos, they were great. That Old Course looks amazing.

Though I would need literally 1,000 balls to even get through 9 there

You're welcome, glad you liked it. The Old Course is even more amazing in person. Just incredibly dramatic and spectacular and everything is big (hills, slopes, bunkers, greens, etc). I'd never thought to look on YouTube for golf course videos before, so I was very happy to see them, too. I've always loved taking photo's on golf courses (sometimes I've almost been more excited to take photo's than play golf on some of them!), so in future I'll probably video some of the holes on my favourite courses, too and may even put them on Youtube.
It would be especially useful at courses like Moonah Links Legends, where it can be really hard to know where the hell you're supposed to be hitting to on some of those tees. If you've recorded them, then can refer to them the next you go back, so you know where to aim the next time. (When I played Legends there was one hole in particular where I stood on the tee and just had no idea where the fairway was and pretty much hit and hoped I was aiming in the right direction. I wasn't and ended up in a huge fairway bunker I didn't even realise was there!)
As for the National, it sounds like you would need a lot of balls (on the Old Course, especially), but the good thing about losing balls on courses like that is that if you hit one ball into the thick trees and go in after it, you'll probably not find your ball, but can find 10 others within a couple of minutes. It's like golf ball central!
(The first time I went in to have a sticky beek around Moonah Links, I went into some thick trees off one of the fairways and found about 25 balls within about a hundred metres of each other, within about 10 minutes!)
Anyway, good and enjoyable golfing!

 

[peternorth]

Y
As for the National, it sounds like you would need a lot of balls (on the Old Course, especially), but the good thing about losing balls on courses like that is that if you hit one ball into the thick trees and go in after it, you'll probably not find your ball, but can find 10 others within a couple of minutes. It's like golf ball central!

true about finding balls, if you have patience and if you have time. managed to snaffle 2 titilests on the ocean first yesterday! oh you'll find many of these at the national. probably all were once mine!! i seem to enjoy donating balls back to teh club!

that's the thing about the courses there. newbies reckon they can take on the course head on and clear bunkers etc. but with deep burrows, slopes and slick almost unreadable greens an attitude like that will tear you apart.

so the moral of the story is, course management (which really goes for every course)

as for taking photos, just dont hold anyone up

 

[Z_K]

Day trip to National worth it, peternorth?

 

[neroblack]

You're welcome. Did you like the Open course? That is one of the few courses down the Peninsula that I haven't played (the others being the Old and Moonah courses at the National), but I knew as soon as I saw them both up close that I'd prefer the Legends course there, so that's where I played when I went there for a round. Just love that course and it's probably my favourite on the Peninsula (that I've played).
If you like Eagle Ridge, I highly recommend Moonah Legends and also there's St Andrews Beach (which has been ranked in the top 10 courses in the country and is now fully public), The Dunes, Cape Schanck (which is terrific and fun and has amazing views over the ocean and surrounding landscape) and others like Portsea, Rosebud Country Club (which is "inland" and totally different from the rest, but still terrific and superbly maintained), Sorrento and Flinders, which is shorter than the rest and not as well maintained, but is still fun and has great views of the ocean.
Hope you enjoy Eagle Ridge!

Had a good time down at Eagle Ridge this morning, got to know the many bunkers there quite well! The course looked in great nick to me, couldn't really fault it. There are a few short par 3s but the narrow fairways and bunkering still makes them pretty challenging.

I really enjoyed the Open Course when I played it. Hadn't been playing golf too regularly at the time I went around there, I think I'd enjoy it even more now. I'll have to get organised to try out St Andrews Beach soon I think, have heard good things.

 

[peternorth]

Day trip to National worth it, peternorth?

yep. backed up today. going tomorrow, saturday and sunday.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Had a good time down at Eagle Ridge this morning, got to know the many bunkers there quite well! The course looked in great nick to me, couldn't really fault it. There are a few short par 3s but the narrow fairways and bunkering still makes them pretty challenging.

I really enjoyed the Open Course when I played it. Hadn't been playing golf too regularly at the time I went around there, I think I'd enjoy it even more now. I'll have to get organised to try out St Andrews Beach soon I think, have heard good things.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it and that it was in good nick again. Will have to pay it a visit again some time soon. They've added quite a few of those bunkers in recent years, especially the huge ones between the tees and greens on the par 3's. They make those holes pretty spectacular now!

As you enjoyed the Open course, you probably will also like St Andrews Beach, which is a similar quality championship course. Last night I tried to upload one of the pics I took when I played there, but I think it was going to be too big, so it didn't get accepted. I'll have to learn how to downsize them, so I can post some of them on here.
I just checked out their website and they say their course has just been ranked #11 in Australia by Golf Digest Australia (which if true, means that there are 3 public access courses within 10 minutes of each other down there that are ranked in the best 15 or so courses in the country!- the others being The Dunes and Moonah Legends), so that gives you an indication of how good it is. It was designed by Tom Doak, from the US, who also designed Barnbugle Dunes (Tas) and Cape Kidnappers (NZ), which are two of the most renowned and talked about new courses in the world of recent years (both considered in the top 50 in the world already!). St Andrews Beach is his only other course in Aus or NZ.
Many of the other championship courses down the peninsula have huge greens, but the main thing I remember about St A B was that the greens were relatively small and tough to hit, especially with longer irons. You need to be seriously pinpoint. It's a very challenging course, like I know the Open course to be. Here are some pics of it:

http://www.golfselect.com.au/armchair/courseView.aspx?course_id=1740&x=1#Gallery