The Dunes

The Dunes, seen as possibly the 3rd best public access course behind Barnbougle and lost farm,  is located in the Mornington Peninsula roughly an hour form Melbourne. It's very decent stretch of land with a few other notable courses nearby. It was a toss up between playing Doak's St. Andrews beach and the Dunes though being the tight scotsman ( having reciprocal rights for the dunes) and more favourable tee times available prior to catching an evening flight back to sydney, it was off to the Dunes. 

If anything it exceeded my expectations and also provided some good material to play around with the camera. It's certainly in the links style with the rolling hills/dunes being fairly similar to what we see back home. It's set back from the sea and doesn't have the view of the tasmanian courses but as a golf course I'd rate it pretty close, only slightly behind the Lost farm.

It begins with a decent and testing dogleg par 4 that runs between a set of dunes. The second is an excellent par 4 with rolling farmland to the left and a great waste area before a tricky elevated green.

The 3rd below was a tricky mid short/range par 3 with a very tough cross wind to negotiate on that day,  there was a nice contrast with the dry rough compared to the lush green and surrounds.

This leads to the 4th that is an absolute cracker of a risk reward short par 4 though I struggled to get a decent shot of it at the time. just over 300 yards, downhill to sloping, sideways ( nicklaus esque) green. at the 230 mark are a set of bunkers that certainly came into play with the 3 club wind that was around at the time.

The 5th continues the fine run and is an initially blind par 5 leading to a  fairway with numerous waste style bunkers running up to the green.

The 9th completes the first loop and ends down at the clubhouse. An interesting dog leg of sorts, down hill with all the room to the right and a huge waste bunker out of site from the tee to the left. ( below)

Highlights on the back 9 would be the run of holes from 12-15.  A quote from Nick Faldo in the strokesaver reveals his appreciation of the par 5 12th that features a great option for the second to bite off as much of another huge waste area ( roughly 150 - 200 yards long) to maximise distance to the green,

Below the view looking back down to the 12th fairway.

13 is an excellent par 3 that really has a scottish feel to it with a green perched below a large dunes and well protected by a couple of bunkers at the front and one at the back. The 14th is very reminiscent of the 10th at Barnbougle with a generous fairway to the right of a huge bunker, although in this version there is a tricky fairway bunker on the driving line that improves the strategic nature of the hole ( and one that Barnbougle would benefit from too).

The 14th bunker to be avoided and green up the hill.

The course then has 2 new holes, developed after the owner purchased some extra land to prevent an apparent housing developement. Not sure what the old ones were like but the current run is very strong.

The 17th is interesting in that there is a plaque on the tee from Tom Watson who described it as 'exquisite' on his visit here. Its roughly 200 yards to an elevated green surrounded at the front by numerous bunkers. I didn't actually rate it that high but here is the green none the less.

after the relative let down of 17 ( for me anyway!) the course finishes with an excellent par 4 finish. lying between the most grand dunes on the course, the bunkerless fairway leads to a very tough elevated green that is not to be missed on the short side.

So overall this was a very good track, really struggling to find a weak hole out there and provided a lot of decent photo opportunities. Lost farm pips it only with the scenery and one or two more 'wow' moments. I'll have to return to Melbourne to sample the more fancied National as well as the sandbelt courses that I felt a bit let down by on a previous visit.