On this particular day I was up at 5am to get there in plenty of time for my early tee off. I hadn't had that feeling of anticipation for a while. The feeling of excitement and wondering if the pictures online bear much resemblance to the actual experience of the course. The good thing is that they never really give the correct sense of scale. Anyway the drive in makes you realise that this is perfect golfing country with beautiful rolling hills for miles around that are just begging to transformed.
Above the enticing first tee that looks incredibly narrow but leads to a generous landing zone free form bunkers, on a shortish par 4. As gentle a handshake that seems to be possible from the great white shark, as the rest of the course gets fairly punishing.
The second is the first great hole, a tough and straight drive is required to avoid well positioned fairway bunkers before the hole sweeps around the base of a dune system with bunkers guarding the short right approach.
The 4th may be the best hole on the course. from a tee set high up you look down to a winding fairway and a green that seems miles away, an imperfect drive up the left sided left me with 190 yards to an angulated green with an evil front left bunker.. the result was not good but the hole is an excellent brute..
The bunkers leading to the 4th green below
The 6th is the next world class par 4 with a drive over a hollow to an sweeping fairway that if achieved leads to a lovely approach over another gully to part of a massive double green that is shared with the 14th. The putting surfaces are excellent and I was a big fan of the contouring that provided a lot of interest,
The approach to the 6th green. Fortunately for me the grass at the front is not closely mown, or my weak pitch could have been much more severely punished.
The 7th continues the theme and is a probably my favourite par 5 on the property, sweeping across undulating land and with a great distance chute that is hittable down wind and the 8th ( below) is a mid length par 3 with a huge undulating green protected short right.
The excellent front 9 finishes with a lovely teasing short par 4 that begs for a fade to a small green, only around 250 yards but a nice change to the previous exacting par 4s of the course. My drive finished in that spot, so if played correctly, a very birdieable par 4.. Though on this occasion I somehow failed!
The back 9 starts with another good par 4 with the much pictured steel windmill in the centre of the fairway. It didn't really come into play at all and is an interesting feature though I wasn't overly enamoured by it. I'm sure it must have been on the original land as oppose to being placed there!
The next is perhaps the most photographed hole of the course due to another lovely second shot to an awesome punchbowl green. Again you can actually drive very close to the green but the pitch from the left leaves a completely blind approach. The 11th green from about 100 yards.
A few people say that more could have been done with the Mornington peninsula courses given the world class quality of the land and that they maybe punch below their weight. In this instance the run of holes from the start to 11 is full of great holes with the odd world class one thrown in.. Definitely enough to give the course a top 100 status though I do wonder what the golden age architects would have done with all this land..
The toughest hole on the course at least on my day was 14 which played incredibly long into the wind and leads to that huge double green with the 6th. 200 yards to that green, not a good result...
15 again highlights the natural quality of the land and is a longer par 5 before we come to the normally very difficult ( into the wind) last 3 holes. On this occasion they were downwind and I was able to navigate them without too much hassle, including a seemingly rare birdie on 16 that normally plays as a very tough par 4.
Above the 15th fairway and below, some more great undulations on the 16th. a long enough drive will gather another 40 yards if it clears the hill.. Often easier said than done.
The 17 for me was the only obvious flaw. a tough par 3 that to a front pin at least, requires a soft shot to land well short and even then may not stay on a heavily contoured green. 18 however was an excellent quirky par 4 finisher. A bit unlike all the other par 4s in that there are multiple single trees dotted around the edges of the fairway and a larger central tree that dictates line from the tee when its downwind.
So now I have sampled 3 of the Mornington peninsula courses ( The dunes and St andrews Beach). All very enjoyable to this is a clear winner with the Dunes second and Doak's Course just behind. More to follow on that.
