Year Two: Hole Commentary

The par three 3^rd hole is the longest and strongest short hole on the course and the works proposed at this hole are relatively minor in comparison to some other holes. The tees are to be retained and an area of fescue between the second and third tees will be replaced with ‘Santa Ana’ couchgrass, while a pathway from the 2^nd green between the two mounds to the front tee will be formalized. It is proposed to extend the tee path further down the left side of the carry with sandy heath plantings to the side of the path. The start of the fairway is to be brought around 10m closer to the tees to allow short hitting golfers to reach the fairway easier.

The two smaller Pine trees in the left rough are to be skirted up so that golfers on the 3^rd tee can see golfers hitting off the 4^th, and vice versa. At the right side some of the large Pine trees have left side limbs extending out quite far towards the line of play and it is proposed to lop back some of these overhanging boughs to give an improved sense of space to the hole.

The pair of approach bunkers short right of the green are to be joined into one larger bunker, and it is to be made as a ‘hybrid’ style bunker with revetting adjacent to maintained turf and more natural edging adjacent to sandy roughs at the right, in keeping with other ‘hybrid’ bunkers constructed across the course in recent times.

The major change comes left of the green, where the visually imposing toilet block will be removed, allowing the large screening mound in front of it to also be removed. This will greatly broaden the traffic area up the side of the green and to the 4^th tee path, and it is proposed to lower this area to create a broad chipping area set below the level of the green, and giving an area where there is a safe ‘bail-out’ from the tee but one that leaves a difficult recovery shot.  The bunker is to be pushed back around two-thirds of the way up the green, coming more into play for the better golfers’ shots to a rear pin, while still providing the visual balance of a single left side bunker. The front right pair of bunkers are to be joined into one, while the right rear bunker is to be retained as is, but with the lead-in to the bunker lowered to ease golfer access. The putting surface contouring is to be retained and the green resurfaced, while a fescue hollow at the back right is to be reshaped and returfed as a fairway cut hollow.

The works proposed at the 4^th hole are a little more substantial, with the objective to make the hole more interesting using less bunkers, while improving safety to the rear boundary behind the green. At the tee it is proposed to build a small forward tee just before the start of the fairway. At the right side, the first half of the fairway is to be joined with the adjacent 5^th, removing the high mounding here in the process. This new section of fairway will be quite rumpled, with low humps and hollows, and while golfers hitting out into this area will be playing their next shot from fairway cut turf, the uneven lies will be more challenging than the flatter fairways either side.

The small pot bunker in the fairway will be retained and re-revetted, while the three fairway bunkers along the left side will be joined together in one long ‘hybrid’ bunker that will guard the direct line to the relocated green, with sandy heath rough along its left side and fairway to its right. The right side fairway bunker will be removed, and beyond this area the existing 5^th hole carry will be stripped and the extensive tree roots through this area removed and the carry reconfigured as an open sandy heath rough, acting as a hazard to long hitters’ sliced and pushed tee shots. It is proposed to remove the Casuarina tree copse right of the fairway due to its invasive roots and plant two new Pine trees in place of this copse.

The old green was never replaced in the 1998-2004 course redevelopment and it is proposed to build a new green that is slid slightly forward and left of the current location so as to allow room for a screen mound – with new tree plantings – behind the green for improved boundary safety. The green will also be a plateau green, but the bunkering pattern will be different. The new green will feature a defining bunker at the front that will ridge into the putting surface, while the left side will be free of bunkers but will feature a sharp drop off as a chipping hazard. Running shots will have to be well-placed to run into the right front of the green. A right rear bunker will also be sited, set into a screening mound. The 5^th tees will also move slightly away from the adjacent road boundary, but not as far as the green moves across, leaving a slightly increased offset distance between the green and the next tees. While the hole will be slightly shorter by some 10m, the golfing interest will be increased.

The tees are to be reconfigured to better align to the fairway and set further away from the boundary fence, with a new tee path from the previous green. The carry turf  is to be stripped, the tree roots removed and a sandy heath carry created that will also act as a tee shot hazard for the previous hole. A new tongue of fairway turf will extend from the start of the current fairway to the end of the tee path, giving shorter hitters a way to avoid the carry rough. At the right side, it is proposed to join the first part of the fairway with the adjacent 4^th, removing the high mounding here in the process. This new section of fairway will be quite rumpled, with low humps and hollows, and while golfers hitting out into this area will be playing their next from fairway cut turf, the uneven lies will be more challenging than the flatter fairways either side. It is hoped that the lake at the right will now be visible from the tee.

The current pair of tee shot bunkers will be reconfigured, with the first one reduced in size and the second moved out further into the fairway so that both bunkers are visible from the tee. The high ground in the fairway to the right of these bunkers will be pushed back past the bunkers so as to create an upslope to capture balls of long hitters’ tee shots that carry these bunkers, as currently they get a boost from a downslope. To the right, into the bank below the Pines behind the 19^th green, a new linear fairway bunker is to be cut, which will also act as a sighter bunker from the tee. From here on to the green the fairway will be widened out along the right side.

The major changes to this hole take place in the green and its approach. In order to straighten up the line of play of the 6^th hole and improve safety of these tees with approaches to the 5^th green, it is proposed to realign the 6^th tees further west, necessitating the 5^th green to be moved forward, shortening the hole by around 30m in the process. The new green and the next tees will be separated by mounding, similar to the relationship between the 12^th green and the 13^th tees. The new green will be set across the line of approach and elevated above its surrounds, with a longer left half and a shallower right half. Shorter hitting golfers will be able to run their approach shots into the open left half of the green, but the right half will require an aerial approach as it will be tightly guarded with a pair of bunkers short and one long. Additionally, there will be level changes between the left and right halves of the green for putting challenge. In essence it is proposed to make the green area more difficult than it is currently by way of compensating for the loss of 30m in length.

A small approach bunker is to be situated within the fairway some 30m in front of the green, and it will appear from back down the hole as if it is part of the front greenside bunkers even though it is well short of them. While the hole will be shorter than it is currently, the elevated green with drop-offs all round will require a well-judged approach to reach the putting surface, especially when the pin is in the tighter right half.

Some of the works planned for the 10^th hole have already been completed as part of the 11^th hole works. It is proposed to retain the tees and replace the rubble path with an exposed aggregate concrete path that will lead out to the future Pavilion behind the 9^th green. The carry rough will be smoothed out and returfed while a sandy heath rough will be made in the left side of the carry. The start of the fairway will be extended some 10m back closer to the tee and the fairway joined up with the adjacent 9^th fairway through an existing open area.

The right section of the hole in the landing area has already been remodeled, with a new sandy dune ridge created to better separate the hole from the adjacent 11^th green and 12^th tees, while the fairway at the right has been lowered and flattened. New Pine trees have already been planted atop the dune ridge, while the three previous fairway bunkers have been consolidated into one smaller hybrid bunker. The right side vegetation leading up the hill will be skirted up to allow clear views through to this area from the tees.

Under the Pine trees along the left rough it is proposed to expose patches of sand and give this area more of a sandy rough character. In the approach to the green a thick rough section at the left will be made into fairway, while in the right approach the intruding boughs will be lopped back from the large Pine here to open up shots to right rear pins.

The green is to be resurfaced, retaining the existing contours in the process, while the four existing greenside bunkers will all be retained and their revetted faces replaced.