Settlers Run Golf Club (68)

A opportunity to play with Social Golf Australia Victorian Tour at this challenging Greg Norman designed course in Melbourne's south east.  Natural undulating fairways and plenty of water make Settler's Run Golf Club a tough test with a slope rating of 140 off the black tees.  We played off the silver tees and it was shorter but still rated at 134.

An early arrival meant the opportunity to hit a few balls on the range, which is a bit of a walk from the clubhouse, although greeted with a kangaroo coming to check out proceedings on the walk back.  Off to the 1st tee, a downhill par 5

The first few holes seem to favour staying to the left with deep bunkers catching anything too far right.  The greens are fairly well protected.

Off the silver tees there are a few shorter par 4's but they still tested out your irons as the greens are fairly large but putting surface is good.  The rough is penalizing so it pays to keep it on the fairways as even straying into the first cut is reasonably long.

It took me until the second nine to have a par, so still coming to terms with the recent lesson and swing adjustments.

Water abounds at Settler's Run with a number of hazards and wetlands that come into play mainly around fairways and drives.

Tenth hole

 

Golftec Driving Range and Lesson

A recent birthday gift included a package of lessons and 30 min sessions on the indoor golf simulators at Golftec in Melbourne.

So a lunch time booking made, I headed off on a Thursday to meet Phil Wright one of the pros available at Golftec.

I have known that I have had a 'loopy' swing so that I swing from out to in at impact and have therefore played with a left to right shot shape most of my life.  Despite this I have managed to play reasonably, at least with my irons, although of late my driving has been poor and I have lost all confidence with that club.

So Phil watches a few shots, films them on his iPad and then goes through with me, including a comparison to videos of Adam Scott's swing.

Next we work on some drills using a mirror behind the driving bay to get my backswing straighter and more upright than it has been.  The other main point was to try and limit the amount of leg movement I was making to get more of a 'coil' in my backswing.

Royal Melbourne GC - West (1)

A very kind invitation saw us head out to Royal Melbourne Golf Club on a Friday afternoon with the weather gods smiling although a bit warmer for Melbourne with a top of 32C.

Royal Melbourne recently hosted the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship that saw the winner Antonio Murdaca qualify for the 2015 Masters at Augusta, congratulations.

Clubhouse from practice green

From the entrance, driveway, practice fairway, clubhouse everything is spectacular at Royal Melbourne and that is before you even head to the first tee.

 

 

We were playing the West course which is consistently rated as number 1 in Australia.
It was fantastic to finally be out on the famous fairways that have hosted so many wonderful tournaments and elite golfers. 

The bunkering is very strategically placed with the surrounding rough being almost as difficult to get out of. 

4th tee - uphill par 5

Areas of bracken that I'm sure don't trouble the professionals too much certainly troubled us enough today.

The beautiful par 3 5th hole where the only place to be is on the green, sufficiently away from the front to avoid the ball rolling back about 40m down the slop and fairway.

Cavernous bunker on 10th

Yes that's my ball at the bottom of the huge bunker that protects the corner of the fairway on the short 10th.

Long par 3 16th hole where you need to avoid bunkers left and short right is the bail out option.

18th tee - do you take on the line over the bunkers?

A wonderful day out on a magnificent course that will be long remembered, alas the golf was not at an equivalent standard to the course and facilities.

Heathmont Golf Park - Driving Range

After a lesson earlier in the week, thought I'd better get out and practice some of the new drills.

A 20 min drive down Canterbury Rd takes us to Heathmont Golf Park where in addition to the driving range which has 20 bays, there is a Pitch & Putt course and also a mini golf course.

The range is located past the pitch and putt course and has 13 undercover bays, although on this day with rain and win the bays to the right were more protected from the weather.

The mats and bays are in good condition, the buckets of balls are reasonably priced and each time I have been, it has been possible to walk straight up to a bay.

The golf shop has a good range of 'experienced' golf balls in different grades that are good value.