RACV Goldfields Resort, Creswick

A weekend away in the Victorian goldfields happened to coincide with a blast of wintery weather.  So with an early morning tee time it was on with the beanie, gloves and a few extra layers of clothing.

The RACV Goldfields Resort is just out of Creswick a lovely small town not far from Ballarat or Daylesford.

The staff are friendly and service excellent, so while my better half headed off for a massage at the day spa, I tested my night vision with a dawn hit off.

A cart is essential here as a number of holes up or down severe slopes.

Both sides of fairways heavily forested and a couple leaving narrow gaps for approaches, or over some majestic gum trees.

There was frost still on the greens and fairways, ice in the puddles and kangaroos plentiful.



A interesting course with nice greens, and often hitting approach shots uphill.

Turned in a little over an hour, and with frost still everywhere, headed of for the second nine.

A maximum temperature of 9 degrees forecast today, although it was not much above 6 all morning.

Metropolitan Golf Cub (10) - Charity Golf Day

The annual charity day for the Oakleigh Centre at the fantastic Metropolitan Golf Club.


Have played this event for 3 or 4 years, with the format now an ambrose team event.



It was a very early start and on a cold but dray winters day, the club had thought of everything...

When it's too dark to see the practice range

A shotgun start had us heading off to the 17th tee to commence our round.

Par 4 17th hole

Although it was early a breeze kept it cold early on.

Par 3 2nd hole

Like many sandbelt courses, the par 3 holes at Metropolitan are great demanding precise shots to avoid the bunkers and correct distance selection was proving difficult with the wind.


The first hole was out of action today with irrigation work, but Metropolitan has a short 19th which was in play today.

Par 3 19th hole (after the 5th)

We were not managing to hit enough greens today to give us many birdie chances, so with the lowest handicap a 21 we were staying around par most of the day.

Par 4 10th hole

We turned even with the card, but some harder holes still to come.

Par 3 11th hole

Many shots were lobs over bunkers leaving par putts, and we managed to finish the day +3 which was not good for an ambrose event.

Guide from 2004 Masters

Map of course in clubhouse

Portsea Golf Club (44)

My second visit to Portsea Golf Club but the first since the course redesign and construction of the new clubhouse some years ago.

Portsea was ranked 44 in the 2012 Golf Digest Top 100 rankings that I am tracking, although has now dropped to 62 in the 2016 edition.

Another round in the SGA Tour Victoria on a cold winters day for an early morning drive to the end of the Mornington Peninsula 



Unfortunately despite being in our first group due off the 1st, we had another social group in front, who were slow getting away and so we teed off over 20 minutes late.   Not a great way to start the round.

Portsea is not a long course by todays standards, but it demands precise shot making, particularly irons to greens that have sloping fronts that can see a shot that is not played to green correctly, take the slope and end up 20-30m down a hill.

The par 3 holes are examples with them requiring carries over sloping fairways.

 

After a couple of double bogeys to start the round, my first 1 putt (5 in total for the day) gave me a par on the par 5 third hole.

 

Turned with 18 points and hoping to improve on the second nine.  The 10th is a great short hole called "Little Devil", and a 3 iron and wedge and another 1 putt, only birdie of the day.

 

Gave it back though with only wipe for the day on the pat 4 12th hole.



Closing the round I didn't take advantage of the two par 3 holes and 2 where I had 2 shots thanks to two 3-putts.

 

 

Finished with 36 points thanks to a 5 for 3 on the last.





Box Hill Golf Club ( -)

Good Friday in Melbourne means a public holiday and an excuse for a game at Box Hill Golf Club a suburban course in Melbourne's east.

Club house at Box Hill Golf Club

An overcast start to the day we had some light misty rain later in the day, enough for umbrellas but not wet weather gear.

Where would you rather be?

Always an enjoyable course, the tree lined fairways demand accurate tee shots or you can find yourself having to navigate gaps back to the fairway.


We were off the white tees, which on a couple of holes were quite forward.


First hole, front tees, short par 4

Par 4 first hole



A couple of poor shots led to some wiped holes and 13 points first nine, before starting well on the second nine for 17 points, and a total of 30 points.

Par 3 11th hole

Spring Valley Golf Club (55)

Today was the 11th annual Parkview Hotel Golf Day at Spring Valley Golf Club in the Melbourne Sandbelt.

The weather was great although a strong breeze made some holes play long today.

An ambrose completion our 4 man team had us all on similar handicaps, which is probably not ideal for an ambrose, but an enjoyable day.  We didn't make enough putts early on and so ended up a couple over par.

Wonderful hosts at Spring Valley, with a superb BBQ dinner concluding the day.

Growling Frog Golf Course (-)

The next SGA Victoria game at the Growling Frog course north of Melbourne.

This was also my second round game in the SGA Matchplay.  My opponent had to concede 5 shots.

We were scheduled to start on the 1st hole but a late hiccup meant we started with a shotgun start on the 9th hole.

A reasonably steady start whilst my opponent was struggling had me a few holes up.

Eventually held on to win 3 and 2 and progress to third round.

Morack Golf Driving Range - Swing Profile App

As slightly different post to usual but have been trying to get to the range and work on the long ingrained out to in swing of mine.

Managed to get to the range just before sunrise - best part of the day you know.

The Swing Profile app has a auto capture function so you can set up your phone/camera device behind you press the record button and wait for it to show green on the screen and it will auto record each swing.

The free version only records last 3 swings, so am thinking of upgrading.  The best feature to me is the automatically drawn lines that give you the opportunity to see clearly what the swing is doing.  These don't appear on the exported video though


Still some work on that first downward motion for me.