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.

Metropolitan Golf Club (10)

The first round of the Golf Race to Bonville series for 2014/5 had a large field heading to Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne's sandbelt.

A very well organised day and great weather, although a breeze kept the temperature down for the 8:00am shotgun start.

 

Rated 10 in the 2012 Golf Digest Top 100, Metropolitan GC is to host the 2014 Australian Masters in November.  The opportunity to play as they prepared the course for the event was too good to miss.

Metropolitan has hosted a number of Australian Opens, the Australian PGA and a number of other professional and amateur events.

A new clubhouse was completed in 2013 that overlooks the 18th green

After a long break between games, my scoring was poor with only a couple of pars coming at the 1st and 3rd (we started on the 4th today).

8th hole

17th hole

Yering Meadows Golf Club ( - )

An invitation out to the Yarra Valley north east of Melbourne had us heading out on an overcast day to Yering Meadows Golf Club.

Clubhouse at Yering Meadows

 

 

The clubhouse has fantastic views across the valley and it is a demanding course with 27 holes on which water features many times.  Fairways in good condition, but venture off them and the slope towards the water can be deadly.

 

 

Today we played the Valley Course, with the holes numbered 10-27 to avoid confusion.

 

 

Unfortunately my golf deserted me today and the scoring was not good.  What happens between the practice range and the first tee is a mystery to many, myself included.

 

I did continue my good form on the par-3's though, managing pars on 3 out of 4.

 

 

 

So, must be time for a trip to the driving range soon

 





 

Victoria Golf Club (9)

The 2014 ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open was played at Victoria GC 13-16 Feb and we had a chance to play the course on the Monday morning after the event.


The course was still as the ladies played on Sunday, grandstands, marquees and final day pin positions and we played from the tournament tee positions.  Victoria GC was a hive of activity as workers commenced dismantling the infrastructure.



Victoria Golf Clubhouse

Victoria GC has been the host of many major tournaments including Australian Opens.  A shotgun start, we commenced on the par 4 3rd hole.  Over 100 bunkers around the course make accuracy the first goal.


Fourth hole, 130m Par 3

The greens were quick but held the line beautifully and a pleasure to putt on.  Overall course was in fantastic condition as to be expected.


Greens were firm and difficult to stop the ball and the contours mean a few putts or chips back up the swales around the green.



 A great day and experience, it's always a pleasure to play Victoria GC, and I look forward to next opportunity to do it again.