Couple of rounds in Victoria

[BrisWesty]

Heading down to Ballarat over New Years with the family. Obviously I can't get away with playing golf every single day (or else I would become single every day), but would anyone be interested in having a round?

I wouldn't mind trying out one of the courses on the Bellarine peninsula (or Mornington peninsula if I really play my cards right). Any suggestions?


Score update - The Dunes 6/1/07
BrisWesty - 33 points
Flowergirl - 26 points
JohnnyBoy - DNF

[marcel]

On the Bellarine I'd play in order; Barwon Heads then 13th Beach (not the Creek course)
Mornington- lots of good stuff and varied; Portsea, Sorrento, The National, Flinders, Moonah, The Dunes

[Flowergirl]

If you want to play on the Peninsula let me know and if you want we can catch up.:-D I am 15 mins from all those courses. If you / and or your family want to stay we have plenty of room and very very welcome.:mrgreen: We are near the beach and if you haven't been down this way before you are in for a treat.

[Bruce]

Bugger! I'm gunna be way out east at Mirboo around then.
Unless the fires move south a bit in which case I'm going nowhere near the joint.

[Flowergirl]

Bris Westy - made any plans yet?

[BrisWesty]

This one is still a work in progress folks. Looks like it'll be somewhere on the Mornington Peninsula though! Have PMed Flowergirl in order to organise matters a little more.

[Flowergirl]

Mark is playing with John and I this Saturday morning. Gee it was hard to get a tee time. :shock: Playing at The Dunes.

There is one spot left - 7.20 am tee off. I know that it's a long way and that is pretty early - but I thought I'd extend an invite to any of you Victorians that may like to join us.

[BrisWesty]

Woo hoo! Thanks for organising this, Flowergirl. Looking forward to catching up.
Look folks, it'll be safer (supposedly) to be at The Dunes because Alaina (Mrs BrisWesty) will be driving into Melbourne to see friends and go shopping. She considers she does not have the map reading gene (she's too hard on herself), so I've given her instructions on the way to take, but everybody needs to be extra considerate to other drivers on Saturday (especially ones with Qld plates). ;-) (Alternatively, avoid Mornington Peninsula Fwy, Moorooduc Hwy, Frankston Fwy, Springvale Rd, Ferntree Gully Rd, Monash Fwy and Punt Rd.)

[BrisWesty]

This is Briswesty's wife and he MAY NOT make it to Golf on Saturday after his rude comments about my driving!!!!!!! Alternatively you may keep him for several more nights!!!!!!!!!
Alaina

[Flowergirl]

This is Briswesty's wife and he MAY NOT make it to Golf on Saturday after his rude comments about my driving!!!!!!! Alternatively you may keep him for several more nights!!!!!!!!!
Alaina


LOL:mrgreen: ( I think she's joking):shock:

[BrisWesty]

If I'm staying for several more nights, which other courses shall we play?

BTW she was joking.

[BrisWesty]

Update on the trip.

Reenie and John are truly wonderful hosts and lovely people. After arriving and having a wine, our kind hosts gave us the "Cook's tour" of the southern Mornington Peninsula, including their home course Carrington Park, Arthurs Seat (great view), Flinders GC, Cape Schanck (including a drink on the balcony), The National, etc. Talk about golfing heaven! Then returned to Rosebud for dinner and more drinks. Got to bed at midnight for an early start the following morning.

We played The Dunes Saturday morning. What a lovely course! This is my new all time favourite course (and it's going to take a lot of effort to top it)! 33 points before the wind and the heat really got up. Played the back 9 first and after 6 holes was only 1 over par, figured this course is simple, and underestimated it at my peril.

The greens were a bit mottled, but very true. Found them very well paced. I couldn't buy a putt all day (only 1 1 putt & no 3 putts) but we all burned the edges of the cup A LOT! John finished strongly with a par on the last (9th), but he was having knee troubles which seemed to lessen his enjoyment of the day.

The course has a lot of changes in height; not in terms of overall change in elevation, but just the way they've routed the holes between through and/or over the dunes.

Some of the bunkering is absolutely penal, but it's your own fault if you end up in it. I don't think it's over the top. Stay out of there! There are also some large areas of "wasteland" that can wreak havoc on your score.

A number of blind tee shots, but also a number of quite interesting tee shots through narrow necks between dunes (1st & 14th).

A little disconcerting to watch your ball run back towards you on a fairway. Quite interesting watching your ball take anything up to 20 seconds to come to rest on a green due to the undulations (and the less grainy nature of the greens). At least they were running closer to the hole for me in those cases. That doesn't happen so much at Caboolture!

I don't know how much earthmoving went on for this course, but if it has, it has been well disguised.

The rough is not excessive. You can miss the fairway, and still have good opportunities to get up and down. It is possible to lose a ball in the grass, but that's not a common thing. That said, I don't think I've ever found so many "lost" balls in "obvious" places such as sandtraps etc.

If you are in the area PLAY THIS COURSE!

The company was fantastic. If you are in Victoria do drop in to see Reenie and John, they really are great people, and despite being a long way from ozgolf central, keep the ozgolf flag flying in the south! Alaina and I will definitely be back for another visit!

[Flowergirl]

Thanks so much for your kind words Mark. It was lovely to spend some quality time with you and Alaina. Love to see you stay again - next time with your girls.
You really looked like you were on fire at The Dunes!!! Wish my game was up to scratch - but it was a fun day with good company.
Anyone else coming down this way is more than welcome.:shock:

[TS]

Mark. Good to hear The Dunes is a nice course. I booked a game there on the 24 Feb.

[BrisWesty]

Better than nice TS!

You'll love it provided the wind isn't blowing a gale.

[AndyP]

You'll love it regardless of how you play too.