SA 'heaps good' Course thread

[thecollective]

is the price difference between say Grange and West lakes justified? I've played West Lakes a couple of times and enjoy it enough but I don't love it. I know there are plenty of courses down south that are nice and cheaper again than say a west lakes, so are they better value? A little confused at this stage...

Welcome Adam,

All comes down to what you value and enjoy within the game. Grange has two golf courses ranked in the top 50 in the country (that are polar opposites in design aesthetics) plus a gym and top class facilities. Considering the price they charge I would actually say it is arguably one of the best value for money tier 1 memberships in the country. In comparison to West Lakes; a single 18 hole tier 2 course with congestion issues and a very large membership I would say the price difference is more than justified.

(based of where you live) If your looking for a value for money option I would consider westward ho (Adelaide Shores) as it is quite a reasonable track for the price you pay.

[Adam_C]

Welcome Adam,

All comes down to what you value and enjoy within the game. Grange has two golf courses ranked in the top 50 in the country (that are polar opposites in design aesthetics) plus a gym and top class facilities. Considering the price they charge I would actually say it is arguably one of the best value for money tier 1 memberships in the country. In comparison to West Lakes; a single 18 hole tier 2 course with congestion issues and a very large membership I would say the price difference is more than justified.

(based of where you live) If your looking for a value for money option I would consider westward ho (Adelaide Shores) as it is quite a reasonable track for the price you pay.

Thanks for the reply!

I go to the chiropractor at Grange. I'd love to join there. I have had great conversations with my neighbour who's a member there and he mentions those same points to me regularly. I don't doubt the value at all. I just can't justify that amount of money for the amount I play. (Currently about once every 2 weeks). Grange is a beautiful place though!

[Kind Carey]

Thaxted still has a solid 1 & 1/2 to 2 years left of work to do.

I was seriously thinking of going back but after what they did to Jay and the timeline for finishing stopped me.

No major course redevelopments planned for 18-24 months...

[Adam_C]

I played Thaxted just before the opened the new 3rd hole. I was impressed with the condition of the course. I was warned that the greens were sometimes tricky and could be hard to read and they were right (I am only a beginner). But i did really like some of the holes

[Wenz]

Thaxted Park is seriously in great nick. Fairways from tee to green are superb.
Greens are pure and fast.
Only negative is the uphill and downhill nature of most holes.

Would definitely play again, if only it were a little closer to me.

[thecollective]

had some spare time in the South on Friday, so had my first hit @ Thaxted Park GC

Despite a disappointing and exhausting start (uphills galore + hated the mickey mouse 2nd green) I came to the new #6; a new par 5 that was played as a temporary par 3, its claim was that the green was inspired by the road hole #17 at St Andrews. Found that quite amusing considering the green was about 6 times the size and the road doesn't really come into play unless your seriously wayward right and your ball skips through the very thick fringe of rough. I fired 6 balls all with different trajectories from the desired best angle from the fairway. The green is heavily contoured and can see the locals developing some polarising opinions regarding where their ball ends up. I also tried a putter and a wedge shot from the road, did not really inspire me like the old course would.

Hole #8 was an interesting Par 3 and I enjoyed the ridge in the green

Hole #9 was an exciting tee shot; I enjoyed the battle with the lhs bunkers and the first ball was well penalised (with a heavy bunker lip to negotiate). My 2nd tee shot was perfect and caught the downward slope just past the bunker to what is considered the ideal line; I was then miffed about why I had to negotiate 2 steeply crested bunkers cut up against the green when the rhs had a shorter bunker and then a large landing zone front of green to bounce your knock down to the flag. I had a convo with the general manager (who was taking photos on the fairway) and said that the lhs is the better line noting Crafter 'likes to mess with your head a bit'. Still cannot get my head around the design as the run-off rhs was not severe.

I enjoyed the #12 (corrected, thanks Wenz!) and was my pick of the holes; a lovely short Par 4 naturally cut into the contour of the valley; pity the green is a little cookie cutter; relatively flat and perfectly oval.

The #15 (from memory here, please correct if I am wrong) was a nice short 100m Par 3, very enjoyable and exciting tee shot into another valley. Reminded me of the Little River Par 3 in its prime (voted best par 3 in Australia back in the 90's).

The course currently has the issue of the polarizing differences between the existing and re-designed holes; will be interesting to revisit the course in a few years time once it is all complete.

As for conditioning I concur with all of the above comments, greens were very plush, fast and rolling true, fairways were a delight to hit off.

I look forward to my next round there in a few years time when all the changes are finished, whilst the land at times is rather uninspiring (particularly with most of the uphill holes) its good to see the club taking forward steps to improve the playing experience for its patrons.

[Wenz]

That 6th green is something else, I've been trying to find a photo but I don't believe it would even do it justice. When I played, my playing partner 5 putted after leaving his approach well short.

#11 is a par 3, so I think you mean #12. The fairways on this hole are absolutely mint!

I quite like the next hole aswell, great visual driving hole over the dam.

#15 is correct, I struggle on par 3's this short as I don't like hitting wedges from tee blocks.

[thecollective]

That 6th green is something else, I've been trying to find a photo but I don't believe it would even do it justice. When I played, my playing partner 5 putted after leaving his approach well short.

#11 is a par 3, so I think you mean #12. The fairways on this hole are absolutely mint!

I quite like the next hole aswell, great visual driving hole over the dam.

#15 is correct, I struggle on par 3's this short as I don't like hitting wedges from tee blocks.

Wenz: correct!; was #12, the dam/valley had all dried up but was probably one of few holes cut into the natural contour of the land, I like the risk/reward on this hole and if you get it long enough it reaches the downhill slope and feeds closer to the green. Had a look on google maps and yes the green is perfectly oval, they have a nice parcel of land just to the right of it where you could make a nice long narrow green almost like RA #3, only problem could be drainage during winter.

PS: #13 was a fun long drive hole and I enjoyed the width off the tee, I feel this hole is a great example of how to effectively use just a few trees to sculpture a hole, as opposed creating bowling alleys for dart golf

#11 was a disappointingly long and boring uphill par 3; really disliked the tee shot, the seniors would be taking driver on this hole

I thought #1/#10 reminded me alot Sandy Creek; two very similar and un-inspiring Par #5's, the worst hole on the course for me was #4, downhill, dead straight bowling alley to another oval green, reminded me of Greenhills adventure park with all the up and downhill holes.

[Wenz]

I too didn't enjoy the up and down nature of the front nine.

The course has come along way and it really is a great option down south now.

#4: Looking back, this hole was rather lacking. Even the fairways weren't like other fairways. My playing partner drove the green here though, so his opinion probably is different to ours.

SC has changed their layout a little since you probably played there last. The new #1 is the old #17 up the hill with very tall trees lining the right side.

[Chilled]

Well that certainly will be the last time I play Flagstaff Hill GC. Practice area is a shambles, mats strew around not even attached to the ground, shrubbery interfering with your swing in the practice nets, grass uncut, pro shop has nothing in it in readiness for the renovation I assume. Sunday round ended up being ****ing over 5 hours (!), utterly disgraceful. Blokes a couple of groups before us has dark trackies on and collarless tee shirts; poor attire. Bunkers poor in many places, fairways ok, greens ok but very slow.

Place has just gone to sh*t. Maybe with the sell off of the land to fund the retirement village they will be able to get this place back up to spec, but they've got a long long way to come back.

Getting ready now for the Australian Women's Open this weekend at Kooey, looking forward to seeing it on the world stage.

[thecollective]

Blokes a couple of groups before us has dark trackies on and collarless tee shirts; poor attire.

Oi

[wazamac]

The retirement village will be bogged down in council for a while.
They are more interested in bringing in functions than the golf course.
Never played a round there in under 5 hrs.

[Hatchman]

Blokes a couple of groups before us has dark trackies on and collarless tee shirts; poor attire.

Bit harsh, they most likely dressed up for this game from the usual stubbies, singlet and thongs.

[Chilled]

Bit harsh, they most likely dressed up for this game from the usual stubbies, singlet and thongs.

I have absolutely no doubt they dressed up for the occasion. I naturally we all aspire to the lofty dress sense heights of you Hatchy

[marcel]

Bit harsh, they most likely dressed up for this game from the usual stubbies, singlet and thongs.

I'll have to go back and read Chilled's post, I just assumed they were other Kooyonga members having a game elsewhere because their course is unavailable this week

[Chilled]

I'll have to go back and read Chilled's post, I just assumed they were other Kooyonga members having a game elsewhere because their course is unavailable this week

Unfortunately unlike Royal Adelaide members, their sh*t did stink.

[marcel]

Pity

[Hard_Pan]

Had another impromptu work trip down to Southern SA earlier this week and thought I'd drop by a few of the courses on the way to check their condition.

Stopped at Bordertown first..

IMG_0880.jpg

View from the in front of the club house - looks pretty good.


Then Naracoorte..

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View south west of the club house.

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West of the club house. Greens at both courses look pretty good at the moment.

I also checked out Mt Gambier and it was similar to above.

Talking with some locals later I learned that Lucindale and Keith were also quite good at the moment.

If only they weren't 4+ hours away!!

[Lagerlover]

9th @ Bordertown. Dogleg left, drove it once.. worst mistake I ever made.

[Hard_Pan]

Bought a copy Golf Australia magazine whilst waiting on a flight out out of Adelaide last week as an article on "The Top 12 Courses within 45 minute's drive of Adelaide" caught my eye. Unsurprisingly RA and Kooey are 1 and 2 followed by the usual suspects. Interested they put Tea Tree Gully at 6, just behind Grange East and utterly dumbfounded they put Blackwood at 11, between Thaxted (10), and the Pat (12). Nearly choked on my beer nuts actually!

[Benje]

Hard Pan

who wrote the article/did the ratings?

Benje

[Hard_Pan]

Hard Pan

who wrote the article/did the ratings?

Benje

The author is not cited Benje. First thing I looked for.

[marcel]

who wrote the article/did the ratings?

Paul Gow?

[Benje]

Well, at least Paul Gow has played at Blackwood - he played with Jimeoin during a Fringe festival, probably March 2017.

Thaxted Park has some really good holes (and a few horrible holes, mainly climbing the SE corner of the course). Not great soil aand not a lot of money available for presentation. The use of the creek on the back nine is very good (in California, they would call it a barranca).

Tea Tree Gully has better soil (sand). The course can be described as 'compact' - moreso in the first iteration when the practice fairway was an uphill par 3 (16th), and the practice fairway occupied the current 16th (par 4).

If there was a word to describe most of Adelaide's golf courses it would be compact. The better courses have 110 acres, the best has more land and most play on less than 100 acres. The area that Blackwood played on pre extension to the south in 1992 was barely more than 80 acres. Riverside has less land today. Tea Tree Gully doesn't have much more land either. The newer courses built on the outskirts of Adelaide generally have more acreage available.

[wazamac]

No mention of Royal North Haven?