Kooralbyn Valley

[PeteyD]

OK some pictures from today. Wish I had a decent camera instead of the wee Kodak one, but here goes.

1st hole 520m Par 5 Index 10 (400/5/5). This is one of the ones they changed. Originally a par 4, tee behind the trees in the distance. This new tee hits out over some water, about to where the maintenance dudes are whe nthey sould be scraping the greens.

Mid - Approach over/left of the trees, onto the old first fairway. Lots of water left.

App - Final shot in over the bunker. More water left. Large green covered in sand and chicken poop

[PeteyD]

2nd hole - 348m Par 4 Index 12 (300/4/ Nicely routed dogleg right, uphill all the way. Nice landing area for a fairway off the tee, although gorillas can take the tree on with a driver. Anything a little right might pull up on the hill, but big right is goneski.

Looking back down from beside the green.

Another green covered in crap.

[PeteyD]

It is well past where the old 18th green was. There is the old cart paths through the middle as you can see from DC's drive. It also forces you to play over the trees that used to be the right side of the fairway. Yes the first hole no longer fits in with Muirheads (i think?) design at all, until you get near the green.

[PeteyD]

3rd hole - 360m Par 4 Index 8 (261/4/13) An awesome hole up the valley. Tee shot to a landing area with a gully all around the right side (seen better from the ladies tee in the second pic). The bunker is about driving length for us wee hitters. Approach up the hill to the green is difficult to judge.

[PeteyD]

4 - 446m Par 5 Index 18 (383/5/15) Continuing up the valley that 3 is in. Tee shot is to a large landing area the should funnel the ball towards the middle ( as long as it is not a big fade ... ) more of the same for the second and third.

2nd shot is from the green back down the fairway. Tees are in the distance. A big drain up the left side of the fairway (red staked) tends to eat balls.

The green here used to let the ball go way back down the fairway if you rolled it off the front. Pretty hard to see that at the moment though

[PeteyD]

5th - 220m Par 3 Index 4 (201/3/10) Very nice par 3, the one that everyone remembers. Apparently it is about a 200 foot drop from the tee to the green. A gully on the right you can't see from the top is a lot of trouble, and cuts in front of the right bunker a bit.

[PeteyD]

6 - 379m Par 4 Index 6 (282/4/4) The 6th is a split hole. Social players go to a green near the bunkers on the left of the tee shot. Others play a dogleg right over the valley of death (which you can see behind the 5th green in the shots earlier). Drive is to a landing area to the left of the smaller gum tree, which is on the end edge of the valley. The 150m post is also on the edge of the valley.

You can see the gum trees on the left in the shot back from behind the green.

[PeteyD]

7 - 482m Par5 Index 16 (442/5/2) Par 5 that doglegs right after the tee shot (Back over the valley again). Valley winds round and runs across in front of the green ( about 100m out) but is not jungle up this end

[PeteyD]

8 - 158m Par 3 Index 14 (153/3/18 )Downhill par 3 with a narrow green and a big tree. Should be relatively straightforward ...

forgot to photo the green. Left is fairly safe although can't be seen from the tee.

[PeteyD]

9 - 409m Par 4 Index 2 (295/4/17) A favourite hole, mainly due to the halfway house at the end of it and plenty of cold beer. Drive to a landing area left of the pine tree and over the gully that cuts in (or to the right and off a tree back to the middle of the fairway ... ) losing it right puts it up behind the 7th tee so fairly safe as long as you are over the trees.

From there it is downhill to a large green. 2nd shot looks over the green and back up the hill.

Aaaahhhh beer.

[markTHEblake]

Hang on a sec...that new first hole. Please don't tell me .

By the looks of the pics nothing has changed on the first, except for moving the tee. But when i saw the plans for this over a year ago, there as definitely more happening than that. So i am guessing they will be bringing in the shovels sometime.

Also pretty sure the 4th was changing to a Par 4

and that 1st tee looks like its in the middle of the old par 3 course

[Jarro]

Hang on a sec...that new first hole. Please don't tell me they pulled the tees way back to the right back near where the old 18th green was AND just kept all the existing paths in play up the right side of the old first fairway.
So they now slice right up the guts of the new line of play....is so..thats a disgrace.

Dicky, the new 1st tee is further up towards the Hotel, more up to the right of the old 18th green.

I hope you're right about the shovels coming out Blakey, 'cos the way the 1st plays now, there is way too much cart path and shit right in your landing zone for the tee shot.

It's good to see they're coring and sanding the greens though, i thought they were pretty ordinary earlier in the year. It is though pretty poor that they chose to do works during a Copperhead round

Shouldn't it be that you get a reduced green fee if there are works going on for a comp round ?

[kpac]

Shouldn't it be that you get a reduced green fee if there are works going on for a comp round ?

Absolutely, even without a reduced gree fee it would have been nice for the pro shop to INFORM us that the greens aren't up to scratch (ie covered in shit)

On a side note i still find the course very enjoyable, yes, even off the black markers. If you stay on the fairways the grass was good (it wasn't lush green or anything, but good coverage and green enough)
The new 1st layout is interesting, i didn't like it because i found the water, but after they get rid of the car path i think it will play pretty nice. The new 18th is a nice one. Off the black tees i played it as a par 5, driver, 7, P, and would be pretty dangerous for me to play it any different. Dave played a rescue in to the green and got it pretty close, but it was a lot of risk for reward, good hole i thought.
I'm hoping that we have a wet winter/autumn and i think it will look a nice course. Because the layout i think is one of the best around.
After a day of letting the frustration settle about the greens i can now see that atleast they are doing something. They seem to have plenty of ground staff, and are doing a decent amount of work, i'd hope that it is in an effort to get the course looking good for the chrissy break.

[AndyP]

I think it deserved it's own thread, PD.

Although the par 3 5th is spectacular and long, it didn't feel that hard as there was no protection at the front of the green, unlike the other par 3s.

[AndyP]

With the paths there, we had two walkers cut across the fairway on us, then the path cuts back across again. They didn't even seem to care that we could have been hitting balls at their noggins.

[kpac]

Although the par 3 5th is spectacular and long, it didn't feel that hard as there was no protection at the front of the green, unlike the other par 3s.

True, however i have landed in one of those bunkers before, and coming into a bunker at a sqilliion miles an hour can be leathal!

Yeah i dunno 69, i recon they're putting in a bit of cash, they seem to have a LOT of ground staff, and complete new fleet of carts, there must be some cash to spend. They could well just be going at it slowly....

[AndyP]

Plus the new proshop and new clubhouse area.

BTW there is plenty of water around in little ponds, etc for Choppa to drink from.

[andylo]

Thanks PD!! Great photos so far! Got me pumped and want to go play next if not this weekend

[AndyP]

Is this just pedestrians from the hotel ?
If so..thats a law suit waiting to happen.

Or local residents. They weren't golfers.

Thanks PD!! Great photos so far! Got me pumped and want to go play next if not this weekend

You might want to wait for the greens to settle, Lo. I think Petey is thinking about going back in a couple of months.

[PeteyD]

Yea hotel guests or maybe residents out for a early morning powerwalk and noggin bash. Pretty stupid wlaking on cart paths in a golf course.

I agree on the 5th, not particularly difficult but certainly a pretty hole (at least with ah green green!)

The first tee hits basically from the road over some of the old par 3 course. There does not appear to have been much done on it other than the new tee. Maybe the paths are still there due to earthworks to be done later? I do not like the hole at all at the moment.

Andy give the greens a few weeks to recover. It is not worth the fees to putt in chicken poop.

Anyway must get onto the back 9.

[PeteyD]

10 - 352m Par 4 Index 15 (275/4/7). Index 15 ??? they have got to be kidding. Tee shot is a knee knocker for us wee hitters. Edge of the water is about 200m away (off the blacks). It is even a fair whack from the ladies tee (second photo). There is a ladies drop zone on the other side, right of the big tree. The gully goes around to the green tucked in behind the trees on the left in the distance. you can just see the edge of the green in the approach photo.

Golfer69 informs me that the water carry is 182m, but you want the extra 20m to get up the hill to the fairway.

[PeteyD]

11 - 339m Par4 Index 13 (331/4/12) Short downhill par 4. Plenty of room off the tee as long as you don't push right, back to the lake on 10 (cart path on the right is close to the lake)

[PeteyD]

12 379m Par 4 Index 5 (317/4/12) Uphill par 4. Tee shot is from the blue tees, black is further back and more to the right. Big landing area, line is on the left side just next to the big tree on the edge, which should run down hill and around unless you plug near the sprinkler head ...

Looking back from the green in the second photo you can see the slope from the big tree.

[PeteyD]

13 - 532m Par 5 Index 11 (481/5/1). Long downhill par 5, water in play on the right from your second shot. Longdrive hole. Plenty of room for the drive to land on this one. Hole reduces in width nicely as you approach the green. The water hazard runs around behind the green.

[PeteyD]

14 190m Par3 Index 17 (136/3/14) Card says 160m, but a new tee hosts the blacks further up the hill. The only hole I find disappointing on the golf course (assuming 1 is a work in progress). Nice of em to run the sprinklers on the chicken poo for us when we were playing. This is the hole that had 2 heads jammed and just bubbling watr on the left side of the green. Maybe it is designed to be a rest before the next hole. Don't hook your tee shot into the poop on the left.