Golf Vic Vol 60 No 3 2019

they like the old course okay and you are going to close it, spend a lot of money and they still have 18 holes when you are done. And it is all a matter of opinion whether it is better or not. “Most architects won’t see it that way, but it entirely is a matter of opinion whether what we’re doing is good or not.” Doak can rest easy that member opinion at The National is with him. The club appointed him after playing patterns, scoring statistics and a member survey showed the Ocean course was significantly less popular than the other two. He has produced a course which has already had overwhelmingly positive feedback from members and predictions of a high entry in the magazine golf rankings by those experts already given a sneak peak. Golf Digest and Golf Australia magazines have the Moonah and Old courses ranked in the teens while the Ocean had fallen outside the top 50. Gunnamatta is considered certain to be at least top-20 and possibly top-10. The course is currently open to members for restricted social play ahead of a formal opening in late spring by which time the wintergreen couch fairways, already fine for play, will be even healthier. The original Legend couch fairways on the Ocean were replaced some time back by wintergreen which means some of the new holes are not quite as mature as the parts of the course which retain the old fairways. The greens, previously A1 are now a blend of Pure Distinction and A1 with the approaches Fescue. At 6023 metres from the men’s blue tees and 4842 from the women’s green tees, it’s only marginally shorter than the respective Ocean tees but the important difference is the routing, especially the reduction of the number of elevated greens. “My first impression of the land was it must be a little too hilly, because that is what the Ocean course felt like it turned out – that is was just a little too up and down and you were fighting your way up the hill too much,” said Doak. “But it is all a function of how you play the holes on the land. I really think we have escaped a lot of that with the routing that we have done. It is substantially different than the one before.” Doak has kept two of the strengths of the old Ocean course – the first and 18th holes, albeit with the opening drive softened and the approach to the first green eased by the removal of a couple of bunkers. The second tee is also essentially the same, except the green has been intriguingly brought forward and tucked into the left – the first of several wonderful short par fours. From there, the course alters drastically, the third hole a dog-leg up the old 17th fairway and while many of the fairways of the old course have been at least used in part, the 18 new greens and more restrained bunkering make for a spectacular playing experience. The par-three 16th will be the signature hole, looking out to the ocean, with a nod to the iconic seventh hole on the National’s Old Course. Back in Melbourne, Doak’s work through Brian Slawnik has also met with strong approval. Boundary issues at Yarra had forced a number of changes down the years, notably the ruination of the old third, now fifth, hole. Other changes were also criticised and conditioning problems a few years back combined to impact on the course’s reputation. Doak embarked on a plan to restore the course to something closer to the original intention of Alex Russell and with the removal of numerous trees and bushes, a more open layout and more consistent bunkering is expected to restore Yarra as a sandbelt gem. “I always felt like it had seven or eight of the best holes on the sandbelt and it just seems like since I first saw it 30 years ago, the other holes that weren’t good have gotten worse instead of better,” Doak said. “Some because of boundary problems and having to make changes and some because they were not sure which way they were going. “When you have an old golf course like that, when you start tinkering around with certain holes too much while you leave the others alone, they just start to feel like they are different styles and they don’t all fit together any more. “A lot of work we are doing now is to go back and make those holes look like they belong with the rest of the golf course and do features that are the same scale and the same size, and that bunkers all look “MOST ARCHITECTS WON’T SEE IT THAT WAY, BUT IT ENTIRELY IS A MATTER OF OPINION WHETHER WHAT WE’RE DOING IS GOOD OR NOT.” The 16th hole at Gunnamatta, looking out over the ocean, has already won rave reviews. 26 Golf Victoria