Golf Vic Vol 60 No 3 2019

like they were built 75 years ago instead of three weeks ago.” Initially the club had wanted Doak to renovate the course in stages but when the first stage proved so successful, he was asked to continue. By then, though, he had other projects in the Renaissance schedule. The changes at The National and Yarra, while vastly different in scope, have had the same result in mind – to make a round of golf less confronting. Doak is proud of his CV, not just for the long list of great golf courses on it but also for something that is not on it – a professional playing record. The lowest handicap he has ever earned is six and as much as he loves the game, his heart has always been more in the architecture of the course than the mechanics of a golf swing. He believes many of the pros who have turned to course design have produced their courses for the elite players, making them too challenging for the average player. And as the pros like Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and company have been smashing the golf ball distances never dreamed of, the courses have been made longer and harder for the wrong group of golfers. Doak has a simple solution to the distance debate: ignore it. “The whole time I have been in the industry the governing bodies have been in denial about it. But they insist that if it really gets out of control they will dial it back. But they haven’t dialled anything back in the 35 years I have been in the business. So I don’t listen to that anymore. “All the clubs I consult for say things like, ‘Adam Scott hits driver and eight-iron to our par five – we have to do something about it.’ I say, ‘do you hit driver, eight-iron to that par five? Is your handicap going down?’ “Why worry about those guys (the pros)? We would love to be able to preserve the challenge for those guys but if we design for those guys, it would be impossible for everybody else. So I just try to put them out of mind for the most part and not worry about it too much because the distance problem is only the top five per cent of players. Everybody else is struggling like they always have.” The philosophy that drives Tom Doak’s course designs is that golfers should at least enjoy that struggle. Tom Doak on one of the walking tours with National members during construction of Gunnamatta. Golf Victoria 27