With four Tours and two tournaments taking place at the same golf club, on the same days, just how will play unfold at 13th Beach Golf Club?
There will be 315 players from the European Tour, ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, LPGA Tour and ALPG Tour descending on Geelong this week, so it makes sense that play is divided up between the two courses at 13th Beach Golf Club – the Beach and Creek courses.
The newest of the two courses here is the Beach Course. The 6,796-yard challenge features long rough and firm and fast greens, but its biggest defence is arguably the formidable presence of mother nature.
The testing wind that blows, combined with holes carved through dunes, gives the course a strong links character.
The par 3’s here offer great variation to test all areas of iron play, from the brutal 180m 17th hole to the tricky 104m seventh hole.
The course routing for the championship differs from the normal course layout too. The back nine during the week will be played as the front nine; holes five through nine will played as holes 10 to 14 and holes one to four will be played as the final four holes on the back nine.
The partnering Creek Course, however, offers a slightly different challenge new the newer Beach course.
The gently undulating couch fairways are surrounded by fescue, with numerous bumps, swales and hollows adding to the challenge of finding the fairways and greens.
Add to that the large, deep bunkers that defend the greens and you get a real test of golf Down Under.
The Creek course maintains the best traditions of Melbourne’s Sand Belt golf courses, with the added challenge of strategically placed pines and the creek that comes into play on numerous holes.
Play will take place on the Creek Course for the first two days of competition only.
With both courses offering unique challenges, a winner here in Melbourne is a worthy one at that.
