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The opportunity arose yesterday to play at the Albury Commercial course.
It was a very attractive course, with undulating hills, well grassed fairways and smooth greens. Like everywhere else, it has been wet for the last few days. The occasional shot went wrong when the expected ground resistance was absent, sending mud flying.
For 9 holes ( 2 payers) and a motorized cart $75. Value.Today we played 18 holes on the 27 hole course at Corowa.. Corowa is west of Albury-Wodonga on the river Murray.
The course was adjacent the river and very pretty. Cost was around $90 ( 2 players + cart) . We hit off around 7:30 a.m. and the surfaces were still wet from rain overnight and possibly some dew too. The course conditions were very good. It is an interesting layout , with some big bunkers. i found two of them. Being saturated it was a matter of chipping out with a square blade, just like at home.Both courses are worth visiting. Some dry sunny weather would have made them a bit more predictable perhaps.
Today we played 9 holes at the Back 9 Course in Echuca. It is a cheap and cheerful style course, with fairways that are sparse in some areas. They have had recent rains so it was better than when I past played there about 16 months ago. The rough fairways caught me out a few times when I hit the ground after the ball and the club stopped dead. The ball shot out right of target and finished short. I don’t know whether it was pilot error or the hybrid-irons style clubs I am playing with are not suited to the conditions.
The greens needed a darn good close cut and rolling. They were slow and bumpy, making putting a bit erratic. In the end we resorted to the sand scrape method of banging the ball at the hole with more speed than usual to keep them on track and hoping they died near the hole. It worked; mostly.A good way to kill 2 hours while the women folk searched the shops for an elusive bargain.
Tomorrow at 7:40 we got a tee off time on the east course at Rich River resort in Moama (across the border in N.S.W.)
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Moama ( Rich River ) East course was in good condition. I had a good outcome with a mid 80’s result. Well worth the green fees.
After about 10 days at home over Easter we headed west into S.A. with the intention of touring the Eyre peninsula rather than initial plan of touring W.A. We just didn’t trust the Premier of W.A. not to close off the State border.
Courses played
1) Clare Valley; A good challenging course well worth trying after you tire of tasting quality wines.
2) Whyalla; Another well irrigated course in the midst of a desert that was fun to play.
3) Tumby Bay & Cowell ; scrapes courses with very dry fairways. it hasn’t rained three for months.
4) Pt. Lincoln; A challenging irrigated course that we enjoyed playing.
5) Coffin Bay; A surprise course with some irrigation and good greens. Fun.
6) Elliston.; A sand belt course with no grass. great practise for hard lies. Beach sand in traps and scrapes.
7) Streaky Bay; We played this course twice. It had greens , but they were a bit long ( bumpy)
8) Pt Mac Donnell; near Mt Gambier had greens that were not too bad at all. The fairways must be clay based judging by the summer ” dry” induced ball swallowing crevices. A two club southerly wind made for interesting club selections. I hit 4 pars though.Scores were not all that great, but when you don’t know the course??
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Do you have GPS? I find that helps a lot with playing new courses for the first time.
soes gps work for finding greens and fairways?
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Do you have GPS? I find that helps a lot with playing new courses for the first time.
Arccos didn’t work well for many 9 hole only country courses. Some just are not on the database. I had a range finder, which helps.
I forgot to mention that Pt MAcDonnell has fresh water darins form inland swamps that kills off the seaweed. The seaweed then rots on the beach making a putrid smell. Can this be classed as a hazard. it made my eyes water.
While in Adelaide last week babysitting , I had a chance to squeeze in 9 holes at the West Beach/ Westward Ho course, which is situated not far from the Adelaide Airport/ Glenelg area.
It was well presented with good practice facilities ( driving range/ putting greens). The front 9 holes were enjoyable, with some water hazards and bushy trees. Being flat terrain, they have put some mounds down each fairway on the sides for visual effect. If you are wayward I guess they would give you some side lie shots. There was a southerly breeze ( light) so there was a faint coastal sea weed odour. You get to see the planes take off and land over head regularly.
Adjacent to the course there is a Drummond golf facility with a driving range and retail outlet.
I checked them out after the game and got a good deal on a TS2 7 wood.They also have a 15 hole Executive Course that you can just roll up and play without booking.It is mainly par 3 and short par 4 holes.
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While the baby was sleeping we had a 9 hole game at the Marion Golf park up on the southern foothills of Adelaide. If you were picky you might say the best part of the course is the view of the southern beaches, but having played some very poor condition country courses recently, it is good value for money.
It is a 9 hole course with 2 tee boxes per hole. It is hilly and has a lot of side slope to contend with, which is good practice for flat lander golfers. The greens were fast, but a little bouncy , which made it hard for the ball to keep its line. I was having trouble with heel strikes on my 3 wood shafted driver. It took me a while to adapt.
All in all it was a good workout walking the course and it is a bit challenging in places.
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