A quick change of plans and it was a 5am start and drive up to Brookwater Golf Club to play one of the highest rated courses in Queensland.
Naomi and Andrew McIntosh had arranged the round at Brookwater. Naomi was one of my playing partners at The Glades, and after the round I went and checked out the Drummond Golf Store these guys own in Underwood. The store was really good and I particularly enjoyed checking out the launch monitor that showed you exactly how far, high and wide you hit it. This is a great way of objectively judging which driver a customer should buy!
I left Drummond Golf a couple dozen Wilson Staff balls better off. I tried out these at The Glades and was hugely impressed. They feel as soft, if not softer than Pro-V!â??s and fly probably further. I didnâ??t have a launch monitor to test this of course. But it seemed like my irons were going a couple % further with them and I was having no problem stopping any pitch shots. Impressive stuff and Iâ??m told theyâ??re about $20 cheaper than pro-v1â??s per dozen. Iâ??m picking I wont be the only person using these things in the near future.
I also left Drummond Golf with a new set of Mizuno blades. Gorgeous clubs and, being second hand, they cost me about as much as a round of golf at Brookwater GC. Which takes me back to the course..
Joined by Andrew and also Victor Nichols (husband of my other playing partner at The Glades, Natalie) we had the course to ourselves thanks to our 650am tee time and invitation to play through the one group that were mad enough to hit off before us.
Brookwater is cut through the bush, almost Bonville-esque and has huge features to be expected of a Norman course. The bunkers are seriously deep and pretty scary obstacles when you are standing over your ball 150m out from the green. Despite playing poorly (29 points, 85) I still managed to miss getting into most of the bunkers so I canâ??t give an accurate write up of how difficult they actually were. I think I went in two, and one of these was probably my only up and in of the day.
Some of the grass struggles to grow a bit due to the lack of sunlight that gets through to the fairways, but the greens were generally quite true â?? even if they were a bit grainy. For a Norman course it actually required plenty of placement and thought. In this respect Iâ??d like to play it again. For example the back nine starts with three mid-length par fours which all play entirely differently. 10 (below) is fiendishly difficult with treeâ??s making a shute through the fairway about 120m out from the green. Either you smash driver through the shoot, or lay up straight. And the lay-up is not easy as the fairway slopes considerably from the left to the right. I was blocked out and not in any position to hit to the elevated green with huge sandpits all around it. 11 is also a sharp dog-leg right where you need to play for position off the tee, and then hit a solid iron without getting nerved out by the water right and long.
We had a good fun round and Andrew and Victor were great company. Â Â After the round I met Naomi and Andrewâ??s son Josh and saw photographic evidence of the â??nearest to a hole-in-one award for the yearâ?? when he left it literally right on the edge of the cup on the par three 7th.
I think Josh had 4 birdies but still only 23 points? Is that possible? Probably at Brookwaterâ?¦. Before I go I must mention the 4th hole which is an absolute monster of a par five. The picture from the tee shot is below, but then you play sharply uphill another 300 (the hole is 530m long), over a gully, between scrub left and right and finally when you get there to a tiny green angled away to the right with two massive bunkers short and a couple long just to top it off. If youâ??re not striking it well this hole is a brute.
So all up another good day at Brookwater and Drummond Golf. Iâ??m really looking forward to getting back to Newcastle and Sydney, seeing the folks and then heading to the States.
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Love these pics & your writing...continues to be very interesting. Want to paint these 3 holes!
Posted by Corrine Bongiovanni, 06/05/2010 10:13pm (3 years ago)
Would love to paint these 3 holes. I'm agog over these pics. Also applauding your writing...continues to be interesting. One of the few blogs I can say that about. Congrats!
Posted by Corrine Bongiovanni, 06/05/2010 10:10pm (3 years ago)
How did those blades go Mike?
Posted by Jak, 05/05/2010 3:46pm (3 years ago)
Chisholm Park
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