Day 83 - farewell to the Sandbelt from Commonwealth

Posted by Michael on 26 March 2010 | 0 Comments | Tags: Sandbelt, Commonwealth, Melbourne

I am very sad to say that we have now left the sandbelt.  Our final foray on the world famous golfing terrain in southeast Melbourne, on day 83 of puregolf, was a stunner at the Commonwealth golf club. 

 

Commonwealth recently hosted the ANZ Australian Masters and so we were fortunate to play it in supreme condition.  We were supposed to be joined by Sam Hartrick of the PGA but unfortunately Sam was off busy doing something far more important than golf - purchasing a house.  Sam has been very kind to us the last couple of weeks by calling in a couple of favours to get us a game at some of these Sandbelt beauties.  It was a real shame that Jamie and I did not get the opportunity to thank Sam in person today.

 

We scrambled to make it to the first tee today. Not because we were late, but because we were holed up in the car doing some administration.  We are talking with a couple of golf companies about bringing them along for the ride which is puregolf2010 so the meetings, phone calls and emails are taking a wee bit of time.  Then, once the laptops had been put away and replaced by golf clubs, we managed to stop for a bite of lunch in the clubhouse. The clubhouse resonates with an old world charm and was brimming with the ladies who had finished their morning rounds (Wednesday morning is ladies day at Commonwealth).  Jamie and I wandered in to quickly get a bite of lunch before our round but our timing went awry when we starting talking to the friendly locals about our adventure and the work that The First Tee does (the First Tee does not have a branch in Australia and the locals, unsurprisingly, thought it was an excellent concept).  So as I sat there trying to eat my lunch whilst talking to a table full of members, all whilst trying to maintain some semblance of decorum, I saw from the corner of my eye the group in front of us tee off on the first and walk down the fairway.  At this point decorum went out the window and I may have talked with my mouth full as I quickly tried to explain our journey!  I managed to scuttle down to the first tee, but alas, waiting there was the cameraman from the Herald Sun to take some shots of Jamie and I� Welcome to the circus of puregolf. Fortunately, we were then told that the tee was empty behind us, so we relaxed, had a few snaps taken (note: Jamie was in his element� a pig in mud in front of the camera), had a quick chat with another local who asked if it was "fair dinkum" that we had played 83 days in a row, took a deep breath, and then teed up to begin the Commonwealth golf experience.

 

The first (see below) at Commonwealth is one of the short par 4's that I have often blogged about in recent weeks. So I had to have a crack at it, and today I managed to get the first shot of the day away straight. An easy two putt from the edge of the green later and I was one under through one.

We were joined again today by Stewart, with whom we have stayed with the last night. Stu has given us some great advice for our project and that, combined with the magical dinner of flathead tails (see day 59 at Narooma for Jamie's eloquent description of the fine delicacies that are flathead tails), had left us in a good space today!

 

Back to the golf, Stu made a sublime birdie on the second hole - this boy can chip probably thanks to the couch grass he put in his back yard so he could practice -  and at that stage Jamie was being left behind despite being square with the card. Unfortunately this hot scoring did not continue!

 

Commonwealth was not tricked up but a subtle and true test of golf.  It had an understated charm that is reminiscent of the sandbelt courses. Take for example the 4th hole (see below) which is a seemingly easy 330m par four which kinks to the right.  If you take driver, or even 2 iron off the tee, the ti tree on the left of the fairway comes into play`and you need to hit a strong fade to keep the ball on the fairway. So the smart play is a mid iron. But then you are faced with a decent shot into the green which tilts away to the right with a huge cavernous bunker on the left. All simple stuff, but makes a par 4, on a seemingly short and innocuous hole, become a good score.

 I think the biggest defense for Commonwealth are it's greens. The borrow is difficult to read and many of the greens are tilted so that the ball will gather to one corner. Thus, if you leave the ball above the hole it can be sneakily difficult to putt it close. I think the difficulty of the greens shone through during the ladies masters when the scoring was not too much better than par, despite the pristine conditions. I remember watching the final round and seeing many many putts go by the hole. For us, today saw both Jamie and I struggling to two putt on a number of occasions, including both of us missing a few shorts ones.

 

Another highlight for me was the dogleg right 11th hole (see below) which I made double on (but still loved the hole). With the birds singing like crazy on the tee (the trees are very established at Commonwealth, as seemingly are the birds in them - we saw a number of fairly colorful and loud specimens) we had quite a wait for the group ahead so Stu and JP took time for a few yoga exercises.  Once we were away, the drive needed to be placed either to the left of the bunkers on the corner with a 3 iron (or three wood) or alternatively bombed over the bunkers leaving probably a wedge into the green. We all played the smart option which left about 160m into a green guarded by bunkers on both sides. But what I failed to see was the heavily sloping green from back to front and when my (very poor) chip from the back of the green rolled past the hole it just kept going right into the bunker. 

 

 

The par five 13th was another good hole which demonstrated that par fives don't need to be 500m long to be effective. This hole (whilst a bit short at 440m) really narrowed in at the driving area with ti-tree on the right and long rough on the left. I hit one fairly straight, but missed the fairway which I measured out at 11.5 paces. That is tight! It was, however, one of the few holes I managed to get up and down on and snuck in my 3rd bird of the day.

 

Coming down the stretch one more shot sticks in the mind and that is the tee shot on the 16th. This hole has water stretching down the left - quite an unusual feature on the sandbelt. A good tee shot can be hit with a draw to roll around the water and leave a short iron in. JP managed to draw one a little much on this hole into the water, which summed up his day today as just a bit off. And just a bit off on a course like Commonwealth can be deadly. It is quite similar to the course we played a lot of our golf on in CHCH (Russley) in that placement is key and you have the position the ball well and keep it in play to get a decent score.

 On the next hole (a great wee drivable par 4) Jamie exercised some First Tee values by calling a penalty on himself when the ball moved slightly.  Sportsmanship personified. Golf has to be the only sport when you call penalties on yourself, but that is the beauty of it. This kind of thing exemplifies the underlying ethos of the game.

 

The story which Commonwealth takes you on as you meander around the grounds ends with a climax as you walk up the 18th fairway with the grand old clubhouse on your right (see below). I can just imagine crowds of people gathered around there to watch the approach shots into the 18th green during a big tournament. This hole has atmosphere. 

The day finished with a quiet beer on the clubhouse deck with Stu and then another dinner with our friends from private club X, John and Hana. It was our third time catching up with them whilst in Australia and it was great to see them again and hear about their trip to the famous Barnbougle Dunes - a course we repeatedly have been told to visit. Perhaps later in the year!

 

Thanks to Commonwealth for having us at their pristine course, to Sam for helping us whilst we have been in Melbourne, and for Stu and Tanya for welcoming us into their house with such kindness - we have said farewell to the sandbelt in style.

 

P.S Scores - M:78, J:82 (par 73) and F/G/P (and split sixes) to M