Day 85 - A marathon day at 13th Beach / Barwon Heads

Posted by Jamie on 27 March 2010 | 0 Comments | Tags: 13th Beach, Barwon Heads, Geelong, links

Usually 18 holes is enough to whet our daily golf appetite but today we played 28.  Why?  Well.  On this fine Friday �?? which turned out to be not-so-fine �?? a combined event was run by Barwon Heads and 13th Beach, called the �??Composite Challenge�?�.  It�??s an event that�??s been held for 4 or 5 years by the Old World-New World neighbours.  Entrants (restricted ordinarily to members of the two clubs) play 10 holes on Barwon Heads and 10 holes on 13th Beach�??s Beach Course, and have to grapple with the subtle variations in greens�?? speed / bunker sand etc in the process (and the wind).  Hosting privileges alternate from year to year; today it was 13th Beach�??s turn, and boy did they put on a good day.  The event also holds a greater significance, or so I was told by several folks, in the sense that it has helped bring the two clubs �?? which though a stone�??s throw apart are entirely different beasts �?? closer together.  Which is nice.  Oh before you start wondering �?? those wonderers among you �?? the other 8 holes were the 8 holes on The Beach Course not used as part of the Challenge; it seemed a shame to miss out on any of Tony Cashmore�??s fine handywork.  And it is fine handywork, let me tell you.

Although Barwon Heads had been built up more by the golf cognoscenti in recent weeks, 13th Beach has a good name, and having had a sneak peak at their website I knew we were in for a bit of a treat.  It was a good sign too that the Golf Operations Manager (a tremendous chap by the name of Ben, who�??s our age) rates all the same courses in these parts as us (we compared notes by email).  Great minds think alike.  I�??ll get to the layout soon, but first a word or two about the club and the day.

Awesome�??s probably a good start.  From the minute we arrived Goldy and I were treated like life members, with every possible courtesy extended to us.  You wouldn�??t read about it.  Ben was good enough to take 20 minutes out of what must�??ve been a busy day for him to show us around, have a coffee with us and chew the fat about all things Golf.  A good coffee and chinwag it was too.  He then had to get back to something called �??work�?� while me mate and I zipped round holes 1-4 and 13-16 in a cart, playing a spot of matchplay as we went.  3&2 to JP, a good omen.  The 16th �?? a postage stamp style hole �?? deserves a praiseworthy mention.  At only 110 metres or so it�??s not long by any standards, but it�??s defences lie in a battery of pot bunkers (not quite sure that �??battery�?� is the correct collective noun, or that �??collective noun�?� is even the correct term either, but I�??ll go with both of �??em) that lie north, south, east and west of the miniature putting surface.  Apparently they�??ve tamed the beasts in recent years and the pots were even gnarlier in their infancy.  God help the locals that came across them in Those Days.

8 holes felt like a nice wee warm up for the main event, but any rhythm that had been found was lost somewhere during the 3 hour gap between innings.  In this time however we found the discipline to be productive �?? despite the temptations surrounding us (and I don�??t mean good looking young women) �?? and parked up for a stats session.  Which is a dry way to spend 3 hours of one�??s life, but such are the evils of choosing the (current) life we have.  Poor us, he says.  Anyway Ben very kindly cleared his desk and allowed Mick & myself the use of the office for said couple of hours.  A few staff & patrons shuffled in and out wearing puzzled looks on their faces, as a couple of ragamuffin unkempt Kiwi transients were holed up in Quite Clearly The Wrong Place.  But they were very polite and no one spoke an ill word.  Good on �??em.

To the golf.  Glorious.  By some happy coincidence (or more likely, design) we were paired with Brett �??Morry�?� Morrison �?? the Vice Captain at 13th Beach �?? and another quality human by the name of Ted.  Both were good golfers (7 and 3 handicaps respectively, if memory serves correctly) and Absolute Gentlemen.    Ben had warned us earlier in the day to watch out for Ted, who fancies a bit of a UDL or two on the course (some kind of RTD beverage that has an Ouzo base!).  But the UDLs (or whatever they�??re called) were a no show.  I could�??ve done with one myself at several points in the day, when I found myself doing that familiar thing �?? taking an unplayable drop.  

The wind was swirling but not howling, and the rain clouds were flirting without being too promiscuous (that�??s the first and probably the last time I�??ll ever describe clouds as promiscuous).  We got wet.  But weather is weather and once you get used to it life very much marches on.  The main thing was that play was constant and no traffic jams bothered us.  And no one was bitten by a snake, because there aren�??t any, if you ask me.  Mind you an indignant group of guests from Mudgee who were playing in the group behind us had a go at one point �?? at Us, VC and gun golfer Ted included, no less �?? for holding them up.  Which we weren�??t.  Miserable sods.  That isolated occasion of friction apart the Challenge couldn�??t have been played in better spirit, although it could have been played better.

By the time we�??d reached the sheds it was only the dedicated few (most of whom live onsite) with their wine glasses still filled in the bar.  Our group was the last in the field.  28 holes and NOT ONE BIRDIE BETWEEN US.  We both managed to play some good golf, complemented as per usual with some horrific agricultural chopping resembling golf.  I was less terrible than my friend, on this occasion, and had an 89 for the 20 hole Challenge for my sins.  The other lad had 96, so he was pleased not to clock up a maiden century.  Our companions did better, both notching up about 41 points each (Morry�??s effort was good enough for joint 6th place; not quite sure how Ted ended up, Goldy was marking his card).

   
I tell you all of this only to warm you up for the result of what was surely the Main Event today �?? and I�??m not talking about the Composite Challenge.  No, I�??m talking about the fourball best ball (stableford) match played between Ted and I (the Goodies) and Morry and Mick (the Baddies).  Drumroll please.  5&4 to the Goodies!  Or thereabouts.  At risk of sounding triumphant we lost interesting in counting because Ted was playing so well that any other result would�??ve been impossible.  I pitched in on the odd occasion.  

The golf course.  13th Beach, that is (Goldy having painted a picture of Barwon Heads for yoos fullas yesterday).  It�??s good.  Mr Cashmore God Bless Him also did The Dunes over the Bay on the Mornington Peninsula, and The Beach Course has its similarities.  Waste bunkers; bit of ti tree; natural looking vistas.  You get the picture.  It would�??ve been nice to play the course back when it first opened, to experience it in its vicious newly born glory.  Even today it has Teeth.  

Take the 11th hole, a tight par 5 the tee shot on which was likened by Morry to marriage �?? you�??ve just got to commit.  Trouble sits left and right (my only lost ball of the day came courtesy of a blocked 3 wood off the tee), there�??s bunkers all over the show and the raised green has elephants in it (although Morry sunk a raker for birdie).  Hair raising stuff.  Then there are the par 3s.  Not much to aim at.  One observation I had, which I shared with our pals, was that on TB you need to hit the ball to the right part of the green, or face a Good Luck Son putt.  Over the fence at Barwon Heads the greens are less undulating, and on the whole you can hit it where you like �?? although I hear when the greens there are at their usual reading on the stimp this is not the case.    

I reckon The Beach Course is pretty tough.  We played it in relatively benign conditions, and heard stories on the way �??round about how X hole can play when the gale rears its ugly head, or how you can�??t reach Par 3 Y with a 3 wood if the wind�??s coming from the south.  What I liked about it �?? and this is a design feature I find myself looking for each day �?? is this: on holes where you�??re meant to drive to the right side of the fairway, the greenside bunker�??s cut on the front left (and vice versa), making an offline tee shot that much tougher.   The 17th was one such hole, and there were others.  Landing zones for lay ups on par 5s were also appropriately narrow, rather than the jumbo jet runway style paddocks that feature on some courses.  

The Beach Course being a links is probably rarely the same beast on two consecutive days.  I�??d love to have another crack at it tomorrow, but that�??d be against The Rools.  Instead we have the hardship of playing the other track at 13th Beach, The Creek Course �?? which was designed by some punter called Nick Faldo.  It�??s a dog�??s life.

Sitting here in Jirv�??s flat �?? with an old mate in a new place �?? I find myself again reflecting on another gem of a day.  The hospitality at 13th Beach was awesome; the locals (Ben, Morry, Ted & a couple of chaps we had a beer with afterwards, in particular) welcomed us to their club like old friends; and the golf was pure.  We�??re lucky lads.  

This evening we'll be meeting up with a few of Jirv's med-school mates at a BBQ, hopefully to get the inside scoop on whether Jirv's banter is as well received in these parts as it is in Aotearoa.  I expect it is.

JP