Day 88 - puregolf2010 makes it through the desert to Grange (West)

Posted by Jamie on 31 March 2010 | 2 Comments | Tags: , ,

"I've been through the desert on a horse with no name, it felt good to be out of...the rain...".  America's catchy words spun through my head as we drove 400km - in a car with I've named Yoshi, as a nod to his Japanese heritage - from Millicent, through No Man's Land to Adelaide.  Rural South Australia is pretty dam rural.  It's only once you reach regions like this that you realise just how vast 'Straya is.  Which is very vast.  

On these long straight roads the temptation is to cut loose, autobahn styles.  Mike succumbed and was duly pinged by the South Australian Police Force; an unwelcome pouring of $220 down the drain.  Oh well.  The funny thing - if there is anything funny in all of this - was Mike's attempt to chat him up, with puregolf2010 business cards and all!  (I don't think his efforts were in vain, because apparently the fine was knocked down from $360 to $220...either way I'll let Mike fill you in if he feels the need).

In just over 4 hours we reached the big country town of Adelaide.  There are no high rises (other than the Westpac Tower, but they don't count 'cos they're everywhere).  Apparently the town planner was the same chap who drew up the plans for Christchurch - certainly the story stacks up because the middle of town is a perfect grid.  Easy to navigate.  What beautiful buildings too, particularly along North Terrace (the CBD is framed by Terraces North, South, East and West).

The Grange sits out 15km or so from the city towards the coast, and has 2 courses - East and West.  Yesterday we had the pleasure of playing the West, which is the more mature of the two.  Although we had a 3 o'clock tee time - which we rushed through town to make - the pro was pretty relaxed, so we just teed off when ready.  A fella by the name of Tony joined us.  He'd contacted us some months back, having heard about what we were up to.  Tony's goal is to play every golf course in South Australia (think he's about half way).

Hell of a nice guy, and not a bad golfer either - he cleaned Mike and I up in the split sixes, taking full advantage of his 16 handicap.  To be fair we didn't offer much opposition, with 90 and 84 respectively.  The Grange off the back markers is a stern test, particularly in strong winds!  No excuses though.  

The fairways were wider than most, although on the whole were well bunkered.  The prevailing sou'wester made it tough to hit many of 'em, but when you do they're a pleasure to play off.  This be sandbelt golf, just like Melbourne a week or so ago.  Drawing another parallel to Melbourne, they've ripped a fair bit of ti tree out of the place in recent years too.  There are quite a few pine trees around, invariably framing the tee shot, so it would've been interesting to see pine-ti tree combinations, something I haven't seen before.

You get some nice views from the course.  On several holes (like the 8th, pictured below) your eyes are drawn to Footy Park, the AFL stadium.  Apparently it's shared by the Adelaide Crows and Port Power.  I'm told the Crows fans are the chardonnay drinkers, and the Port fans meths drinkers, but the Port fans I've come across have been entirely upstanding lovely folk - so who knows.

I'll stick to what I know.  Back to the golf.  Our 3 ball became a 4 a few holes in, when a local firie' (that's a fireman to those not in the know) by the name of Paul joined us.  Salt of the earth bloke, good company.  Between the 4 of us we had a good few laughs, largely at our own expense.  Grange 1 : puregolf2010 NIL.  The score however will be levelled on Thursday when we attack the East Course!

There were a few lovely holes that I should mention.  The 15th is a short-ish par 4, which plays from an elevated tee to a generous fairway then to a narrow green set against the houses.  A big fairway bunker caught Goldy's tee shot, and one of the greenside bunkers caught his pitch too.  The prevailing wind blew hard off the right, pulling my approach left of the greenside trap, leaving a nigh on impossible chip along the shoulder into which the trap's cut.  Subtle but quality.

The next hole - the 17th - was my favourite.  A relatively open tee shot between the pines - again, with the wind off the right - leaves you poised to strike a daunting approach.  The green is hidden from view over a gentle rise; the view is framed by a funnel of tussock and pine.  Like marriage you've just got to commit.  I closed my eyes and swung a 6 iron, and thankfully it ended up just off the green.  On another day it might've ended up somewhere Nasty.  A glorious hole.

By the time we walked up onto the 18th green the shadows had grown pretty long.  And we were pretty shattered.  The games we play that are preceded by a 400km drive tend to be the weary ones, and yesterday was no exception.  Sam & Paul's chat kept us going, as did the prospect of wrestling the split 6s lead from Sam (fat chance).  On the puregolf2010 haggle front, I snatched 2.5 points to Goldy's 0.5, giving me a strong (but not insurmountable) lead going into the last couple of days of March.  It's hotting up.

We're staying with friends of friends back in NZ - a lovely couple who go by Blair & Kate.  Home for them is an awesome little heritage cottage Right In Town, down a quaint little side street.  Blair cooked up a delectable risotto which we duly devoured, along with some fine South Australian red.  He's in the oil & gas industry (which Goldy worked in last year) and a Kiwi to boot; Kate's mad keen on sport, and was a handy hockey player.  So we've got plenty of common interest to keep us blethering for days.  

Today we're off to Glenelg which apparently is another great track.  Adelaide has been good to us so far.

JP

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  • Hi guys - congratulations on breaking $5k in donations to The First Tee - a great effort and our special thanks to all those who have been moved to make a donation after a round.

    Posted by Pip King, 31/03/2010 11:57am (11 months ago)

  • Well, you got it right the first time Jamie. Sam isn;t so bad I guess ;)

    Posted by Tony, 31/03/2010 11:51am (11 months ago)