Topic: Your Favourite Golf Courses / Royal QLD Membership

I’m repeating this topic from the Golf Talk section to try and get a few more views on the quality of the course.

I’m in the market for a new club membership and was considering joining Royal Queensland.

Curious to know if any ISG’ers have played the Mike Clayton redesigned course and what thay think of it as there doesn’t seem to be much in the course reviews section.

Any comments and recommendations on the course, and the club itself?
Cheers

So where’d you end up joining?

Political Correctness is doctrine fostered by a delusional minority and by the media, which holds forth the proposition it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Impossible – it’s only an opinion, not a fact!

SNIOP

Just found out recently that I am being posted overseas for a year from early next year (such is life in my job). So while I had made up my mind to join RQ, I think I’ll have to wait until I get back to sign up otherwise it is a bit of a waste of money. I wonder if they plan on upping the yearly fees now that the course has been redesigned? Does anyone know if they have a long waiting list as maybe it is worth putting my name down before I go?

Topic: Golf Talk / bris north clubs- "nomad" membership?

Mega Membership from Robina Woods does basically the same thing and costs $139. Once you have your membership you can play pretty much anywhere.

Topic: Golf Talk / Vegas Golf

The course at Wynn’s is pretty neat playing right in the middle of the strip but is only available if you are staying at Wynn’s hotel. I’ve also played at Badlands, which is out in the Summerlin area, and this is a pretty interesting course. Very much target golf but it is neat to play on a desert course.

Topic: Golf Talk / Spending $100 on a game of golf MAX!

Pacific Harbour is a must and also northwards is Pelican Waters which is pretty nice as well.
South, my tips are Hope Island, Robina Woods or the Glades but I would rate Pac harbour the best out of the bunch and the Sunshine Coast courses tend to be a little bit cheaper than the Goldie.

Topic: Golf Talk / Royal QLD Membership

Are joining fees at some of Melbourne’s sandbelt golf courses waived for regular serving Defence Force officers?

Yep Gripnrip,

Any club with a Royal moniker usually does a great deal for any ADF member with a Queen’s Commission which is certainly a perk of the job. However RQ is probably one of the best I have ever heard of as they wiave the entire nomination fee.

Topic: Your Favourite Golf Courses / Royal QLD Membership

I’m repeating this topic from the Golf Talk section to try and get a few more views on the quality of the course.

I’m in the market for a new club membership and was considering joining Royal Queensland.

Curious to know if any ISG’ers have played the Mike Clayton redesigned course and what thay think of it as there doesn’t seem to be much in the course reviews section.

Any comments and recommendations on the course, and the club itself?
Cheers

Topic: Golf Talk / Royal QLD Membership

I guess part of it may be the fact that it has the Royal moniker attached to the name. However the real reason for joining Royal QLD is that due to my job I don’t have to pay any nomination fee which makes the deal very, very hard to pass up. When you only have to pay $2-2500 per year for an exclusive track then it makes it very attractive. So I wouldn’t say I have the cash to burn which is why, due to the above reason, that I’m considering it over places like Indooroopilly, Brookwater or Brisbane (which I don’t like the course anyway). The coast courses are great but are probably a little far to drive just for golf as I live in Indro.

Additionally, as I travel a fair bit for work the list of recipricol clubs is outstanding including the opportunity to play many of Melbourne’s finest sandbelt and penisula courses including Royal Melbourne.

As for the club’s personality, I guess I don’t really care about that kind of crap. I really only want to play comps on a quality course whenever I want and stay out of the politics.

Any further comments on the actual quality of the redesigned course? I never really heard good reports about the old track but the new track seems to be well recieved? Anyone else played it?

Topic: Golf Talk / Royal QLD Membership

I’m in the market for a new club membership and was considering joining Royal Queensland.

Curious to know if any ISG’ers have played the Mike Clayton redesigned course and what thay think of it as there doesn’t seem to be much in the course reviews section.

Any comments and recommendations on the course, and the club itself?
Cheers

Topic: Golf Talk / bris gold coast sunday comps.

Yep nice track – not too long but has some very nice bunkering around most of the greens and always in excellent nick. Make your score early – two par fives and a driveable par four in the first four holes. Let us know what you thought of the course, enjoy.

Topic: Golf Talk / bris gold coast sunday comps.

Gailes does a sunday s’ford comp off the whites, nice track. Might be a bit to far north for you though but thats the only one I know about.

Topic: Golf Talk / video assesment

cool. downloaded it but its telling me to download software to convert the vid file. have you done this? i’m using a work comp so i wanna make sure its not going to frig my computer

Not sure what is going on there mate, as long as your video camera downloads them as mpeg or avi format it should be fine. Mine worked okay straight away when I downloaded it.

Topic: Golf Talk / video assesment

Doc,

You can also download some free analysis software yourself called V1 Home, its free – just google it. It allows you to play it frame by frame and draw lines to see certain angles throughout your swing. It is certainly an eye opener to see “what” you are doing in the swing as opposed to what you “think” you are doing.

Topic: Your Favourite Golf Courses / anyone played Brookwater in QLD....?

I live next to Brookwater and the course is in good nick at the moment, although some of the bunkers are a bit hard which is a regular problem there (but I guess they are meant to be hazards).

The course design and routing is fantastic and it is one of my favourite courses I’ve played. Lots of elevation changes and most of the holes run through deep valleys. It’s true that if you miss the fairway you are dead, straight into the trees and scrub, but the course is a lot more open and forgiving than first impressions and the view from some of the tees are more visually daunting than anything. Great variety of holes and brilliant green complexes and bunkering (notwithstanding the hard packed sand on occasions).

Full price is about $130 but you can usually get on cheaper than that but there are going private so you best hurry, you’ll love it.

Topic: Golf Talk / Golf Coach In Brisbane?

Gary Calder is great, think he’s operating out of Indooroopilly now

Topic: Your Favourite Golf Courses / Moving to Palm Cove, where to play?

Without a doubt the best track when I lived up there (5 years ago) was Paradise Palms, carved out of rainforest and also they give massive discounts to locals.

I would avoid the course at Novatel Palm Cove as it is a goat track – well it does have green grass I guess but so does everything in FNQ. Also Half Moon Bay at Yorkey’s Knob is okay, but a bit short and boring.

Other options that are worthwhile is the half hour drive to Port Douglas where Sea Temple is fanastic and there is also the Mirage course. Cairns Golf Club is quite nice but will be a fair drive from Palm Cove so stick with Paradise Palms, you’ll love it.

Topic: Golf Talk / How make courses harder for pros....

I think the objective should be to make the courses, and the competitions, more interesting. Not necessarily more difficult.

Great courses, and competitions, should be about demanding the players to show a wide variety of skills.

Any course which surrenders 62s or 63s too easily is a course which is not demanding everything it can from a golfer.

I am not a fan of 22-yard wide fairways, six-inch rough and concrete greens. To me, that is not golf.

Make golfers move the ball around. Require (not encourage) fades on some holes, and draws on others.

Create more obstacles (strategically placed trees?) which demand a variety of ball flights.

And create more imaginative greens complexes which require a myriad of short-game shots, touch and feel.

BTW, I’m not entirely opposed to the lengthening of certain holes, as long as the integrity of the hole is either maintained, or re-established.

The legendary golf course architect Donald Ross, when asked which singular shot most revealed golfing talent, said the accurate long-iron approach to a well-guarded target. There should be more two and three-iron approaches in the pro game.

Agree with most of your comments there pgarox but I’m not a fan of “strategicly placed trees”. Trees should never ideally dictate the desired avenue of play on a golf course because they tend to grow and become problematic Additionally trees actually remove hole playing options, thats one of the attractions of links golf – no trees and many options on how to tackle a hole or a shot . Many a brilliant course has been ruined by committees undertaking tree planting programs (eg Commonwealth and Oakmont before it was returned to its former glory).

Topic: Golf Talk / How make courses harder for pros....

The course conditions mean that US courses are presented way, way too soft in order to provide perfect green television images. The two best ways to toughen the courses would be to present fairways and greens that are very fast and firm. Additionally, the courses should be set up with no rough so that bad drives are punished by running into fairways hazards or trees whereby recovery is not impossible, but much more difficult. Currently players know that they can just bomb away off the tee, the rough will pull it up (quite close to the green because they have taken driver because they don’t care about position) and that from there they will be able to stick it close on the soft greens.

Furthermore, by having no rough to allow misdirected drives to run and firm, fast greens it is more difficult to get at the pins if they are being approach from the wrong angles where greenside hazards and green contouring comes into play to repel shots played from the wrong fairway angle.

Proof of this is with Aust sandbelt courses where winning scores are no where near as low as week in week out on the US PGA tour.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Cambo on the golf show:

Cambo is just clutching at straws and prepared to try any gimmick / training aid he can get his hands on to try and get out of his form slump since winning the ‘05 US Open. Did someone mention IBF! I think he has only made two cuts this entire year with a best finish of T38.

Topic: Golf Architecture / Indooroopilly Redesign

I played socially at Indro for the first time in about 8 months today on the red and gold nines (West course). Despite initially being pissed off that I hadn’t been told about the fact the course was being renovated when I booked it was interesting to play the redesigned course. While always a pleasant course in good condition, I felt the old track was quite boring with a paucity of fairway bunkering and only the elevation changes adding interest.

The new holes are quite different with a lot of new fairway bunkering, some of which is very penal, to add strategy and water coming in play on a few holes now. I played off the tips in a gusty 20kt SE and one concern may be that much of this bunkering may not come into play off the whites on a calm day but I will reserve judgement on that till I’ve played the whites. The red 9th is a fabulous risk-reward hole and a daunting driving hole and red 8th, gold 3rd, 7th and 9th are challenging holes. The green complexes and bunkering are superb and much more interesting than the old holes. Although the routing seems a little strange with some long walks between holes I think this is because the work is still incomplete as there appeared to still be at least one temp par three on the red nine.

Do any members / regulars know when the work is expected to be finished and how the final routing will work?

Additionally are there plans to remodel the green and blue nines (although I think the blue is fine as is and was formally my favourite nine in terms of design)? All in all it looks like Ross Watson has done some good work out there despite me shooting +10!

Topic: Golf Talk / Indooroopilly Redesign

I played socially at Indro for the first time in about 8 months today on the red and gold nines (West course). Despite initially being pissed off that I hadn’t been told about the fact the course was being renovated when I booked it was interesting to play the redesigned course. While always a pleasant course in good condition, I felt the old track was quite boring with a paucity of fairway bunkering and only the elevation changes adding interest.

The new holes are quite different with a lot of new fairway bunkering, some of which is very penal, to add strategy and water coming in play on a few holes now. I played off the tips in a gusty 20kt SE and one concern may be that much of this bunkering may not come into play off the whites on a calm day but I will reserve judgement on that till I’ve played the whites. The red 9th is a fabulous risk-reward hole and a daunting driving hole and red 8th, gold 3rd, 7th and 9th are challenging holes. The green complexes and bunkering are superb and much more interesting than the old holes. Although the routing seems a little strange with some long walks between holes I think this is because the work is still incomplete as there appeared to still be at least one temp par three on the red nine.

Do any members / regulars know when the work is expected to be finished and how the final routing will work?

Additionally are there plans to remodel the green and blue nines (although I think the blue is fine as is and was formally my favourite nine in terms of design)? All in all it looks like Ross Watson has done some good work out there despite me shooting +10!

Topic: Golf Architecture / Hazards not in Play?

I was watching the AT&T National at Congressional on the weekend and, while it seems to be a majestic, “old style” course in great condition, I noticed something that is common with most of the courses on the PGA Tour. The courses are always set up with thick rough and the fairways are narrowed considerably by this rough. This process, however, means that all of the bunkers/hazards, and even trees, are not in play because the rough stops the ball from reaching them. By setting up the course with less rough it would ensure that a misdirected drive would run further into trouble and create greater angle of approach issues for the players. The rough actually makes it easier for the players as their strength, equipment and, mostly, short distance of approach shot required means they don’t care if they are in the rough.

If this process was combined with firming up the course so that poor drives ran further into trouble and that approaches from the wrong angle were nigh on impossible into firm, fast greens I think we would see a return to pure shot making ability. This would see the best ball striker win, not the best putter, and would in fact “protect par” far better than thick rough.

What do others think?

Topic: Golf Talk / Decent Courses in Central Queensland

Capricorn International (Championship Course). Great track

Topic: Golf Architecture / Instead of bunkers

On any given hole, the easiest way to do it would be to make sure the green is angled to favour an approach from one side of the fairway, as well as having the green slope slightly away from the other side of the fairway.

Eg. If the green favours an approach from the left side of the fairway, then the right side of the green would be slightly higher than the left side. This makes the approach from the right side of the fairway more difficult.

If you are removing bunkers, you can keep the depression there, although you would want to re-contour the area & re-turf the area.

Do not introduce rough where bunkers once were, as it will slow down play & for most golfers, reduce enjoyment. Instead, you should cut the area around the greens as you do your fairways, or even tighter than the fairway. This will penalise in two ways: 1) When the ball misses the green to either side or long, it will end up further away from the green and 2) The shorter grass will give the golfer more options which often leads the amateur to make poor decisions.

At last, someone with a sound concept of strategic golf course design. It’s all about lines of play to accept an approach shot from the ideal angle yet still allow the less accomplished player (or someone who hit a poor tee shot) the opportunity to still recover if they hit an immaculate shot from the wrong angle. It doesn’t have to be all about penal hazards. Now can someone pass this on to most modern designers like Peter Thompson and the like.

Topic: Golf Talk / Golfing pet hates

Crap golfers who think they are great by waiting 10mins for a par 5 green to clear so they can have a lash in two despite the fact that they have shown no semblance of the skill required to play the shot and nothwithstanding the fact that it would require a carry 50metres longer than the one they just achieved with their driver off the tee! They then proceed to hit it on the head and dome it 20 metres up the fairway while several groups bank up behind them!

Topic: Golf Talk / TPC Sawgrass

What is disappointing about having a playoff hole on a short par 3?

It’s disappointing because the hole is gimmicky, as Muntz said it turned the play off into a lottery in that wind. A great golf hole should reward a great shot yet still provide the player with an opportunity to play an equally great recovery shot if their first shot was not great. With a target golf course like TPC, and the 17th especially, there is no opportunity for such a recovery.