I’m playing every golf course in Melbourne Australia to find the best one. If you know a better course than this let me know in the comments. This week I played Royal Park Melbourne. It’s a very old course, founded in 1890. It’s beside the zoo in the centre of Melbourne, and it has a unique feature of a tram running through the middle of it. One con is that you do need to pay $2 for parking.
And because of this, I was late for my tee time, which meant there was a group of twelve retired Aussies on a group day out, all wearing matching blue t-shirts; heckling me as I went through my set up on the first hole par 3. Miraculously, I managed to hit the green with my 6-iron, but I was so rushed to get onto the next hole that couldn’t concentrate on my putting and ended taking a bogey on the first.
So, I wouldn’t be great with the directions and there was a long, not well sign posted, walk to the second hole through a park alongside members of the general public. It was a good 900m away and I was very unsure where I was going to end up as I crossed over tram tracks. But eventually I found my way to the second hole a 296m Par 4. I had calmed down now, and I whipped my drive straight down the middle, leaving me with 50m to the green. I had a decent pitch, landing within 10m for a birdie putt. It came up short, and I gladly tapped in a par.
Hole 3 was a Par 4 226m dog leg left. I couldn’t ascertain where the flag was, so I played it safe and hit an 8-iron to the bend. This set me up with a tree between me and the hole. But I got it up and over, and again, I had a birdie putt. It was on the right line, but just not enough speed and I tapped in a second par.
Hole 4 was a 158m Par 3. I hit a 7-iron which landed pretty close to the hole, and again I had a medium long birdie putt. Which as I am sure you can guess, came up just a little short and left me with a third a tap in par.
Hole 5 is Par 5 387m. My drive just didn’t draw as I expected and I ended up in the trees. I got very lucky here because I was actually aiming for the left of the tree, and it somehow went right, through the gap in the shrubs. And all I could do from here was try and tap a 4-iron towards the fairway and hope it progressed. My 4th shot was a sand wedge from around 90m and it just came up short of the green. I did my best to hole out my chip and save a par but it didn’t make it and I took a second bogey.
Hole 6 is a 145m Par 3. I hit my 7-iron from the Tee. It just got caught up in the fringes and it left me with a similar chip to the previous hole. Again, it went close and left me with a tap in Par.
On Hole 7, I finally got to see that Tram everyone talks about. It zipped by me on this Par 4 294m hole. I hit this drive like a train and it flew to within 30m of the hole. I chipped it up onto the raised green and tried to finally sink a birdie putt. This time I had the speed, but not the accuracy. I closed out this hole with another par.
Hole 8 is another Par 5 375m. I hit a low draw around the dog leg left. But I got unlucky with my positioning, with this low hanging branch blocking my shot. I hit a low 4-iron that drizzled along towards the green. It left me with a 25m chip. I didn’t catch it was clean as I hope and I had another 10m put for birdie. I just could not finish them today, but I’m always happy to get a par on any hole.
The 9th hole is adjacent to the 1st and I had to go on another epic journey to find it. I consulted the map, random people in a golf cart, a few signs and several members of the public and eventually found my way there. It’s a tricky hole because it’s drivable, at 268m and driving is what gets me into trouble. I hit my drive, and pulled it left into the trees. Leaving a tricky chip back to the raised green from a sparse lie. I tried to put as much spin as possible on it so it would hold the green, but it just caught the fringe and left me with a chip for birdie which would have been lovely to finish on. It just veered right, and I finished out the day with a par.
So, is this Melbourne’s best golf course? Well, I shot +2 today so it was definitely my most enjoyable round of golf in Australia to date. If playability is anything to go by then this is definitely a good course. It’s very well maintained, and the green are continually watered, which means you can shoot at the flag and be confident that the ball is going to stop on the green, not bounce over the back. If anyone was to ask me for recommendation so far, this is the course you should play.
11 мар 2024
