Blog 110 – Clare

Nomadic_golfer : February 2021

Par 72, 5901m, green fee $40, Slope 121

4 par 3s from 114-192m, 10 par 4s from 265-434m, 4 par 5s from 445-493m

This outback leg of our 2021 tour is over and we’ve landed in Clare, population of 3k, 150km north of Adelaide and a very popular wine and tourist region.

This course’s strength may also be it’s weakness. It has some excellent short par 4s but there are plenty of them (5 under 315m off the back tees). There are no bunkers here, and flora is predominantly gum trees with a good, appropriate number. Kikuyu fairways which were a bit patchy in mid summer, needing preferred lies. Bent greens had a very good, even cover but grass very thick. They were soft and slow on this Friday in February.

The layout is fascinating, with lots of variety in shape of holes and constituents, along with excellent use of the hilly terrain. The stretch from 4 to 7 epitomises this; a straight 430m par 4 that turns steeply downhill at about 190m, and the fairway slopes down to the left to a green that falls away left and back. 5 is steep downhill 310m, driveable with OB right and a large gum short right, 6 is 296m back up that steep hill with a dam at 200m left/ centre and 7 is a 114m par 3, featuring a 50m drop off a cliff. The 15th (below) was my favourite hole though; 348m sweeping left around a dam with high walls and high grass on the side of the dam the feature. Pick your line and length off the tee here, there are many different plays. The hole finishes with a steeply elevated green.

Overall, this is a very interesting layout with lots of variety, in fine condition for this part of the country in summer. It’s not the toughest course going around but it is a lot of fun.

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