Blog 130 – Vines Reynella

Nomadic_golfer : June 2021

Par 71, 5700m (white), slope 123, $55 green fee

4 par 3s from 115 – 168m, 11 par 4s from 304 – 408m, 3 par 5s from 431 – 444m (white tee yardages)

Formerly known as Marino Golf Club, this pretty 18 hole course in suburban Reynella opened in 1964. The routing of the holes is very good, utilising the undulations well, and possessing a good mix of different shaped holes. The longest par 4’s are all downhill and each are good, strong holes though not playing their full yardage due to the slope (9-408m, 12-401m & 18-394m). The highlight for me though, was the winter conditioning. The excellent, santa anna fairways have good even cover and still some firmness. The pure Bent greens were very smooth and quite quick, just a little soft.

The fairways are not very wide for the undulating territory and hitting fairways is tough. Numerous fairways are in close proximity to other fairways and there are 6 blind tee shots. Greens are medium sized and have a moderate number of well placed bunkers. There are a few water hazards, the most intrusive being on the tricky, hard-left turning, blind short par 4, 2nd.

While very well treed (majority gums), the balance of numbers appears right, trees aren’t placed too heavily together. My favourite holes are 4 (uphill right to left medium length par 4 with a tree overhanging 100m out on the right, to a slopey green surrounded by mounds); 6 (pretty 170m par 3, slightly downhill, over a valley to a green protected by a bunker short right and banks on the left); and 15 (blind tee shot down a saddle-shaped fairway with banks on the right and drop-away on the left, turns right with a large gum on the inside, to a rectangular shaped green with bunkers short and a drop off left), while I love the environment of 5 through 7 with the adjoining cow paddocks.

Overall, this is a ‘nice’ course. It’s tight, not long, makes you think, encourages shaping shots and is really well conditioned. The number of blind tee shots is a little unusual.

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