Blog 141- Port Augusta

Nomadic_golfer : October 2021

Par 70, 5757m, slope 117, $30 green fee

4 par3s 147-166m, 12 par4s 306-408m, 2 par5s 453-513m

There is a nice vibe and feel about the place with the outback mix of red sand in the rough and bunkers, and some saltbush in the rough. Add in the spectacular Flinders Ranges as a backdrop and the small to medium gums framing the fairways, and it is quite the Aussie setting. Santa-anna greens were a little patchy but rolled as well as I’ve experienced couch greens (Pt Augusta Open prep was well underway, workers were everywhere). Fairways consist of mainly kikuyu, some couch and some bare patches, requiring preferred lies.

Quite unusual sequencing of holes, the 4 par 3’s run as two lots of consecutive holes (3&4, 10&11), with only 2 par 5’s, one early (2) and one late (17). I liked the individual par 3’s holes, they are all strong and interesting but there’s not much variety in distance (from 147m to 166). The aesthetics from the 3rd (149m to a large, circular, flat green with gums as a backdrop and four pot bunkers in the golfer’s view from the tee) and 10th (160m downhill to a slightly elevated green with 4 bunkers dotted across the front.) tees are special, yet similar. The 4th is the strongest though, 166m to a long green, with left pins protected by trees jutting out on the left, while the right side has a deep grass bunker.

The 4’s aren’t quite as interesting as the 3’s but there is a good mix of straight, right to left and left to right holes. The finishing stretch is the toughest with 4 of the 6 longest par4s in the last 5 holes. Of the short 4’s, the 306m par 4 was the most interesting for me, turning left around some bigger gums, to an elevated, 2-tiered green with 2 pot bunkers on either side.

Overall, it’s a good honest track with unique sequencing that gets lots of love and attention from it’s members. What you see is what you get here, there aren’t too many quirks, surprises or tricks and you’ll get the score you deserve

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