Blog 147 – Lameroo

From out of the chute on 18

Course 47 for 2021 – Lameroo GC, SA

Great Fun – A real mixed bag

Nomadic_golfer : October 2021

Par 71, 5513, slope 110, $20 green fee

3 par3s 112-188m, 13 par4s 228-388m, 2 par5s 433-466m

What a fun, interesting, different and quirky golf course this is. I first played here back in about 1980, and even though I haven’t played here since the mid 90’s and have played less than 20 rounds around here, I can remember every hole. There are many memorable holes, as there is such a mixture and so many quirky (interesting quirky) things going on. Lots of pines, some wide fairways, some super-narrow, sandy rough and greens that you need a bit of luck on and are quite soft. Fairways are patchy and very firm.

There are some very strong, challenging holes: the 382m first, with OB all the way down the right and big pines left is as tough a start as you’ll find; the 360m 8th is my favourite hole, a left to righter that looks as though the fairway is 100m wide, continually narrows and turns right and steps uphill at about 220m with thick trees left; 11, the 390m par 4 with OB left, turning slightly right at a large gum about 220m from the tee; 15, a 190m par 3 out of a chute; and 18, 385m par 4 through a tight chute of trees, into the prevailing breeze.

There are also a stack of short 4’s (6 of them under 305m) and a number of significant quirks on top of the fact that the first 3 holes have OB on the right: (2, 14 & 17 all have some different bends and unusual asks to hit tight access points) but 12 (120m with full carry over a mini-forest) and 13 (350m par 4 that goes 90 degrees left after about 100m, requiring a high, near snap-hook to a very narrow fairway is about the hardest fairway to hit in SA) are most memorable. There is always something different coming at you, lots of fun to play.

Greens are very small, almost all are raised and slope down to the front – missing pin high or long always leaves you with little green to work with but the softness of the greens counters this. Volunteers among the members do a great job in this dry area to keep things neat, with best playing conditions over the Winter & Spring