Blog 267 – Cathedral Lodge

Nomadic_golfer : November 2023 – Cathedral Lodge Golf Club, Vic, review

Par 72, 6330m slope 138 $200

5 par3s 138-200m, 8 par4s 280-437m, 5 par5s 498-567m

A few shots from the Cathedral Invitational (5-6 December 2023) are included below

This is a blue-collar golfer’s experience at this exclusive, privately owned, Norman-designed golfing paradise. I was fortunate enough to play the course in early November 2023, then experience the course a month later, as a volunteer at the 2-day Cathedral Invitational. This unique invitational event featured a 46 strong field including the likes of Cameron Smith, Nicolas Colsaerts, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Gabi Ruffels …. and the format enabled me to get up close with them, and the course, on day 1 when spectators were not permitted. 

Cathedral is a superb layout on a fantastic property, set mostly in one wide valley, with a ridge running through it. It is surrounded by hills and incorporates natural streams and gullies into the layout. There is the odd climb, none more evident (or more important for the course’s routing) than the ‘polarising’ short par4 5th; a steep climb up a hill that connects one valley to the next. It also opens up a magnificent view from atop that hill on the 6th tee; a view that takes in the long par5 6th and the brutal par4 7th. These holes share half a fairway, quite an uncommon trait in this day and age but something that obviously works ok at exclusive Cathedral!

In keeping with the owner’s request of the architect in making the course playable for all levels of golfers, it is very generous off the tee. The challenge is with the approaches, as a number of the green settings are treacherous with misses penalised severely. The level of challenge depends a lot on pin positions of the day but there is a lot of scope for ramping up the difficulty when required (ie. Cathedral Invitational) by placing devilish pins that bring the penal surrounds into play.

The greens themselves are large. They are not overdone, in that they do not typically contain multiple lumps and bumps, but have tilt and subtle slope that in some cases is tough to read, being adjacent to those rolling hills. On both of my visits the green surfaces were impeccable (noticeably firmer & quicker when the pros were playing) as were the couch-based fairways.

Trees are scarce, there are tracts of the property that contain trees (noticeably that copse of pines behind the 7th and 10th greens that look fit for postcards) but they typically do not play part of the course’s defences. The hazards are on the ground: sand; water; thick rough; wasteland; gullies; and grassy mounds. The bunkering is prominent and plentiful, but placement is very efficient and strategic, there isn’t much wasted sand.

The par72 layout boasts 5 par3s and 5 par5s, with 4 of those 5s measuring beyond 530m from the back ‘Shark’ tees, which my playing partner insisted we play from on our visit!.

Most memorable holes for me were:

.5 A hole that polarises opinion, of only 280m off the back tees that climbs the top of the hill/ ridge, with a ‘U-shaped’ fairway that kicks balls into the centre and back down the hill, where a 7 iron or a driver may end up in the same spot. I love it, you need to get to a certain spot to make length worth while here anyway, ie. if you can’t reach the green side bunker or just before it, you may as well hit your 5 iron;

.the par5 6th (567m) and par4 7th (437m) that share a great % of their fairways. The 6th starts from way up on the hill and the ball hangs in the air forever. A bold right to left tee shot on 7 that takes on the hazard down the left can bound down a hill and cut many metres from the second shot. This 2nd shot is just as spectacular as it is dastardly – the downhill approach is to a green surrounded by trouble everywhere – bank and long grass left, drop off back and hazard cutting across the front, then sweeping around the right side – Wow;

.15 A short par3 of 138m from the very back, this is a unique looking hole set along a creek with mounds reaching down along both sides before a long green set in a bowl with a rocky grave awaiting left and a large mound right; and

.18 A huge par 5 of 567m where I reckon 5 will be a good score no matter who you are. It confuses on first visit, with wasteland to carry before a stream snakes it way up the entire hole, crosses the fairway a couple of times and protects the left side of the green.