Blog 282 – The National Gunnamatta

Nomadic_golfer : January 2024 – Gunnamatta course at The National Golf Club, Vic review

Par 73, 6087m (Blue) slope 116 $155 / $210 (Black 6489 – Slope 121)

3 par3s 159-208m, 11 par4s 269-394m, 4 par5s 457-518m

Also covered in Blog 93 – 2020

The original ‘Ocean Course’ at The National was designed by Thomson Perrett. Tom Doak gave it a significant makeover and the result is ‘Gunnamatta’.

Peter Thomson’s Ocean Course was tough, exposed and near unplayable on a very windy day, which you get often on the tip of the Mornington Peninsula. Doak’s brief was to turn it into a course that is playable by every level of player, is fun to play and playable under any conditions. I reckon he succeeded and it reopened in April 2019 to rave reviews.

Perhaps the first observation of the Doak redesign is of very generous fairways. Every fairway has one side that gives you a better line in, depending on where the pin is cut on the typically large greens, and there is plenty of risk/ reward out there in varying levels.

The vast majority of trouble is on the ground, there aren’t many trees out on Gunnamatta. Punishment may be as benign as a poor line in, and as severe as bushy wasteland that awaits the arrival of your tee shot alongside the short par4 17th green that can make a laser-straight drive that just misses the pin and trips off the back of the green, into an easy 6.

There are features aplenty, with many holes defined by a particular physical attribute or two, many providing those everlasting memories for one time visitors. The ‘boomerang’ shaped green on 8 is unique, a ripper and makes this hole. The super-narrow, heavily tilted green on 12 with ‘bumper rails’ on each side, plays a similar role and the more you take on the rough stuff down the right off the tee, the better chance you have of an approach straight up the length of that green.

The Par 5 13th gets underway with a downhill, blind tee shot over a crest with dramatic fall-aways kicking the ball downhill and left, where taking on the more dangerous right side will take most advantage of the extra run and give you the best line and shortest approach to a reachable, elevated green. Attempts to hit the green in 2 that go awry can leave you hoping to make 6. And the super tough par3 16th which plays straight at the sea and is completely exposed to the elements – the firm ground yearns for a running, trundling long iron but rejects anything other than the most crisply struck, straight approach and consigns them to bunkers left or a catchment area right.

My favourite holes are those golden short par4s that are as good as any you will play; the 280m 2nd (OB goes all the way up the left side and hugs the left edge of the green, which is protected at the front by a nest of huge deep bunkers) and the 270m 17th (slightly elevated, small and very firm green surrounded by bunkers and dense wasteland everywhere but short right). They are both reachable for many players under many different conditions and they offer the harshest penalties if you get ambition confused with ability.

The National’s summing-up of Doak’s design is that “it embraces the ‘cup’ and ‘bowl’ undulations of the region’s sandy terrain, delivering generous fairway width, natural & strategic bunkering, and imaginative green shapes with intriguing contours designed to challenge short game creativity”. Very well put!

Greens are an A1 and Pure Distinction mix and are absolutely pure. Their size, shape, contours and undulations are the key playing feature of the course. Surrounds are fescue with couch fairways.

This is something different and intoxicating – one that has stuck fat with the MacKenzie wish of architects to make it far from daunting for the bogey golfer but very challenging for those looking for birdies. It is one of those tracks that as soon as you walk from the 18th, you want to go back and try again – ‘With 1 round of knowledge under my belt, I’m sure to break my handicap here next time!’