Blog 287 – Myrtleford

Nomadic_golfer : February 2024 – Myrtleford Golf Club, Vic review

Par 71, 5704m, Slope 116 $30

4 par3s 130-160m, 11 par4s 247-400m, 3 par5s 447-465m

This is a funky 18 hole country course at the base of Victoria’s Alpine region. The backdrop is beautiful, as the layout which sits within the town limits, is bordered by Barwidgee Creek and has the hills of Mudgeegonga Bushland Reserve very close to its western boundary to provide a deep green background to spot your white golf ball against. The aesthetic also benefits from an array of different tree types, and the various shades they bring. There are plenty of pines and gums, of all sizes, amongst conifers and various others, including a couple of willows.

The course occupies quite a small parcel of land and the holes do feel a bit squeezed in. As a result, you could nearly leave your driver at home. There are lots of short doglegs, and plenty of those have the apex of the dogleg at well under 200m – I hit my 155m 6 iron through one of them, and you could do this on a couple of other par4s also. The fairways are typically narrow and trees hang over obvious driving lines – most of the doglegs have large trees on the inside corners, starting near the teeing ground, so there aren’t options to carry corners.

Greens are small, quite a few of the dome-shape variety, and this adds a degree of difficulty. The green surfaces had excellent grass cover, but were very soft and slow. Fairways and surrounds were a mixture of kikuyu and naturally occurring local grasses.

The start does contain the shorter, trickier holes and its not really until you get to the par5 7th tee, that you are comfortable with a decision to pull out the driver. There are lots of trees, but they aren’t in thick clusters, and with the inside of the course containing no rough as such, you typically have some sort of recovery involving a low bunt, from missed fairways.

There is really only 1 hazard on the ground – a greenside bunker on the short par4 9th. In keeping with the ‘closed-in’ feeling, trees overhang the direct line to the green on the 2 middle par 3s also (153m 8th and 146m 14th).

The strongest and my favourite part of the course by a long way, is the finish. The last 4 holes are good, solid golf holes. 15 is a strong 400m par4 that bends slightly right to left and has a little more width through the typical chute of trees off the tee. Play then opens up to a wide, split level fairway with a ridge running from short right to long left that ends about 40m short of the green – its different and it works. 16 is a 160m par3 that runs along a boundary fence, with the left side of the green only ~10m from the fence. The short par5 17th (450m) is my favourite hole. It also has a boundary fence along its entire left side, with any attempt at hitting the green in 2 needing to hit this fairway and avoid the bail-out right. It is by no means dead out right but there isn’t a line to the green there. The small, elevated green is also only 15-20m from the fence so there is some risk in taking this on. The finishing 392m straight-away par4 does not have a chute to contend with off the tee. It does have another OB fence on the left of a fairway that slopes a little to the right, meaning the best line off the tee is one that starts left of centre and doesn’t shy away from that fence. The final, elevated green complex does contain mounds and contours and a 4 is a very good number to have as your last entry on the card.

Overall, this is a lovely place but the layout lends itself to irons off tees and doesn’t provide much benefit for taking on risk. It is a conservative golfer’s course for the first 14 holes, but you can breathe again after the 14th green. The aesthetic is super, condition is fine and you must remain patient to score well here – there is not much margin for error!