Blog 294 – Royal Queensland

Nomadic_golfer : March 2024 – Royal Queensland Golf Club, Qld review

Par72, 6142m, Slope 126 $120

4 par3s 125-180m, 10 par4s 289-408m, 4 par5s 458-512m

I fronted up to Royal Queensland as a reciprocal club with The National and hosted my ol’ workmate, tennis partner, golfing buddy Andrew Goz. I had attended the ’22 Aus PGA here but it was my first time playing it.

Unfortunately it was a wet and dreary, dark day so photos aren’t much chop. My very first thought was “Ooh, it has a lot of Yarra Yarra about it.” M Clayton presence noted. And there is a lot to like about it. McKenzie is said to have had an influence over the layout on his famed 1926 Aussie visit, making recommendations for changes to the bunkers and greens on the Carnegie Clark original. Clayts reconfigured it in modern times after a number of holes were lost when a duplicate of the Gateway Bridge was constructed across the Brisbane River. His makeover removed trees, rerouted the layout, and added many interesting and hole-shaping bunkers. The architectural vision was for ‘spacious golf’, something unfamiliar to most Australian golfers at the time – giving players choices on line and length at almost every tee (par 4 & 5s).

Whilst the land does appear very flat, Clayts does acknowledge the number of subtle undulations, which he has used to great advantage, along with preserving a small number of the large fig trees that previously characterised the course.

It is very generous off the tee without many daunting/ scary tee shots (hence the Yarra Yarra vibe), and there is no real rough to speak of. Three or four holes have bunkers down the middle of the fairway (think 17 at Royal Adelaide), asking you to pick a side, with the trickier side typically giving the easier approach. It reeks of strategic design, with the green shapes, tilts, bumps and tiers making up for the lack of elevation changes and providing the rewards for good approaches and penalties for those not so good. They also provide the angles which dictate what side of those wide fairways you are best served coming from.

There aren’t any standout geographical features that elevate one hole from another. Moreover, the layout represents a consistent execution of the Clark/ MacKenzie/ Clayton vision for strategic (& spacious) golf. On reflection, the most daunting shots come with wedge and other pitching implements in hand, rather than on the teeing ground. The only exception to this would be the mid-length par4 6th, with water down both sides.

Most memorable holes for me were: the par 3s, especially 11 (160m to a large, elevated, rollicking green that would require very different shots to different pins) and 17 (the ‘party hole’ at the PGA, only 125m but to a tabletop green with a number of small ‘shelves’ and where there is no good miss); the early long 4s in 3 & 5 are great examples of the architects’ vision of multiple length/ line options and giving fortune to the brave. 3 is my favourite, it gives you a wide fairway with sandy wasteland intruding from the right incorporating multiple illusions but the closer you are to this, the better line you have in; the short par4 12th where Adam Scott hit the pin with his driver at the 2023PGA. There are more options from this tee than I could fit inside my thinking sphere. That green complex, with the narrow, heaving green, is a ripper. While I suspect the long par4 14th, which bends slightly right between a couple of those large figs – serves as a reminder of the original vibe.

Overall, the new layout is very even in terms of hole quality and remains consistent with what the architect’s charter to provide space, width and strategic options. It is very different to most premier Australian courses, with the adrenaline pumping way harder on approaches than tee shots. But this may be misleading – tee shot position does matter, it is just that you are less likely to lose balls off the tees here. This is the real deal!