Blog 45 – Tallwoods

Nomadic_golfer : July 2020

Par 72, 5818m, slope 139, green fee $35

5 par 3s from 140 – 190m, 8 par 4s from 318 – 363m, 5 par 5s from 417 – 501m

The second golfing adventure from our Old Bar base was Tallwoods. I did not know what to expect here with reports of changes of ownership and very poor condition, I arrived with low expectations. This pessimism quickly faded. Yes, the condition was poor but it is a fantastic layout with spectacular views and magnificent looking holes from the tees. Its a real test of golf and stamina (if you don’t take a cart). Previous owners ran out of money, with new owners taking over 2 years ago and condition is starting to recover. Greens are satisfactory but couch fairways are very bare and many of the tees are totally bereft of grass.

Towering trees (mostly gums) frame many of the fairways of this Michael Hurdzan designed course built in the 1990s. Water comes into play on several holes, with a residential estate surrounding the course. The course includes five par 5s and five par 3s , which I like. From the blues, the par4s are quite short, with nothing over 363m but there are plenty of decisions to make on tees with holes shaping around the tall trees.

There are a couple of fantastic downhill short par4’s to entice the big hitters (4th 318m and 17th 344m, photo above), both have spectacular views from the tee and have subtle, green access-type penalties for wayward drives rather than being overly penal. Signature hole is probably the 160m par 3 11th, to a semi-island green weaved between tall trees. Short, uphill par 5’s are also prevalent here (3rd – 417m and 5th 431m) with the steep incline making up for lack of yards. Other favourite holes are the 501m 15th with a tee shot to a diagonal ridge, second between fairway bunkers which needs to be kept down the right to access a diagonal thin green and the last 2 par 3’s, the 190m steeply downhill 14th and the uphill 184m 16th, to a shallow green, bunker short left and thick rough long – it is tough. I’d play here again at the drop of a hat and it will only improve over the next season or 2 as the grass coverage continues to improve; it’s a breathtaking experience in more ways than one!