Blog 50a : Half-time

Nomadic_golfer : July 2020

Half-time awards, 50 not out

In mid-July I reached the half century and rather than keep on churning out course reviews everyday, thought it would be a good chance to pause and reflect on the highlights from that first 50. In the cricket vernacular, there have been a few play and misses and I haven’t looked overly organised at the crease, but I’ve played myself in, have the pace of the pitch and am confident of reaching the ton. I have played some iconic courses but have enjoyed the country surprises just as much; there’s plenty of gold out there if you are ‘glass half full’. Every course you play has something that pricks your interest or adds to your experiences.

Courses

Favourite course – Royal Adelaide / Favourite country course – Murray Downs/ Coomealla / Favourite surprise – Junee / Favourite scrapes course – Dunkeld

Longest course – Mt Broughton (6619m) / Shortest course – Yass (5128m) / Best conditioned – Murray Downs / Favourite layout despite condition – Tallwoods / Favourite golf experience – Tuncurry

Best value for money – Harden ($20) & Kempsey ($17 incl Comp) / Most quirky – Gundagai (some great holes, some unusual and play over effluent ponds)

Favourite Holes

Short Par 3 – Tumut 17th (130m steep downhill to very narrow green with drop-off left

Longer Par 3 – Tallwoods 16th (184m uphill to a shallow green, ground sloping from high right to low left with bunker short left and thick stuff long)

Hardest Par 3 – Mt Broughton 2nd (220m downhill requiring 2 carries over the same creek that also borders the left, with OB right)

Short Par 4 – Royal Adelaide 3rd (270m with blind tee shot to very shallow, diagonal green, fronted by a grassy mound, surrounded by trees and sandy wasteland). Honourable mention to Tallwoods 17th

Long Par 4 – Gundagai 15th (390m turning right with sparse trees down both sides of the teeshot, gully/ hazard right which gets closer to the fairway as you approach the green, and cuts in front of the elevated green). Honorable mention to Junee 17th

Hardest Par 4 – Kooindah Waters 18th (382m with water catching anything left for the entire hole while the fairway and green slope towards the water. The water then licks around in front of the green and there are bunkers right). Honorable mentions to Long Island 7th, Royal Adelaide 14th, The Old National 3rd & Leongatha 11th

Par 5 – Bairnsdale 13th (503m, snaking right to left, then left to right, with OB down the right and Lake King as your horizon. The left side is safe from OB but has a nest of fairway bunkers about 60m out). Honorable mentions to Tathra 2nd and Victor Harbor 6th.

Most spectacular hole – Victor Harbor 1st (main picture below says it all)

Most unusual hole – Riverside Mildura 3rd (386m dogleg right with no real chance to hit your tee shot over 180m

Bairnsdale’s par 5 13th from tee to green