Blog 97 – Albury

Nomadic_golfer : December 2020

Par 70, 5755m, slope 121, green fee $36

6 par 3s from 136-197m, 8 par 4s from 287-406m, 4 par 5s from 451-506m

Second up in Albury on the way back from Melbourne into NSW was the inner Albury course – the Commercial Golf Resort.

Commercial – that title is spot on as everything is nice and neat. As Jack Newton would say, it’s very commercial. Kikuyu fairways were the condition highlight, consistent & well grassed, typically medium to wide in width. Bent greens in pretty good nick too, medium pace but smooth and medium in size and generally flat without much break. They have about 1-2 metre green surrounds that aren’t kikuyu – quite differentiated; looks like they let the bent grow out. Greens are well bunkered but there’s not much in the way of fairway bunkers.

It has a very unusual start with 2 par 5’s (Kooyonga is the only other one I recall) and they are both good holes, but quite wide fairways to let you loosen up. There is a large town drain that weaves its way through holes 3 to 5 and despite the aesthetic imposition, these holes are quite strong and are definitely a memorable part of this experience – 3 and 5 are doglegs right that have the drain on the right side and then cutting in front of the green, and they are both very well engineered. There are some really nice par 3s, which are all different; favourites were 7 and 10 (prob my favourite, 177m facing the clubhouse, with bunkers short and left protecting the pin from an aggressive mid-long iron, and a bail out right which kicks it back toward the green if you have the right shape), while 17 is a little ripper, 138m up a hill to a flat shallow green with a valley in between, a real test of distance control. 16 was my favourite par 4; 342m right to left with a pine on the inside corner and a row of pines on the outside. A ridge cuts diagonally across the fairway at 190-200m and is of some assistance to those taking a tight line off the tee, but not the bail-outers as the slope kicks the ball wider. Its back uphill for the 2nd to a flat green with bunker right. Very pretty.

Overall, it is a fun course to play in very nice condition and I like the 6 par3 4 par5 configuration but it does lack some teeth.

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