Course no.10 for 2025 & 402 all-up: Riversdale, Vic
Rounding the corner on the left-to-right par5 7th
Nomadic_golfer : June 2025 – Riversdale Vic, review
Par 72 5887m Slope 132 $180
4 par3s 145-195m, 10 par4s 251-406m, 4 par5s 470-507m
Occupying the Northern side of a hill on Huntingdale Rd in Melbourne’s South-East, the strength of this Alex Russell design, and its greatest defence, are its green complexes. They don’t look natural like a St Andrews Beach, or links-type courses but they are very effective – well bunkered (a Peter Thomson upgrade in the 90’s), possess some funky shapes & nooks, plenty of tilt & slope, and plenty of run-off areas.
The 340m 2nd is one of the coolest greens with a few lumps and bumps, and some intriguing little shelves and a shallow tongue tucked behind the right-side bunker. The routing wanders up and down the hill, and across the slope, and results in a nice variety of stances and required shape shots and the odd semi-blind tee-shot (tee-shot on the strategic, short, uphill 4th is blind).
The round gets off to an unusual start, a testing 195m par3 from an elevated tee across a gully and partially back up to an ‘elevated’ green. And with the 3rd being another par3, and 4 at ~300m, you are raring to let one go by the time you reach the 5th tee. With 5 par 4s under 315m from the back tees (and 3 under 282 on the back 9), there is a distinct flavour of short 4s. Some of the most extreme greens are housed on these, with the 280m 18th a great example – a narrow, heavily bunkered, table-top example that takes some imagination to work out.
My favourite of the short 4s is the polarising 250m downhill 10th – at this length it dangles the carrot to a wide range of golfers and there are real penalties to pay if you choose a long club off the tee and don’t execute (water left and long of the green that will swallow any left tee shot and play a part with your 2nd if you bail too far right). The 265m 12th is not far behind, a semi-blind tee shot on a right to left dogleg, it has a host of options off the tee and multiple hazards to trip you up as you play to the highest point on the property.
The back-to-back par 5s (6 & 7) on the front nine both give you a chance but do require correct placement, as well as length off the tee. With cleverly cambered approaches and cleverly shaped, elevated greens, in generally firm conditions, you need to work the angles on approaches to both holes. The 5s on the back are a contrast to this – both long at over 500m, and a little less subtle than their front 9 counterparts. One (15th) is uphill with a shallowish green and the other (13) downhill with a stream cutting across in front of the green.
Turf quality in the heart of winter was pretty good, the number of divots gave an insight into the traffic the course gets, but playing surfaces in general were firm and true. Overall, the 1930’s Russell design still holds up well today as a real test of golf, despite being less than 6000m. You do need to think your way around and hit a lot of different shots. It will be interesting to see what changes OCM make to this Melbourne classic, as they look to review it following recent changes aligned to a Crafter & Mogford 20-year plan penned in 2007.
