ST ANDREWS BEACH

AMERICAN DESIGNER TOM DOAK GIVES BRENDAN JAMES AN ESCORTED SNEAK PREVIEW OF THE NEWEST COURSE ON VICTORIA’S MORNINGTON PENINSULA.

When it comes to quality golf courses and how to design them, American Tom Doak is a learned man. Sure he has only designed 15 courses and has consulted on the restoration of many more, but Doak knows what is required for a golf course to be considered good.

Doak was in his 20s when he resigned from Pete Dye’s design team and went to Great Britain where he studied 200 courses in 12 months. He then spent the next few years travelling, looking at golf courses around the world and began compiling a book of notes for his friends.

“It was just something I put together for my friends as a guide to where they should and shouldn’t play,” Doak said. “Then I started getting calls from people asking for a copy so the list got published.”

His book, The Confidential Guide To Golf Courses, has been reprinted several times and is seen as one of the great course books because of the no-holds-barred “Doak Scale” of rating courses from 0-10 based on design.

“Now that I’m doing a lot more design work I don’t update the book any more,” he said. “If I did, both courses at St Andrews Beach would rate between an 8 and a 10 on the Doak Scale.”

It would be easy to dismiss Doak’s comment as a course designer talking up his latest work if the proof wasn’t already in the ground.

FACT FILE
The Golf Club St Andrews Beach
209 Sandy Rd Fingal 3939
(03) 5988 5366
Web: www.standrewsbeach.com