Bigger is not always better and, when it comes to golf, the shortest offerings can often provide the most memorable moments during a round. They can be the most picturesque and, in many cases, they can be the most difficult holes.
VICTORIA (continued)
KINGSTON HEATH GC
142-metre, 15th hole
This challenging uphill par-3 is home to some of the most fearsome bunkering Alister MacKenzie ever designed. The middle of the green is the only safe place on this hole and, even then, you hope you have an uphill putt.
RIGHT: Kingston Heath, 15th hole. PHOTO: Brendan James.
“If anyone built this hole now, the hackers would howl in protest because they could never get out of the bunkers,” Mike Clayton once wrote. “As MacKenzie did it all those years ago, no-one bothers complaining because, fortunately, no-one would listen.”
METROPOLITAN GC
160-metre, 2nd hole
During his 1926 trip to Melbourne, Dr Alister MacKenzie visited Metropolitan and on seeing the 2nd hole he described it as one of the best short holes he had seen in Australia. It is a gorgeous green complex with bunkers cut right into the edge of the putting surface.
MOONAH LINKS – LEGENDS COURSE
162-metre, 3rd hole
Named after 1984 Australian Open champion, American Tom Watson, the key here is in
club selection and making sure you have enough club in your hand to carry the sandy wasteland gully and bunkers that lie between tee and green.
MORNINGTON GC
149-metre, 19th hole
This is the newest par-3 to be featured among the elite one-shot holes showcased within these pages. Officially opened for play last year, it is a spectacular hole with Port Phillip Bay as its backdrop.
PENINSULA KINGSWOOD CC – NORTH COURSE
160-metre, 2nd hole
Based on the design principles of the world famous 5th hole on Royal Melbourne’s West Course, this could be the best par-3 built in Australia in the past few years. With an elevated tee and green, the tee shot is played across a valley with sand lining the right side. It’s an all-carry tee shot to avoid the false front, but bunkers left and right narrow the back of the green.
PENINSULA KINGSWOOD CC – NORTH COURSE
151-metre, 14th hole
With such a big, wide target lying off in the distance, it would be easy to dismiss this par-3 as straight-forward. A false front rejects anything short and a front left bunker makes the shot to the back left flag tough, while the false edge that winds around the right edge of the green makes for a shot no less difficult. The putting surface is also trimmed right to the edge of two bunkers carved into the hill behind. Not so straight-forward after all.
PENINSULA KINGSWOOD CC – SOUTH COURSE
142-metre, 14th hole
An impressive one-shotter played across a valley where the left side of the hole is a combination of sand and long grass. The big, wide green offers a vast range of pin positions with the most interesting one being the back left corner, which can be accessed with a tee shot turning right-to-left from the centre of the putting surface. A false front will grab the short tee short and feed it into the front left bunker.
PENINSULA KINGSWOOD CC – SOUTH COURSE
120-metre, 17th hole
Could there be any more pressure coming towards the end of a round and facing a seemingly innocuous short par-3. Sand dominates the left side and back edge of the two-tiered green … club correctly and stay clear of the bunkers to head to 18 unscathed.
PORT FAIRY GL
178-metre, 15th hole
A fantastic redesign by Mike Clayton in 2006 changed the direction of this hole to run parallel with the coastline and created an unforgettable hole. The slightly elevated tee sits above the coastal scrub, offering superb ocean views right of the hole. It is a wide green surrounded by humps and swales, complicating any recovery.
RACV CAPE SCHANCK RESORT
170-metre, 14th hole
Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr, it shouldn’t surprise that this downhill par-3 is one of the most dramatic featured here. With a three-tiered green that slopes significantly from back to front, the tee shot here is all about finishing on the same level as the flag. Any other result is asking for trouble.
ROYAL MELBOURNE GC – WEST COURSE
161-metre, 5th hole
Correct club selection and pinpoint accuracy make this par-3 fearsome. Played across a valley to a green with bunkers to the sides and a deep swale at the front, it is simply beautiful and arguably the best of the great Alister MacKenzie/Alex Russell/Mick Morcom
par-3s at this famed club.
ROYAL MELBOURNE GC – WEST COURSE
135-metre, 7th hole
This deceptively easy-looking hole might just be in the top-3 uphill par-3s in the country. Club selection is absolutely vital to find the narrow, but wide, green, while difficult undulations make long putts tough. This little gem is just as challenging for the pros as it is for amateurs.
ROYAL MELBOURNE GC – WEST COURSE
202-metre, 16th hole
Some have described this par-3 as a par-3 and a half, simply because of its length and the small target that awaits. A scheme of five beautiful Sandbelt bunkers dominate the left of the ideal playing line, while another huge trap to the right almost gives the impression of no landing area short of the putting surface.
ROYAL MELBOURNE GC – EAST COURSE
184-metre, 4th hole
This is one of the finest uphill par-3s in the Sandbelt. The green runs diagonally from right-to-left, so the further left the flag, the longer the tee shot must carry. The other option is to hit a controlled right-to-left shot from the tee and use the slopes on the green to get close to the hole.
ROYAL MELBOURNE GC – EAST COURSE
151-metre, 16th hole
An attractive well-bunkered par-3, where the real test comes around the green. Getting out of the bunkers here is one thing, but making putts on the sloping surface is another. Ben Crenshaw once called the 16th “one of the most beautiful in the world”.
The odd-shaped green features a deep bunker cutting into the middle of the putting surface, while more Alex Russell-designed bunkers can be found left and through the green.
SORRENTO GC
141-metre, 2nd hole
The outstanding feature of Sorrento’s best par-3 is the green complex, that sits at a slight left-to-right diagonal to the approaching tee shot. Two deep bunkers hug the right edge of the putting surface. Always a difficult green to hit, no matter what the wind is doing.
SPRING VALLEY GC
134-metre, 10th hole
Most great courses are home to a difficult short par-3 demanding of a precise short iron shot. Spring Valley’s downhill 10th is one such hole. Deep bunkers surround the narrow green, making par saves difficult after a miscued
tee shot.
THE DUNES GL
148-metre, 3rd hole
This was a surprise inclusion from The Dunes, considering the acclaim with which the 17th hole is held. That said, this superb one-shotter fully deserves its place among the elite. It is a wonderful hole played across the top of a ridge, exposing any tee shot to the wind. This brings six bunkers into play, especially three immediately to the right of the green’s fringe.
ST ANDREWS BEACH
197-metre, 16th hole
Standing on the tee here, you are faced with one of the most intimidating tee shots on the Mornington Peninsula. Played from one sand dune ridge to another, the 16th has one deep bunker set well short of the green to the left and another on the right edge. High trajectory shots will hold on the green but running shots will move left with the sloping ground and into sand or deep grass.
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