Once upon a time, it was a little-known links on Victoria’s south-west coast. Today, the links at Port Fairy is firmly entrenched among the best 50 courses in the nation.
It is no longer the mystery it once was, even as recently as 15 years ago. Golfers used to ‘discover’ its delights by chance, perhaps looking for a game after trekking along the Great Ocean Road. These days, it’s not uncommon to see golfers extricating their clubs from travel covers in the car park, having specifically navigated the three-and-a-half-hour drive from Melbourne and, perhaps, further afield.
Those visiting the links for the first time might be mistaken for thinking the course had been in the ground for a hundred years or more.
While the club dates back to 1899, it has only been located among the dunes east of the coastal township since 1962. Back then, nine holes were laid out on the flatter ground of the site. A decade later, another three holes were added and finally, in 1985, the club officially opened as an 18-hole layout with former Australian Amateur Champion turned course architect Kevin Hartley overseeing the extension.
In 2001, the club commissioned Mike Clayton to oversee any further design changes to the layout and he has been advising the club ever since.
“Port Fairy is a precious and unique layout. Nowhere else in Victoria is golf played so close to the ocean or along dune land of such quality,” Clayton wrote in Golf Australia magazine. “The gently rolling sand dunes at Port Fairy have been largely unaltered by man, only mown in order to define fairways and rough giving rise to a wonderful natural feel.
“The club has developed a higher profile amongst the golfing community, earning the reputation of a golf course worth travelling a long way to play – almost to the point of enjoying ‘cult’ status.”
Under Clayton’s watch, several holes have been redesigned to take advantage of the coastal location and add to the quality of the links. There have also been subtle improvements to the bunkering, some greens remodelled, while the selected removal of coastal scrub has opened up the ocean views on several holes.
It is safe to say all this work has simply tweaked what Mother Nature left behind among the sand dunes. Port Fairy’s wonderful natural feel, where the fairways subtly rise and fall over the natural folds in the landscape, is evident everywhere.
A first look of the Port Fairy scorecard lures you into a false sense of your own ability. Two par-5s – between 440 and 470 metres – and three par-4s measuring less than 330 metres in the first six holes would certainly have most regular players anticipating a good start to their round.
What the scorecard doesn’t reveal is the course’s two great defences – wind and the myriad of lies found beyond the tee on every hole.
For example, on the short par-4 3rd hole, the fairway rolls over a diagonally set ridge as it turns slightly right to head to the green. If this was a flat hole of 304 metres, you would expect to walk away with a par on most occasions. But the undulations between tee and green here, and the wind, make the second-shot approach anything but straightforward. The first time I played Port Fairy, a stiff and chilly south-westerly was blowing, and I hit a driver and knockdown 5-iron (from a slight hanging lie) into a deep bunker front right of the green. A further four shots were required before heading to the next tee.
It is a similar story two holes later, where the 448-metre par-5 ebbs and flows over the rippling terrain ensuring no two shots from the wide avenue of short grass are ever going to be exactly the same. I actually prefer to play this hole into the wind because it takes away the option of hitting the green in two. When the wind is favourable, you will try and get as close to the green as possible, no matter whether the ball is lying above or below your feet, and this can only mean trouble outside of making the perfect strike. It is another of the well-designed Port Fairy holes where birdies are as common as double and triple bogies.
The front nine is laid out among the dunes furthest from the beach and runs predominantly east and west. The one exception is the 122-metre downhill par-3 8th, which is played to the north and is easily affected by the prevailing south-westerly and westerly winds blowing high struck tee shots right of the green and into one of two cavernous bunkers or deep hollows.
Port Fairy’s most exciting holes are incorporated into the stretch from the par-5 12th to the par-4 16th hole – three of which may be undergoing some unexpected
changes in the near future.
It was recently discovered that the par-5 12th, the tough par-4 14th and the par-3 15th have inadvertently encroached beyond the southern boundary property line into land owned by Parks Victoria.
Clearing of some scrub and wider mowing lines had, over time, seen the right side of the 12th and 14th holes edge closer to the beach and spill into the state government land. A redesign of the 15th hole in 2006 saw a new tee built behind the 14th green, which saw the hole play parallel to the ocean, having previously been played perpendicular with the beach forming a backdrop to the view of the green.
At the time of writing, the club was still in discussions with the state government about the issue but, in the event these holes need to be redesigned, it is ready to make the required changes. These are likely to see the 12th and 14th holes shift 10-15 metres left from their current position, which won’t change the high quality of these holes at all.
The Southern Ocean comes into view for the first time as you walk onto the tee of the 465-metre 12th. It is a straightforward three-shotter with out-of-bounds on the beach to the right of the fairway and tall marram grass rough to the left. The key here is not to be distracted by the view and maintain control over your shots en route to the green. Five bunkers left and short of the round putting surface really come into play during the second shot when the wind is favourable.
The 14th is the toughest of Port Fairy’s holes. Bunkerless and stretched to 408 metres, there is a huge sand dune lying between the right edge of the fairway and out-of-bounds markers. When the wind is blowing hard off the sea from the right, it might be necessary to hit your drive over the sand dune to allow the wind to bring it back into the middle of the fairway. The second shot here is breathtaking. It doesn’t get much better than having to play any number of clubs (depending on the wind strength) from a downhill lie to a small green set against a Southern Ocean backdrop.
The spectacular redesign of the 178-metre par-3 15th in 2006 changed the direction of the hole to run along the coastline and it proved a masterstroke in creating the prettiest and hardest par-3 on the course. Missing the green here makes for a tough up-and-down and has raised the bar on the challenge that confronts players as they near the end of their round. It will be unfortunate if the club is forced to move the tee back to its pre-2006 position.
The 365-metre par-4 16th is links golf at its best and is a real taste of what you will often experience on the great links of Britain and Ireland. The sweeping dogleg left presents a blind tee shot to a fairway, riddled with bumps and swales, which is separated from the beach by a single line of sand dunes. The approach to the slightly elevated green is rarely played from a flat lie … Got to love the links.
FACT FILE
LOCATION: Woodbine Rd, Port Fairy, Victoria.
CONTACT: (03) 5568 1654.
WEBSITE: www.portfairygolf.com.au
DESIGNERS: Members (1963); Kevin Hartley (1985); Mike Clayton (2001 and ongoing).
COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Troy Richardson.
PGA PROFESSIONAL: Anthony Warburton.
PLAYING SURFACES: Couch (fairways and tees); Bentgrass/Poa annua (greens).
GREEN FEES: $59 (18 holes, Sunday to Friday), $69 (Saturday).
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