Kingston Heath Golf Club
(#3 AusGolf’s Top 100; #20 Golf Digest 2016 world rankings)
The next course to be reviewed from the Sandbelt is KingstonHeath Golf Club. If it were not for the fact that Royal Melbourne is a very short distance away, Kingston Heath likely would be the main attraction in the Sandbelt region. Unfortunately, though, for the less knowledgeable golfer, Kingston Heath is often overlooked, and the golfer is worse off as a result. “The Heath” is well worth any effort to play and has received praise from some of golf’s greats.
Ian Baker-Finch has
said this is his favorite course in Australia and one of the best in the
world.
Tiger Woods claims to have used some of the architectural
features when designing some of his courses, and referred to it as an
“unbelievable golf course.”
“One of my top five courses in the world.” Jason Dufner
“Kingston Heath is totally awesome. Best yet.”
Ian Poulter
Alister MacKenzie, who did the bunkering, stated, “The
course has been so well designed and constructed there is little for me to
suggest with the exception of a bunkering plan.” High praise for someone who has Royal Melbourne
and Augusta National on his resume.
The history of Kingston Heath (formerly Elsternwick Golf
Club) has ties back to Harry Vardon in addition to MacKenzie. Melbourne’s Stanley Dutton Green lead a group
to build a course in the sand-belt area.
During the planning, Green was in contact with Vardon and fellow Open
champion JH Taylor and gathering advice.
Vardon was reported to say “construct a course of sufficient length to
stand the test of time.” When the course
opened in 1925, it was 6,312 meters (nearly 7,000 yards) and par 82 … six par
fives and a lone par three on each side.
When faced with the criticism of the course being too long, Green said,
“If we are proved wrong, it will be easier to shorten than lengthen the
course.”
Kingston Heath has hosted
its share of championships, including the Australian Open (7 times), Women’s
Australian Open, Australian Masters (twice) and the 2016 World Cup, won by the
Danish team of Soren Kjeldsen and Thorbjorn Olesen. The list of champions also includes Tiger
Woods, Greg Norman, Gary Player, Adam Scott, Karrie Webb and Aaron
Baddeley.
When describing the Sandbelt courses, the
overriding adjective, or concept, that keeps coming to mind is
“simplicity.” There is nothing
complicated about these courses in design, and that is what makes them so
special. Aside from digging out the bunkers, there was little moving of
earth to create them. The routing just
seems to fit so well. Of course, the bunkering
design by Mr. MacKenzie is timeless.
But, they are extremely challenging courses. And, Kingston Heath is no different.
If you use Google Earth® and view it from above,"The Heath" won’t seem to be anything special. None
of them will. Yet, get on the ground,
hitting the ball and trying to get it into the hole in the fewest number of
strokes possible is another story.
Kingston Heath will bedevil you with the mounds and slopes and firmness
that will direct what seems to be a good shot into nearby a bunker. Just miss the fairway and you will leave
yourself with a shot from a mixture of loose sand and grass. Just miss the green and you will have a testy
bunker shot that will leave you hoping you can get down in just two strokes.
 |
| Hole #15 |
Hole 15 is a great
example. What was originally a short par
four, Mr. MacKenzie recommend changing it to a par three by moving the green 60
meters closer to the teeing ground and placing it on the top of a ridge rather
than behind it. It plays all of 176 yards to the middle of a green nearly 40 yards in depth that slopes toward all of
the edges. It has eleven bunkers, eight
of which are around the green. Where the
bunkers are not, there are collection areas from which it is almost as
difficult to make par as it is from one of the bunkers. Come up short and the ball will roll back down a slope leaving you a challenging little pitch shot. This hole is known as one of the great short
holes in golf.
If you have the opportunity to play Kingston Heath ... take it. You may not have many chances to play one of the top 20 courses in the world. You will not be disappointed.
Next week: Royal Melbourne Golf Club
