BARWON HEADS
THERE’S NO NEED TO UPHEAVE YOUR ENTIRE LIFE TO SAMPLE THE BEST ATTRIBUTES OF THIS STUNNING SLICE OF COASTAL VICTORIA, BUT AFTER VISITING THE REGION YOU MIGHT JUST WANT TO.
There’s no need to upheave your entire life to sample the best attributes of this stunning slice of Coastal Victoria, but after visiting the region you might just want to, as Steve Keipert discovered.
Most Australians became familiar with Barwon Heads during the ‘SeaChange’ era from 1998 to 2000, but golfers knew long before the highly popular ABC television series that something special sat at the foot of Victoria.
Arm’s length from Melbourne and blessed with natural assets and wonders known across the land and – in the case of Bells Beach and the Twelve Apostles – around the globe, the Bellarine Peninsula is also home to a fine collection of golf courses. It’s true that for sheer volume, its sister peninsula across Port Phillip Bay has garnered most of the attention, yet while the Mornington has the edge in quantity there is little separating the two locales in the quality stakes.
One area where the Bellarine and Barwon Heads has the edge is tournament action. The Victorian Open, which these days cleverly merges the men’s and women’s tournaments, has called the area home for the past three years in one of the more successful innovations in Australian professional golf for some time. Speaking of innovative, let’s not forget that the one-off Surf Coast Knockout in January 2011 was held at The Sands Torquay. That event combined a slick new format – sixhole matches – with a trendy holiday destination at a time of year
when crowds ocked to the area. The relaxing summer holiday vibe was reinforced with on-course food and music in an upbeat yet lowkey atmosphere. Heck, the players were even allowed to wear shorts! It signalled a possible evolution for modern tournaments and the fact it didn’t survive its inaugural staging said more about the dificulties of staging elite golf events in the current sponsorship climate than it did about the venue and the local population’s desire to support it.
That point’s been proven the past three Februarys at the Vic Open at Thirteenth Beach Golf Links, which sits on the site of a former asparagus farm near the Barwon Heads township. Having the twin Beach and Creek layouts creates the necessary space to concurrently stage the men’s and women’s elds and the result has been a pair of events with renewed vigour and prestige courtesy of an elite site and a fresh approach.
Richard Green helped put the golf course and the tournament on the map this year when he scored the most remarkable ace during the pro-am. Playing the 1st hole of the Beach course, the veteran left-hander pounded a drive downwind on the 317-metre par-4 and watched as the ball rst bounded into the left greenside bunker, was then spat out thanks to a combination of the contouring and the speed it was travelling, before made a beeline for the ag. The ball scuttled into the cup as if by remote control, giving Green an ace and a rare albatross with one strike.
Four days later, the 43-year-old sauntered off with the Vic Open trophy after holding off Australian Masters champion Nick Cullen in a playoff. And in a script-perfect result, Green’s fiancée Marianne Skarpnord captured the women’s Open just days after the pair became engaged and moved into a home within the estate. Talk about an endorsement of the total product.
The two courses at Thirteenth Beach and the inviting clubhouse present an ideal place to spend an entire day, which is precisely what I chose to do on my most recent visit to Barwon Heads. Triple-bogeys and shanks scare me far more than walking 36 holes in a day ever will, so with eager anticipation I took on the Beach and Creek courses with enough time for a sandwich in between.
Tony Cashmore’s extraordinary Beach course receives the plaudits although in fairness both layouts are strong. The Beach is narrower and owns the more attractive natural features while the Creek is more open and leans more heavily on its architectural merits to fully engage the golfing hemisphere of the brain. All 36 holes offer challenges mixed with opportunities for heroism closely guarded by potential pitfalls in an absorbing stroll to re the soul.
The Victorian Open alters the sequence of the Beach course (Green’s miraculous ace occurred on the 15th hole of the tournament configuration) but mere mortals get to play it the way Cashmore intended with a crescendo to both nines and a better overall ow. I’ve
always had a love/hate relationship with the 387-metre 2nd hole, a par-4 that doglegs right around a nest of bunkers, one of which swallows my golf ball every time I play it. There’s also something unsettling about the short par-4 5th hole that makes it hard to determine a correct line to take for the tee shot as the fairway is angled and sits atop a bunker-lined ridge that disguises most of its considerable width. The rest of the front nine plays out with a long, strong, three-shot par-5 at the 6th then a trio of holes featuring greens built with contours that allow canny golfers to work the ball to the required area by using the slopes. The best of these is the 420-metre par-4 8th, which begins from a tee set high on one of the many sand dunes lining the course and meanders to an unbunkered green where the edges gather rather than repel running shots.
The back nine’s best holes are its shortest. The 156-metre 12th would reap more accolades if it weren’t for the tiny but terrifying 16th. A veritable pushover on paper at 113 metres, this menacing little par-3 can wreck a scorecard in an instant. And if you think nding the Lilliputian green in regulation is difficult into the breeze, then just try holding a half-wedge shot when it’s downwind. It’s a hole to excite and intimidate all at once.
The Beach course opened in late 2001; Cashmore returned two years later and united with Sir Nick Faldo to co-design the Creek course, an excellent stablemate to the original layout. The Creek is atter, wider, features the odd pond and is in many ways more deceptive. Yet there are similarities, too. The Creek also creates opportunities to bounce the ball towards the target using the undulations and at-times sharp contours. It is generally necessary to play both courses to fully appreciate the nuances of each and learn how your stroke play needs to be subtly different to master both.
If the Creek has a hallmark, it’s a succession of thought-provoking par-4s. The most innocuous of them is the 1st hole but thereafter the two-shotters ask question after question of your ball-striking. The 4th and 5th holes epitomise this trait. The 419-metre 4th turns 90 degrees left around three bunkers towards a green with only a single bunker at the rear but all manner of humps and bumps to negotiate before you nd the putting surface. A hole later, the green contours of the 431-metre 5th will instead help collect balls, providing they avoid a single protruding bunker before the shortest grass. Later, the 8th and 9th deal a one-two punch consisting of a water- anked target followed by a driveable par-4 with a fairway riddled by bunkers leading to a green that is Cashmore’s homage to the 12th green on the Old Course at St Andrews. And it’s more of the same on the back nine, best illustrated by the long, open 11th and the 13th and 14th, which both retain tall pine trees to create a goal-post effect.
Last year the “controversial Faldo green”, as the club refers to the Creek’s 15th, received a minor tweak at the hands of Cashmore to create more pin positions on its top shelf. About the same time bunkers were
Touring Barwon Heads Golf Club appeals to all
the senses.
added to the 2nd fairway and a short-game practice area built, much to the delight of the Vic Open eld. Touring Barwon Heads Golf Club appeals to the senses in the same way the sound, smell and taste of sea spray, open replaces and good red wines do for many people. And the good news is you can enjoy all of those things in one place.
‘Quaint’ a is a word frequently used to describe the century-old club and it should be uttered or written in a reverential way as the traditions and practices preserved at Barwon Heads are rarities in 21st century life. A jacket is compulsory for the dining room, that attire itself a relaxation of the jacket-and-tie requirement that lasted until ve years ago.
Matching the yesteryear qualities inside the clubhouse walls is the old-school style of the golf course. In 2015, there are few courses measuring 5,886 metres that concoct as many headaches as the Barwon Heads layout. Victor East’s design features are as potent and purposeful today as they were in 1921 and 1971 (and hopefully in 2071). Yes, the Bass Strait breezes and dearth of distance on the scorecard make several holes vulnerable to modern technology, but equally the mounds and hollows along with the sandy, scrubby areas away from the fairways and greens push the limits of what is possible, even if you own a rocket-fuelled long game.
For every hole like the short par-4 1st is a robust hole like the 2nd or 3rd to counter. Indeed, the opening stretch at Barwon Heads provides rst-timers a fast lesson in appreciating the qualities of this ne layout. The 299-metre opening hole plunges from a high tee into a dip before rising to a largely unprotected putting surface that just beckons the driver from the bag. So, yes, an easy birdie is on the cards but good luck hanging onto that shot plucked from the course at the next two holes. The 2nd spans a hefty 207 metres to a green that measures and plays far smaller than one would expect for such a hole. Then comes the 390-metre 3rd, often tackled into the prevailing wind and journeying uphill to add to the test.
And so it goes for the remaining 15 holes, as Barwon Heads at one juncture gives then at the next takes away. The club is halfway through a renovation program that sees two green complexes upgraded per year under the watchful eyes of Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford. The pair of experienced course architects also penned the phenomenally cool nine-hole par-3 course that, along with a ridiculously good short-game practice area, inspires even more reason to visit. There would be few more enjoyable ways to end a day than wandering this circuit of short holes with a few wedges and a putter and trying to gure out the fun but befuddling greens. With cambers that push and pull balls at all kinds of angles, the short course on its own would be enough reason to visit Barwon Heads even if the ‘big’ course didn’t exist. The complete Barwon Heads experience simply must include an overnight stay. With 19 rooms attached and a plethora of packages available, it is like a 19th hole where the ball doesn’t have to nd its destination. Staying at the club allows visitors to soak in every aspect of what the club is about, from the dining room dress code to the sumptuous menu selections. And, if you act quickly, the more economical Bed & Breakfast package includes free golf during the three winter months instead of commanding a $55 green fee per round. While Thirteenth Beach and Barwon Heads might already be known to travelling golfers, the region is also home to a collection of underrated clubs without the grandeur or accompanying accommodation. The pick among them is Curlewis Golf Club, a round at which feels like a step down from the other pair only for the lower green fee.
Curlewis is a true ‘sleeper’ course; for so long lacking the
acknowledgement it deserved as a top-rate regional course. Golf Australia nally gave the course its due when the Vern Morcom design (later renovated by Kevin Hartley and more recently by Mike Clayton) entered our Top-100 Courses ranking in 2014. It was just praise for a layout you could gleefully play every day and never grow tired of the challenge.
Characterised by Sandbelt-like features amid established treelines that don’t suffocate the holes, Curlewis seems out of place – in a good way. The fairways move in Sandbelt fashion, just as the large greens possess the familiar size and contours, and the bunkering leaves you thinking you’re still in south-eastern Melbourne instead of ten minutes outside Geelong.
Several holes on the outward nine warrant mention. The 3rd is a cheeky short par-4 lining a ridge and inviting an attempt at driving the green, but an out-of-bounds fence left plus bunkers and a gully right make such a task a daring one. The rising 6th is a marathon par-5 with more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel before culminating in a green that’s equally mystifying. Among the best holes is the 139-metre par-3 8th. This little beauty features an elevated, two-tiered green than can be tricky if you land the ball in the wrong portion. Deep bunkers sit in front and to the left and right of the pulpit-style green. Balls that miss the target, and also evade these bunkers, will run up to 15 metres into the surrounding gully.
Another top short hole awaits near the end of the round. A metre shorter than the 8th, the 17th is a potentially terrifying par-3 with three subtle tiers that demand you nd the correct level or face a putt that could turn you into a quivering mess. Putting downhill from step to step can send too-strong rolls off the green, while big-breaking sideways putts can be only marginally less appealing. Adding to the degree of difficulty, the long green is guarded on each corner by bunkers and an out-of-bounds fence lurks just beyond the left-side pair. Much like Curlewis from 1 to 18, it’s a fun yet deceptively formidable challenge.