LIV: Royal Melbourne (West)
The Melbourne Sandbelt, with its firm, sandy soil and unmistakable hazards, is unanimously held as one of the most significant neighbourhoods for golf architecture on the planet. Incredibly, much of its distinction can be traced back to a single fleeting visit by Dr. Alister MacKenzie in 1927 – a fleeting three-month jaunt across Australia.
It was the Royal Melbourne Golf Club who commissioned his visit and although his fingerprints are on the bunker schemes and green complexes of a number of Australia’s famed layouts, most of The Good Doctor’s attention was spent on routing holes across Australia’s finest grounds for golf. After laying eyes on the fifth green- the only completed hole at the time of MacKenzie’s departure, responsibility for construction and supervision was left to head greenkeeper Mick Morcom and club member Alex Russell.
Distinctively Sandbelt
In golf course architecture nothing can replace a quality piece of land, and what Mackenzie landed upon was the Sandbelt’s most sprawling and dramatic property- a site full of life which rumbled, tilted, rose and fell in the most ideal fashion for compelling golf.
Royal Melbourne’s canvas is one flooded with obvious natural advantages, its gorgeous sandy landforms an eclectic spread of both the brawny and the cute provided the bones for a handful of the world’s finest inland greensites and a thrilling rollercoaster of shots that can’t be found anywhere else on the planet.
The rises and falls of Royal Melbourne - looking back down the famous sixth
Renowned for his flair for designing appealing hazards, Mackenzie’s bunkers at Royal Melbourne are works of art and the defining visual feature of the layout. Big, bold and razor sharp, their scale matches up perfectly with that of the land, whilst seamlessly straddling the line of artistic grandeur and melting into the landscape with a distinct naturalness.
Greenside hazards provide striking frames as they carve out hearty chunks of putting surfaces, while those loitering in fairways pave heroic paths from the tee. Their firm bases and severe depth stamp them as firmly un-American, ensuring they are entirely undesirable places to find one’s ball - exactly as they are meant to be.
The most visually striking hazards on the planet frame 14 West
As visually arresting as the West Course may be, its magic lies firmly in the intricacies of its strategy. A stimulating combination of wide fairways, intelligent hazards and a collection of the world’s most inspiring green complexes inserts decision making, creativity and opportunities for thrilling recoveries. MacKenzie’s set of big, sloping greens are the heartbeat of the routing as they pitch and roll in all manners, with exhilarating opportunities to feed approaches toward the flag sternly offset by slopes which reject.
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​Though fairways offer ample room for all, scoring well requires hazards be contested with bravery - the advantageous angle of approach always found near or beyond trouble. Nowhere on the planet besides the Old Course at St Andrews do fairways so wide place such an imperative on accurate tee shots, where the margins which separate perfection from reprimand lie perilously thin and a foot in either direction can separate birdie from bogey (or worse). This push and pull of firm and fast width ensures the West remains joyfully playable for the high-handicapper whilst maintaining itself as a thorough championship examination - perhaps Mackenzie’s most endearing principle of design.
The big slopes and wide fairways of the fourth
The Third
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​The majority of the dialogue on Royal Melbourne is centred around the holes across the most dynamic terrain, though MacKenzie’s ability to bring mundane land to life at the third is both fascinating and admirable. The bulk of its 330-metres yields little interest, with the deep diagonal dip fronting the green combining with a surface tilted away from the line of play to deliver a ticklish pitch. The third has no business being one of the game’s finest drive and pitch holes, but it’s green complex is just that good.
The third affords no easy pitches
The Fourth
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The first of a handful of heroic tee balls on the West, the fourth is blinded by a cluster of hazards carved into the ridge. With the fairway bending right, it presents a second common predicament – matching the shot shape with the curve of the hole as to not bound straight through the short stuff. Beyond the crest, the approach is electric – threading a long iron into its gorgeous green choked by sandy scrub and a brutal bunker flanking the right side. Few courses can match the number of holes at the West course which pair thrilling tee shots with such inspiring approaches.
The blinding hazard of the fourth
The Fifth
As MacKenzie’s ship left the port and the keys were turned over to Morcom and Russell, he saw only a single completed hole on the West Course – the par three fifth. What he left was surely one of golf’s finest inland greensites, perched snug amongst an arena of bodacious bunkers and scrubby bushland – a wonderful depiction of Sandbelt golf. Though at first glance avoiding the false front appears most imperative, it’s being long and playing back downhill which racks up the largest numbers. Without a doubt the Southern Hemisphere’s most iconic one-shotter.
The Sanbelt's most iconic par three
The Sixth
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Grand and handsome, the sweeping dogleg at the sixth wonderfully encapsulates the spirit and strategic intentions of Royal Melbourne. Shaped by a string of bunkers on its inside corner, those brave enough to flirt with them are rewarded with an un-impeded approach to the stunning green perched atop a dune. For those who keep their distance and take a safe line to the outside of the dogleg, a hail Mary approach over a cavernous hazard awaits. Getting to the green is only half the challenge as a terrifying green loaded with contour and steep tilt to its front left corner breeds potential for chaos. A most handsome depiction of a classic risk-reward predicament.
The West's most dramatic approach into the sixth
The Seventh
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Too often overlooked as a result of its famous one-shot siblings, the short seventh plays quickly uphill to a green perilously perched atop a dune. From the tee, the tops of the fronting bunkers flash above the native scrub, though the dangers only unravel once its too late. Surrounded by sand, steep run-offs and a dramatic false front there is little room for error.
The seventh tee shows little of its hand
The Tenth
The best short fours in the world package up a handful of options and a wide range of possible outcomes within a single thrilling moment. Playing across a deep valley, golfers face an immediate decision on the tenth tee - whether to tackle the rising bunker which dominates the corner of the left sweeping dogleg, or to play a shorter club down the middle and leave a tricky pitch across a trough fronting the green. A drawing attempt at covering the bunker and holding the crumpled upturned saucer of a green (the drop-off long is one of the layout’s tightest death-traps) is one of the West Course’s most memorable shots and surely stamps it as one of the world’s finest short two-shotters.
There are few shots as rewarding as drawing one of the big left trap
The Sixteenth
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With the initial trio of one-shotters all tipping out under 175-yards, MacKenzie places a long club in the golfer’s hands at the 220-yard 16th. An army of bunkers creep up the left half of the green and toward the tee, inviting a running draw to the right half of the surface. Its elusive green is small and bisected by a shallow ridge – touching the surface is one thing, but finding the trajectory to keep the ball on it is a whole different ball game.
An arresting corner of Royal Melbourne's third paddock
The Seventeenth
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By the 17th tee the golfer is likely weary of the number of times they have declared a hole as “one of the best in the world”, though they had best have saved one last proclamation. A dogleg diving left from the tee, bunkers guard the inside whilst the cant of the fairway kicks balls to the less-desirable right side. Benched into a serene section of the property, bunkers defend the right edge of the putting surface, while a sharp rise at its front rejects the timid approach. A gorgeous hole where success commands two brave swings.
I mean, come on!
The Eighteenth
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​One final valiant tee shot is required at the final hole, up and over a bunker-clad rise as the fairway bends to the right – yet another tee shot where club and trajectory must be matched up to avoid running through the fairway into the scrub. Uniquely, an appealing string of hazards crowd the fairway well short of the green. An appropriately grandiose finish to an entirely majestic walk.
The 18th tee - a final heroic examination
When you match up the scale, variety and firmness of Royal Melbourne’s site with one of the world’s most interesting and diverse sets of greens, you land on one of the wonders of the golfing world. With little trace of a lull in its routing for golfers to take a breath, or an underperforming square metre, the West reaches rare air as one of the most complete and fully realised courses golfers are likely to experience.
For golfers of all abilities the West Course poses captivating questions, offers suitable options and delivers moments of wonder – surely the measure of a timeless masterpiece. Across the globe there are a small handful of golfing cathedrals, cornerstones of golf architecture and everything which is right about the game – the West Course reigns as the Southern Hemisphere’s North Star.