10 Nov 2010

As has been the case for the past five years, in December the men’s Australian Open will be played in Sydney, returning for the first time in almost two decades to The Lakes Golf Club near the city’s airport. The Lakes has hosted countless prominent championships in its history, including three previous Australian Open’s, but none have been played on a golf course quite like this one.

When the founding members of The Lakes established the club in 1928, it was on the scrubby, sandy dunes near Kingsford, and a piece of land famously set within the Botany Water Reserve. The large lake that dominates the back nine here was part of the original layout designed by Eric Apperly and Tom Howard. Little of their course survived the 1960s, however, when the construction of Southern Cross Drive split the property in two and forced a complete redesign by American architect Robert von Hagge. Von Hagge’s course opened in 1970 and was well received, despite being completely different in nature to the earlier version. It successfully hosted the Open in 1980 and again in 1992. Following the ’92 Open, won by Steve Elkington, the golf course curiously lost its way, quickly deteriorating as a combination of architectural neglect and internal mismanagement started to take its toll.

The pivotal moment in the rebirth of The Lakes came in early 2007, when a report tabled to the board showed that all 18 greens on the course were struggling with root growth, and would die out if prompt action wasn’t taken. They were also told that the club’s ageing irrigation system was in desperate need of replacement. For a board already burdened with a multi-million dollar debt, thanks to a new clubhouse, the news couldn’t have been worse.

From crisis often comes opportunity, and in truth The Lakes of 2007 was a complete mess, and the board of the day knew it. Over-treed, unattractive, inconsistent and with an uneasy mix of design styles and grasses, the layout had been slipping for years and the overwhelming view of the board was that rather than continuing to patch over problem spots, they should instead look at completely overhauling the golf course.

Enter Mike Clayton and his team, who were recommended by a number of previous clients and engaged almost immediately to prepare a plan to move the club forward. Clayton plan was somewhat radical, and involved returning the course to its sandy roots by widening playing corridors, removing intrusive trees and introducing expansive waste areas. As Clayton says, ‘The Lakes didn’t really give us a brief. We had a vision for the course and they accepted it and liked the concept of taking the front nine especially back to where it was by taking out the trees and building the sandy waste lands.’ The aim of Clayton’s crew was clearly to return to the linksy look and feel of golf in this part of Sydney during the 1920s and 30s. Basically they wanted to get The Lakes looking like The Lakes should have always looked.

In August of 2007 Clayton and his design team started work on the 1st and 18th holes, bookends that were as much about them getting a feel for the land as the board and members getting prepared for what might lie ahead. Shortly after this work was finished they started on the rest of the property, redesigning all 18 holes and every single green site and bunker on the golf course. The work was completed and ready for play in August last year.

While most of the von Hagge routing remains, gone are the non-native trees, choking fairways and small pot bunkers, and in their place are large areas of exposed sand, broad strategic fairways that challenge golfers to nestle in close to dangerous corners, and wildly exaggerated putting contours that enhance the tactical appeal of the holes and reinforce the linksy feel. Although clearly on the radar, it wasn’t a matter of making this an Australian Open-ready layout, but rather introducing strategy back into a golf course that had moved almost completely down the penal path. It was about building something that might endure and fascinate members and visitors for years to come. As Clayton himself noted of the work done, ‘nothing we did here was influenced by The Open, except that we were trying to ask demanding strategic questions but we tried to do that with width and not with rough which is the way of modern American and European tour golf.’

Despite being wider, more forgiving and slightly shorter than the previous course, the new Lakes is far from a pushover and won’t be any easier to score on, thanks to its heavily contoured targets, stern hazards and the shortening of the 2nd from a soft par five into a fierce par four. In terms of how it will play compared to the last time the Australian Open was held here, Clayton opines that ‘it will be different from 1992 because there is more room from the tee and there is more contour on the greens. That will make for the biggest difference because the players will have to think more about where they place their ball on the fairway.’ Previously the middle of the fairway was generally the best place to drive your ball, but that’s no longer the case as there are a number of holes where central drives will lead to more complicated approaches.

There are also several greens on the new layout where pin placements and the strength and direction of the wind can affect strategy both from the tee and with your second shot, the best examples being the highly contentious 13th and 14th holes. The 13th is a drivable short par four that will make a fool of anyone shooting for an eagle but failing by leaving their ball to the side of its skinny pushed-up green. As is the case anytime a short hole causes carnage, there are sure to be complaints about this target from some in the field. What the naysayers miss, of course, is that the 13th is actually a very simple hole to par if you play conservatively from the tee.

The next hole is another real talking point. One of the clubs iconic back nine par fives, the 14thfollows and then crosses the main lake to an enormous green now collapsing violently down a steep incline toward the water. What’s exceptionally cool about the 14th green, is that it has singlehandedly transformed and improved a hole that for years had an over-inflated reputation. Before, if you couldn’t hit this green in two you could lay up anywhere near the edge of the hazard and have a comfortable angle across the water for your third shot. What’s changed now is that golfers of all abilities have to plot their path to the green. If you can’t reach in two you’ll need to lay-up, but where to depends entirely on the location of the flag. Similarly, the days of big hitters shooting blindly over the water and hoping for a simple two-putt birdie are gone. At times, putting for your third will be the best option, but at other stages you’ll really need to leave yourself a full approach shot in order to have any chance of getting close to the pin.

While a number of players are bound to dislike the severity of the 13th of 14th greens, others will surely embrace the fun and challenge involved in negotiating such taxing and original targets. There are other striking transformations to look out for as well, particularly early in the round. The entire front nine now has an open, sandy appearance, with holes dominated by large, grand-scale fairways and rugged blow-out style bunkering. Individually, holes like the 2nd, 3rd and 7th are from the top shelf, while the famous opening hole is a much more strategic test now that its tee has been returned to the edge of the lake and players are forced to carry at least part of the water hazard. The 6th is another wonderfully strategic par four. Measuring a touch over 310 metres, the hole heads uphill and bends slightly left around a cluster of dangerous bunkers that golfers will need to flirt with in order to set-up a relatively straightforward approach. Those bailing right here face a nasty pitch for their second.

On the back nine, key holes that readers might remember from earlier tournaments include the excruciatingly narrow par four 10th and the spectacular par five 11th, a genuine three-shotter that doglegs right around the lake toward a peninsula putting green. The left-bending 17th is another famous par five, and significantly improved thanks to Clayton’s changes which advantage those who can drive their ball closest to the lake from the tee, rather than players who bail away from the water. The par three closing hole is also a considerable improvement on the previous incarnation.

The only real knocks on The Lakes now remain the fact that each nine closes with a short hole, which some view as a negative, and the broad-leafed kikuyu grass on its fairways. The kikuyu here stays green year-round and works to control the distances golf balls run, but the grass is far from an ideal surface upon which to play the sort of chasing, bouncing approach shots that the design has dictated. During the Australian Open the turf is sure to be kept tight and bouncy, but a lingering concern remains how these surfaces will play for the members once the club has moved out of tournament preparation mode. If they are unable to keep the grass lean and keen year-round, then the pitch and spin shots will tend to overrule those of the bounce and chase variety, which would be unfortunate.

These small concerns aside, The Lakes golf course is once again one of the shining lights in Sydney and its redesign should be viewed as an overwhelming success, regardless of what happens during Open week. Clayton and his crew did a superb job returning the layout to its sandy Sydney roots, but the board at the time also deserve a great deal of credit for not getting in their way, and for having the courage and foresight to look past adversity and instead see opportunity. While it’s unlikely to win universal approval from the Open participants, importantly, for the membership this is now a constantly stimulating, strategic test that asks a hell of a lot more questions that simply hitting fairways and greens. It’s hard to imagine many of them finding it less enjoyable than the previous course.

Among the favourites for the Stonehaven Cup this year will be defending champion Adam Scott, American legend Fred Couples, young-guns Michael Sim and Marc Leishman and former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, whose views on the course will be interesting given he has recently entered into a design partnership with Mike Clayton. Ogilvy had nothing to do with the redesign here, and if he wins the event it will have less to do with any insider knowledge he might have gleaned from his new associate, and more due to his willingness to accept quirk and adapt to the challenges this type of golf course regularly throws at you.

Of course, the big winner this year may well be Golf Australia, which is locked into hosting its flagship event in Sydney for the foreseeable future, and might have found the ideal compliment to the more conventional golf on offer at Royal Sydney and The Australian. The Lakes isn’t near as dramatic as the NSW Golf Club, but it’s a fresh and unflinching test and certainly more convenient and accessible than last years venue.

Darius Oliver, Architecture Editor

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