Corballis

I don't think I'd like to see them go. Course condition is fantastic. I can't imagine the council would have it nearly as good and I'm not sure what the other alternative is. I imagine they're simply trying to balance the books. They've lost a heap of green fees revenue in the first 4 months of the year. They're freeing up space on the timesheet by blocking the members from it for 5 hours on a Saturday.

I imagine a big part of the problem here is that membership is so cheap. Too cheap really. But if you raised it the members would lose their ****. So the increase in membership revenue isn't nearly big enough to bridge the gap. And unfortunately with a management company whose contract is up soon, it would be foolish to take a hit financially when you might not have a chance to recoup the money over the next few years.

With all that said though, I'm still surprised they seem to be blocking the members for 5 prime time hours on a Saturday. Saturday and Sunday morning are the only times that suit me really. So this will make it harder to get on the timesheet at those times and literally impossible for some of it.

It's hard to know what the solution will be. I was talking to a committee member. It wasn't just a ball going into the park, I believe it was several a day. And they've done serious damage over the years including hitting someone recently.

But looking at the possible solutions, I'm not sure if there's a good one. Could nets actually solve the problem? I'd have thought a lot of the problem is people hitting irons into the wind and then losing them to the left into the park. Or lads hitting out of the rough and catching it much better than expected. Or lads slicing their drive and not being sure what angle they're coming back in at. Nets would only really help with wedges being bladed through the green and the like.

I imagine leaving the green where it is is a possible solution, but not one I'd be fond of. I don't think we need another driveable par 4 (that doesn't even require a driver). I heard one suggestion was to use some land from 11 for the green, but that would mean shortening 11. I don't think you could shorten that hole and keep it a par 4.

Anyone know who was there first? It seems a totally unsuitable place for a caravan park. I certainly would never stay there. But if they were there first maybe it's a totally unsuitable place for a green.

I'd also be concerned about the houses on the sides of the 15th and 16th fairways. And the gardens to the right of 18, their houses should be safe. And they're just my concerns off the course. On top of that you have the walkers going to the beach. They haven't a clue where to look or when to walk. I wonder how many accidents there are every year. And then you have the actual dangerous spots for golfers. I've been waiting around the corner of the 3rd to hit my second and had a ball land beside me. I've hit down on people on 7 and then had the next group hit down on me. Had a ball land on 11th green while I was still putting. The 14th and 18th fairways can be lethal with so many just aiming for the middle. And same for 15 an 16 (at least you can see the other golfers on those holes).

When you think of all of the dangerous spots on the course, it's incredible that this is the only issue.

Reducing the course to a par 65. The 11th is a bit of a daft hole in fairness.

I think a map of the change would be nice to see.

The island has a par 5 in the back nine (15th hole?) the green is surrounded by a similar dune amphitheatre (it's probably only a few hundred metres away and shaped by the same processes that shaped the one in corballis!). Trying to go near that par5 in two your hitting a long club into the amphitheatre. It may be the best hole on that course!

A few years ago there was talk of moving the green back into the dune itself which would have meant quite an elevated green.

I don't know if that is part of the current plans.

I had thought that perhaps the ninth green could be played from the eight tee box as a par three and then the current eight could be reversed, teeing off where the green is now and having the green down towards the current tee box.

It would probably be a bit too tight. Besides, any hook shot playing the (current) ninth green from the (current) eight tee box would end up in The Island so that probably wouldn't work either

^ I like 1, 2, 13.

Each of these require a controlled accurate (for both distance and range) wedge or short iron. Are nice looking and have a good amount of danger. 2nd hole is very unique. Distance control, spin and managing the wind are the tasks here.

2 can be an interesting hole into the wind. At the extreme, with a 4i ice barely made it onto the plateau and I've been on the back of the green. With a fairly average breeze the tee shot is grand, just take extra club. The challenge is if the breeze is with you and the ground hard you've to make sure to take enough to get to but not enough to go over the other side.

The approach into an average breeze can be tricky though. Since it's short, once the ball gets into the air it can move a lot. It's a relatively easy hole, but you can find yourself in trouble very easily.

The first has some interest too. It's a massive green, so you should be hitting it. But it's not completely straightforward. The green is angled, so what is middle of the green (depth wise) on the left side is in the bunker / run off of the right side. And if you hit enough club to go middle of the green on the right side, if you pull it left you're into the thick grass bank over the back. It's still a relatively easy target to hit, but the penalties for failing to do so are fair. They're tough bunkers or it's a big hill to try and get up and down from.

I wouldn't argue either are great holes, but I wouldn't call them weak.

Renewal time for me is in October and I'm leaning towards staying, but a little tempted to look at something that I might find easier.

On the plus side with corballis, it's always dry, the holes are very interesting and it should develop you as a player. The weakest shots in my game tend to be the half wedges, and playing on corballis is unavoidable practice on them. And in reality, I've really improved at them. I used to blade and practically duff a huge amount of them. I do that less now. But you'll also be forced into playing a few running low shots, punched low into the wind, some very different lies. There's variety on that course that few others offer.

But on the downside, my two biggest problems with the course are that I miss hitting the longer clubs. There's a good argument that I should only hit the driver once in corballis per round. You'll never be able to hit the club properly hitting it that often and on other courses it could be the most important club in the bag. Range practice is fine to keep you up to speed in driving, but you need course practice. And the second problem is that my scores are terrible there. On a bad day in corballis, I'll be around 25 points. On a really good day I'll be challenging 36 points. The result of this was my handicap going up as high as 18.4. It's now 13.1 with all new counting rounds being on away courses. I made a conscious effort to play away courses because I feared my handicap was going to go over 20. And lots of those new counting rounds I would say i played fine at best, whereas there are days i played really well in corballis that aren't included. And the handicap going so high did bother me, I can't deny it!

I don't want to spend a fortune on golf when I'm going to play at most 20 times in a year, so Hollywood lakes or balcarrick would probably be the most likely alternatives. I fear they'd be driver and wedge courses, but maybe not. Especially if they play comps from the blues.

Any thoughts on this? I am leaning towards staying and just playing half my golf elsewhere to keep the handicap somewhat down and the driver somewhat ready for action. Ultimately, I love the course. It's annoying that I enjoy playing in comps, but really struggle to break 30 points. I wouldn't mind qualifying to play in the captains some year for example. But ignoring my card I love playing there.