Business was bringing me to Australia.  The first step would be Sydney and I would be arriving on a midnight flight from Singapore.  The business trip covered a number of Asian countries including-China, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and Singapore.  The final leg would be Australia with vacation and a lot of golf to be played in New Zealand.  My wife would be arriving from San Francisco to meet me in Sydney.

My business in Australia would take three days and we had planned to tour Sydney,  and as opera lovers, we had to take in the fabulous Sydney Opera House.  We would then move to Melbourne for an additional few days of business.  I was really looking forward to playing Royal Melbourne’s West Course.  Our personal assistant’s sister is married to legendary Australian rules legendary footballer and broadcaster Paul Roos.  We were able to meet the Roos (Paul and Tami) for dinner and Paul had arranged my tee time at Royal Melbourne.

Royal Melbourne is one of the most famous clubs on the planet and ranked No. 6 on the list of golf course royalty.  Royal Melbourne West was designed by Alister MacKenzie in 1926 and was opened in 1931.  I play a lot of golf at MacKenzie’s Northern California gem, Pasatiempo, so I was very keen on having the experience of playing another MacKenzie.  Unlike Pasatiempo which lacks the infrastructure, Royal Melbourne West has hosted a number of professional events including the Australian Open.  Playing a MacKenzie course requires considerable mental acuity as brute force is just not going to get it done.  MacKenzie’s layout created an architectural marvel encompassing strategic brilliance, aesthetic beauty and intimate playability.

November is late spring, early summer in Australia and the day started out with overcast conditions as I left my hotel.  I arrived earlier than expected and proceeded to the driving range as the sun just started to peek through the early morning gloom.  I didn’t know who I would be playing with as Paul Roos had previous business commitments and was not going to join us.  I was early for the tee time so I hit a bunch of balls pretty much alone in this spacious layout.  I was ready to go but always have a little fear of the unknown as you really want to play well on an iconic golf course.

The round would be a jovial romp through the MacKenzie thicket of wonderment.  My playing partners were three young Australian rules professional footballers that had been summoned  by Paul Roos to play with me.  These guys were huge physical specimens and they going forth with the full pace of a football game.  Balls were flying everywhere, these guys swung so hard that I thought they would tear the cover off the golf ball. Unfortunately, many of their shots were finding the fescue, trees and landed in some places that I’m sure that no club member had every seen.  I almost felt that I was playing alone but once in a while, one of their shots landed in the fairway–their length was pretty remarkable.  There were birdies, bogeys and a bunch of others for this group who were indifferent but enjoying the experience.  The day warmed up considerably all the way up to the mid-eighties with a lot of humidity.  The weather brought out an annoying bunch of gnats, mosquitos and other horrible creatures that distracted a bit from the experience-especially while putting.  Australia’s reputation as the horrid place for creepy creatures is well founded.

My reaction to playing Royal Melbourne was similar to playing Pasatiempo.  You didn’t have a push/pull of grinding on some hole and relaxing a bit on some of the others.  Melbourne makes you think about every shot and its positions as the bunkers are strategically placed all over the course and there are many of them.  The greens at Melbourne are very fast, particularly in summer, and seem to follow MacKenzie’s penchant for very difficult undulations and foreboding breaks.  .  My playing partners didn’t spend much time thinking about where to hit shots-they simply wailed at everything and let the chips fall as they may.  I was certainly the odd man out in this group, I simply played my game and kept the ball in the fairway for most of the day avoiding the myriad number of bunkers that are all over this venue.  I felt my highlight for the day was my par on the finishing hole of 397 yards.  My tee shot avoided the bunkering on the right side of the fairway,  and followed a good drive  with a 5 iron to the gap in front of the green in front of the bunkers finishing with a pitch to 2 feet for a welcome par on a very difficult hole.

Royal Melbourne is a very special place and it was a privilege to play it with some good memories coming out of it.