Sandbelt Splendour

KINGSTON HEATH *****

It's splitting hairs to differentiate Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath in terms of quality – both are, quite frankly, sublime. Host of the 2009 Australian Masters, which provided Tiger Woods with his last tournament victory, MacKenzie thought it was too long at 6,312 yards when he was called in to design the bunkers after Sydney professional Dan Souter had laid down the original routing. Back then the course played as a par 82 with twelve par-fives and just two par-threes. That of course has since changed (with the number of long holes reduced to just three, while the fifteenth was changed, on MacKenzie's advice, from a par-four to a par-three). Its expanded length (the course now measures close to 7,000 yards) didn't concern Tiger too much when he compiled a four-round total of 14-under, but it is certainly still a challenge for mere mortals, who find the many dips and hollows in the fairways and the abundance of native ti trees and contoured greens an extreme test even in calm conditions. Considered the toughest hole on the course, the blind par-four sixteenth, with its sloping landing area, double green (shared with the par-three eighth) and phalanx of greenside bunkering is a great example. Souter and MacKenzie's handiwork "is far and away the best of the regular tournament courses," says local boy Geoff Ogilvy. "The US Open has stunning courses but most of the American courses are nowhere near as good as Kingston Heath."

ARCHITECT: Dan Souter and Dr Alister MacKenzie (1925)
YARDAGE/PAR: 6,946/72
CONTACT: kingstonheath.com.au; (61 3 8558 2700)