Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club - The North Course

After playing PK South a month or so prior I was lucky enough to be invited back to play the PK North.

Reportedly more difficult than the South, the course is blessed with views of Port Phillip bay, and true to Melbourne has a real Sandbelt feel to it. Make no mistake, this complex is a genuine challenger to the old sandbelt classics like Victoria, RMGC, Metro and Kingston Heath just up the highway. I hear the old members of those courses spluttering in their drinks already.

The course, while not overly long, is tightish off the tee and has hard, well bunkered green complexes that require strategic thinking. The chief designer Michael Cocking emphasizes the importance of hitting your approach from the right when the pin is in the left and vice versa. When you hit a sand trap, it also seems that you are always hitting into a down hill part of the green. Cleverly there are always options when playing this course.

Take hole 18 of course, you can take on the bunker for a down hill wedge in, but you could also take a long iron and hug the bunkers left for an 8 iron approach from flat ground on the same level as the pin.

The short par 4 13th is my favorite hole in terms of beauty. Do you dare try driving the green and risking the scrub/bunkers. A smart long iron may be the better approach into this stunning vista.

But the course bites as well. The 12th ("The Hogs Back") features a fairway where balls will carom left/right depending on where you hit the hogs back. A terribly difficult approach to a tortoiseshell green where if you miss your ball will run off the green by several yards.

The par 3s are all typical sandbelt style, and require you to hit the green or else have a bunker shot or tough up and down.

It is really hard to split the two courses, but I think PK North with it's fabulous finishing holes, is slightly more memorable than the South.

It really is a stunning, stunning setup.

Last played the course in 2011. The renovations carried out over the last 2 years has brought the whole facility up to international standard. Probably the best greens in Australia. Like artificial grass. Clubhouse facilities superb with exceptional service. Conditions were testing with 35 km/hr winds. However subtle changes to the green structures and fairway bunkering set the course up for good shot making and fair rewards for good shots.

Hadn't been back here since $100m upgrade to both North and South course and clubhouse / accommodation.
Cant heap high enough praise on course -greens and fairways immaculate, accommodation, practice facilities .
It was good enough for 1 former US open winner to be there and one European player and several other high profile Australian athletes to be there its good enough for the rest of us.
Put it on your list.