WoodyOz

Cathedral is an ultra exclusive golf club in north eastern Victoria with a very limited membership. Non members can only access it by invitation from a member.

If you get an invite, take it up.

From the drive in overlooking large sections of the course to the valet service at the perfectly sized clubhouse, there's not a thing out of place.

The Greg Norman designed course occupies a huge area of land with some long drives/walks between green and next tee. We played from the back marks and found it challenging but not intimidating. A lack of bunkers can lull you as it's often a creek, long grass or small ravine that is the protector of the green.

The course is terrific with some hilly sections and good risk/reward decisions to be made throughout. The jury is out on the 18th with Ron's Creek bisecting the fairway leaving the mid to high handicapper with really tough choices.

The fairways were fairly hard and fast running but beautiful to play from, the greens fastish but true and the entire day was spent with only eighteen players on the course.

The third of the courses played on the Signature Pass is one a bit further out (45 minutes from Bordeaux) called Grand Saint Emilionnais. This course was designed by Tom Doak on a fantastic piece of rolling inland turf and was the brainchild of the Morgue DÁlgue family. Gaetan and his son Andre spent a lot of time looking for the correct piece of land and were determined not to waste it with an average layout. They have succeded in spades.

From the moment the course comes into view you know it's something special. The charmingly warm "clubhouse"sits high on the hill with spectacular views over the first and eighteenth as they lead you away on a delightful golfing journey.

You can see so much of Doak's influence particularly on the superb green complexes that are, by and large, small in size but created with "Barnbougle"type undulations that make getting on the right level or section of green a must. A lot of the greens are unbunkered with some raised and others protected by water or grassy swales.

Unfortunately the course has been badly battered from a fairway condition by the European weather but there's plenty of grass cover if inconsistent. If you look past that to the design of the course you cant help but feel you are playing something pretty special.

There's enough width off the tees but, as on all good courses, hitting to the correct side of the fairway to set up an easier approach is rewarded. There are some terrific short par fours that allow risk/reward play and the par three collection are fantastic with a lazy 220 metre monster thrown in for good measure - I parred it!

The green speeds were much slower than we are used to so made putting tougher particularly from below the hole but that's something you should learn pretty quickly. The rolloing nature of the land means you will play a lot of sidehill and uphill lies so those that like to work a ball will really enjoy it.

We met the owner, his wife and daughter in law after the round in the clubhouse with walls adorned by posters from every Trophee Lancome ever played. Enjoying a slightly chilled red from St Emilion overlooking the course post round made us wish we had time to grab a cart and do it again with the course knowledge learned the first time round.

A truly fantastic golf course and experience that anyone travelling to the Bordeaux area should seek out.

Arguably rated somewhere 1-4 in France this plaze oozes tradition and charm. Home to only 3000 members with a subscription of 3500 Euros nothing is done in a hurry here.

The club possesses a first rate driving range practice area along with excellent short game and putting green. It's actually closed on a Tuesday to everyone and open only to members on weekends. Most members apparently reside in Paris and happily travel the 60-90 minutes for play.

This is a tree lined parkland layout set on the edge of the Fontainebleau forest with some dramatic elevation changes providing breathtaking tee shots. There are rocks throughout the course that do come in to play on occasions.

By and large the greens are small to medium, slow in pace but with a perfect roll. There seems to be a bit of professional jealousy in french golf to be able to claim the best conditioned course and this one is number one at this stage.

The course starts with a simple par 4 and follows with a superb 3 and terrific par 5. If you aren't excited about playing this course at this point you know nothing about the game. It's not long at 6203 metres (we played off the white at 6023) but you need to be accurate as the trees and rough are unforgiving.

The front nine is good but it's the back nine I found really entertaining. A simple par 3 is followed by a long 5, a really long 4 and is highlighted bya really good par 3 on 14. The 15th is the worst hole I have encountered on my trip, suffice to say it doesn't possess one good design element in it's 394 metres. But we won't let that spoil our overall impression!

The plat du jour for lunch of slow cooked cheeks was the best meal we have had in France and the Medoc red only made it better.

Fontainebleau is the most expensive green fees (200) we will pay and isn't an amount I'd pay on a regular basis but as a once off I am glad we stumped up.

This golf resort is home to two courses and, along with Saint Emillionais, you can play & stay with what they call their Signature Pass, allowing a round on each course.

We started today on Parcours des Chateaux which is the higher rated (9) in France and hosted a Ladies European Tour event only two weeks ago. It is a Bill Coore design (par 71) on a fairly flat piece of land and is a fairly tough 6574 metres from the back with members playing a solid 6345 which is what we chose.

The par fours bare the teeth on this course with many around the 385-410 mark and with some very large greens to boot the job of making a score is difficult. One of the things that struck us was the distance often required just to reach the fairways themselves. Often a hit of 160-170 metres was needed or your second was off hard, drought baked surfaces.

While driving areas were fairly generous, some very well placed fairway bunkers demanded a strong carry or good direction to set up approach shots. Several greens were raised and bunkerless which makes for a nice change to most courses.

The greens were in perfect condition, a little slower than I am used to, but were receptive to well hit shots and punishing if distance control was a problem.

Therea re several lakes that come into play but overall water isn't the first defence. That's left to the wind and if it was strong, this course would be even tougher.

Stand out hole for mine was the eleventh with a creek cutting across the fairway and snaking it's way all the way up the left side to the green giving you a multitude of options as to how to tackle it. The finishing three holes measured 419/192/400 and with run being reduced by leaving the fairway cut slightly higher proved really challenging.

All in all, she's a tough course but can be made more playable by utilising tees consistent with your ability. I've been trying to come up with an Australian comparison but are struggling. Maybe a cross between the two Moonah Links courses is as close as I can get.

Venturing north toward Paris (and the Ryder Cup) we played the Martin Hawtree renovated Les Aisses and what a challenge. Hawtree was given the task of producing a top class heathland course and he has achieved a really beautiful but tough course.

We played from the white tees (6197 metres) and you'd only play from black (6648) if you are a highly skilled single figure golfer or a sadist. On most par 4's & 5's we needed to carry the ball 170 metres over thick heathland just to find the fairway and then you have the added challenge of avoiding a plethora of fairway bunkers, most of which look like they've been there since the Stone Age so natural looking are they.

The course condition was good with some patchy fairways but the greens were a bit disappointing with a lot of poa infestation and bumpiness. All greens were heavily protected by some awesome bunkering but the snad was so pure and consistent it was not that difficult to escape from.

With not a lot of run on the fairways, the mid length holes of 350-380 became a lot harder for 200 metre tee shotters like me but, as with most others we have played, hitting to the right part of the fairway provided easier angle into medium sized greens.

Highlights included the 477 metre 5th played around a lake and the 347 metre 8th that wraps itself completely around a lake and allows you to bite off as much (or little) as your ability dictates from the tee. The fairway width is okay but anything slightly off can easily find some of the thick heather that is often in small clumps and renders shots virtually unplayable so strategy is key.

On the par 3's I played 3 wood/3 wood/5 iron/driver which gives you a fair indication of their toughness but all were really playable. The three finishing holes are very strong (344/188/368) and leave you with a fair feeling of satisfaction if you finish off well.

It's not cheap playing Les Aisses (150Euro) and at that cost I wouldn't be making it a regular stop but certainly worth it for this visit.

Situated 25 minutes north of CDG Airport you travel through some very pretty villages and country to arrive here.

It's a throwback to older times with a clubhouse that oozes old world charm and certainly not of the monolithic proportions we have come to associate with our best courses. The welcome from the manager and staff was warm and after a quick feed and drink we were off.

I think it was Nicklaus that said the first should ease you into the round but 416 metres from the black gets your attention straight away. The course is inland and parkland in style, reasonably heavily treed but none that seriously encroach on your lines. If you hit them you've hit a poor one.

The rough isn't ridiculous but, if you find it, the new three minute rule will test your search abilities as it's really good at hiding balls.

The green complexes are fairly large and undulating and it's here that scores can be made or destroyed. Coming from the Melbourne Sandbelt they played slower than I was used to and took a few holes to adjust. Having said that, they were very true, rolled well and made a couple of nice length ones.

If I was to compare it to anything in Melbourne I'd say a cross between Victoria and Riversdale with Victoria being a fairer comparison. It's a par 70 with a good mixture of long and medium length par fours and is really about hitting to the correct side of the fairway to allow for the best shot into the green. A really solid collection of par 3's round out an excellent golf course.

There is also a nine hole course here but I didn't have time to play that. One of the best features of the day was the number of members playing with their canine friends accompanying them around the course. A delight to see and something we should seriously incorporate in our club golf in Melbourne, particularly in daylight savings.

It's not cheap to play Morfontaine (nor are the others I am playing apparently!) but it's certainly money well spent if you are only going to France once to play golf.

There are plenty of courses on the Sunshine Coast with a variety of green fees to suit all budgets and at $40 USD a round this is one of the cheaper options but only in cost.

We played Noosa about two days after a four day deluge and was expecting a fairly heavy slog but was surprised to find the course slightly wet at worst. The bunkers were listed as GUR but they had got around to most of them and were in very playable condition.

The course itself is relatively flat with a few undulations and I found the bunkering interesting in that there were none on about half the holes and then you'd find half a dozen on the next. The unbunkered holes generally had trickier raised green areas or a small creek or pond adjacent dictating the correct line.

For a Melbournite, I found the greens (as usual in Qld) a little slow but that's something you just get used to.

The sixteenth was probably my favourite hole, a long sweeping par five with a green beautifully framed by half a dozen bunkers.

Overall I had a terrific time at Noosa G.C. and wouldn't hesitate to play there again on my next Sunshine Coast visit