The Alister MacKenzie layout is a classic and for a competition of this nature is sure to test the players and enthuse the galleries.

From the telecasts, I’ve noticed a few interesting agronomic features.

It’s easy to see that “brown is not the new green” as it certainly doesn’t apply at Royal Melbourne.  Green is the new green.  You can have color and still have the best players in the world be challenged.

These greens are extremely fast and are beautiful.  The greens color is different from fairways based on the greens being new (they were formerly poa annua) and now are a mixture of several cool season grasses.  The contrast is marked against the fairways which are bermudagrass, also known in Australia as “couch” grass.

They must have heard about the research the PGA Tour recently conducted….you can have firm greens with good color.  They are not mutually exclusive.  Irrigation management is critical.

The bunkers have been maintained in a great fashion.  The McKenzie architecture is highlighted as you can see from the color differences.   The slopes are tamped and rolled (smoothed) so that no rake ridges appear.  What this does is allows the balls to ricochet and bounce off the slopes to the floor, which then is fluffed up by the maintenance staff to afford a softer ball lie.  The players can’t put as forceful a spin on the ball and therefore, the bunkers truly fit the definition of a hazard.

I saw this same style when I visited in 2008 not only at Royal Melbourne, but at Royal Sidney, New South Wales, Kingston Heath and Huntingdale Golf Club.

Kudos to all my friends on the maintenance staff who are helping out this week at Royal Melbourne.  Job well done!