Cranbourne

Just over a decade after Sam Berriman laid out a course for the members at Huntingdale in 1941, he was appointed to design the 18-hole layout at Cranbourne. The course took more than two years to build, finally opening in April 1954.

The club itself was founded in 1951 when Sydney Kaufman and a few of his Jewish friends met to form a golfing society and Cranbourne Golf Club is still to this day the official home for Jewish golfers in the Melbourne area.

The first club professional was Sydney-born Ossie Pickworth, winner of three successive Australian Opens between 1946 and 1948. Ossie would claim a fourth Open title in 1954 and he was also a three-time winner of the Australian PGA Championship.

The par three 12th measures over 220 yards from the back markers and it’s a really tough hole played uphill to a green surrounded by sand. The club hosted the Victorian Open in 2000 and 2001 and it was during the final round of the latter event that Adam Scott double bogeyed this hole to lose the lead and ultimately the tournament.

The short par fours at 4, 7, 11, and 15 all appear to be potential birdie holes here but the sand traps that surround each of the greens can easily turn a tasty three into a forgettable five, or worse.

Holes at Cranbourne are laid out in two returning nines, each of which has a par rating of 36. Interestingly, there are two different stroke indexes on the scorecard; one for stroke play and one for match play – now, why can’t more clubs adopt such an eminently sensible approach to handicapping?