I played The Lakes, on an oppressively hot day in January. Whilst I prefer to walk rather than cart when playing golf, it was a mistake on this occasion. Apart from the heat (which was 4 degrees warmer than forecast) there are a couple of lengthy walks between greens and tees. Also taking its toll are the Kikuyu fairways, which are gentle on the feet but hard on the legs. So if you are an older golfer and the weather is warm you may learn from my experience and take a cart. This is not a criticism of the course just an observation that you may benefit from. The course was in good condition and the bent-grass greens a pleasure to play on. Water barely features on the front nine, save for the 1st hole. Distinctive on this nine are the large bunkers and extensive sandy wastelands. The latter, being akin to the waste areas one would find at Victoria GC, and Kingston Heath on Melbourne’s sand belt. The back nine is where the course gets its name with water some sort of feature on all but the 12th and 18th holes. Two holes I particularly enjoyed were the 1st and 13th. Neither of them are long. From the Blue member tees, the 1st is 338 metres and requires precision from the tee. The curvature of the fairway around a lake to the left is severe enough that you must drive over the water – the question is just how much to bite off on the drive? If you are too conservative you are left with a longer shot to the green than desired. Worse still if the right handed golfer blocks their drive, their ball will end up in a seemingly endless sandy waste along the outside of the dogleg. The hole plays 281 metre downhill, and with a par of 4 was probably Tiger Woods’ undoing at the 2011 Australian Open when he took a bogey 5. It is a gentle dog leg right with a pond short right of the green which itself is teardrop in shape and elevated at the front above its surrounds. In respect of the green it is somewhat reminiscent of Woodlands 4th hole in Melbourne, where the front pin is the most difficult. As mentioned by one of the early reviewers, they do know how to charge for a game, with the green fee still $50 AUD in excess of NSW GC., making it one of the more expensive games of golf in Australia. So as much as I enjoyed it there would be others I would revisit first.