The Metropolitan - Victoria - Australia
Golf Road,
South Oakleigh,
Victoria,
3167,
Australia
+61 395 703 774
5 miles SE of Melbourne
Limited to Monday and Thursday mornings or Fridays, contact in advance
Peter Paccagnan
J. B. Mackenzie, Dick Wilson, Crafter & Mogford
Luke Farry
![]() Lee Westwood (Eng) 1997, Brad Faxon (USA) 1993, Rodger Davis (Aus) 1986, Jack Newton (Aus) 1979, Peter Thomson (Aus) 1951, Gene Sarazen (USA) 1936, Frank Eyre (Aus) 1930. |
All the Sandbelt courses are celebrated for the rugged beauty and challenge of their bunkering, many from the sketching pad of the itinerant Alister MacKenzie, Metropolitan has common features to the other benchmark courses. Whereas you marvel at the expanse of sand at Royal Melbourne and the rugged edges of Kingston Heath, many of Metropolitan’s bunkers are cut into the greens’ edges in the most stunning way. There is simply no better hand finishing of a golf course to be found anywhere else in the world.
Indeed, Metropolitan and the Melbourne Golf Club (before the Royal was attached) were one in the same before the loss of land to the encroaching city necessitated Melbourne’s move to Port Philip Bay. The remaining members authorised the purchase of land and a two-storey farmhouse and formed Caulfield Golf Club in 1908, playing on a course designed by club member J.B. MacKenzie, an engineer. Tournament play began here in 1930 following a series of modifications suggested by Alister MacKenzie in 1926.
Much of the back nine was reconstructed by American architect Dick Wilson on adjacent market garden land during a visit he made to Australia in 1959. As a consequence the 7th and the back nine between the 10th and 17th are markedly different holes to the original layout.
Seven Australian Opens, five Australian PGAs and ten other professional tournaments have been hosted at Metropolitan. The World Golf Championships Match Play Championship was held here in 2001 where Steve Stricker prevailed over an illustrious field to beat Pierre Fulke in the final. The world’s finest arrived and heaped praise on the course. Memorable comments included Ernie Els who said: “I’ve checked my schedule (for the year) and I’d say this is the best course I’m going to play for the whole year.” Stuart Appleby risked the ire of the committee at Augusta National when he made the following comments: “I think it’s a whole set of clubs ahead of Augusta in condition. This is a natural golf course where the grass is playable twelve months of the year.”
Metropolitan is a fine members’ club with a tremendous course and a just reputation for excellent all-year-round conditioning.
The above passage is an extract from The Finest Golf Courses of Asia and Australasia by James Spence. Reproduced with kind permission.
In 2015, the club appointed the firm of Crafter + Mogford to improve a number of Dick Wilson’s holes. Crafter + Mogford take up the story:
“The club engaged Dick Wilson to design a number of new holes and to
fit them into the fabric of the existing course. While he certainly designed
some fine holes, with the 7th, 11th, 13th, 15th and 16th holes being the stand
out – there were also some less than fine ones, holes that have some
compromises. Overall the terrain of the new land was flatter than the lost land
and this loss of character was difficult to replace. And here lies our
challenge – to imbue these holes with similar features which abound holes 1
through 5, the 8th, 9th and 18th and bring greater unity to this already
tremendous golf course.”
Reviews for The Metropolitan
Golfing home of Mike Clayton, LPGA player Su Oh and current US Mid Am Champion Lucas Michel. Mike often speaks about never having had a bad lie in 30 years a member of Metropolitan GC. While conditioning is often used as a surrogate for good design amongst golfers around the globe, the conditioning of Metropolitan is truly exceptional, the course ain’t bad either!
Metro is on the must play list while in Melbourne, perhaps not quite as dramatic as the great topography that exists at Victoria (I’m sure that RMGC ticks this box in spades also, however I have yet to play there) or indeed the understated elegance of Kingston Heath. Metro is much more than the sum of its parts, facilitated in the main by the complimentary nature of both the routing and variety of the challenges that face the golfers. The overriding memory is of a collection of exceptional par threes (this appears to be a recurring theme on the Sandbelt) that would be the envy of any club the world over
It is a shame that the original back nine was lost to compulsory purchase order when the local government wished to build a school back in the 1959. Consulting course architects Paul Mogford and Neil Crafter are currently spear heading a course enhancement plan to marry the newer back nine with the characteristics of the front nine. The plan involves enhancement to the existing back nine holes, only two holes (12 and 13) will see any significant redesign.
For more information on my Australian golfing adventure, please click the following link: The Long Road to Van Diemen's Land
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It is probably 50 years since I last played Metropolitan, just at the time the club had lost some of its land at the end of their property and the new holes looked very sparse especially in comparison to the glorious first nine with so many fine eucalyptus trees .Time heals all wounds and the new holes have gained much in beauty even without the towering gums and the condition of the course is the same all over;excellent . The wonderful thing about Metropolitan is that it is a delight to play , sandy loam fairways beautifully covered with couch and fast but totally fair greens together with a glorious collection of tweetering bird life . It is a flat course but as good as any in Surrey or Berkshire and that is saying something!!
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Metropolitan GC is known as the best conditioned course in Australia, and one of the best in the world- comparisons have even been made with Augusta National because of the magnificent carpet of santa ana couch fairways, and immaculate presentation of bunkers and greens. But Metro has more to offer than it's wonderful presentation.
It is a joy to play, and demands a golfer put some thought into his game. The fairways are wide, but the distinctive clean edged bunkering is everywhere. Fairway bunkers push you one way off the tee, and then challenge you again with approaches to greens amply protected by more sand.
There is no better example of this than the long par 4 first hole. The 'safe' drive to the right side of the fairway avoids a larger bunker complex at driving length on the left. As with much of the fairway bunkering at Metro the bunker intrudes well into the fairway, and draws the player’s eye. However the green is heavily protected on the right side, and has more gaping bunkers well short and right as well- meaning the safe tee shot to the right will then demand a long approach over a number of bunkers to reach the green. It is strategic, it is difficult, but it also eminently fair as it is all laid out before you on the tee.
Welcome to Metropolitan!
The first 6 holes at Metro are absolutely world class in my opinion. The aforementioned opener is followed by a devilish, but picturesque par 3, a dogleg par 4, short par 5 with tricky elevated green, and very tight tee shot over sand and rough, and a par 4 and par 5 that flow through the native gum trees and shrubbery. The vegetation is dominated by the red flowering gum that became the club logo, and it frames the holes beautifully. The bunkering is wonderful, and the crisp lines eat into those santa ana carpet fairways and demand your attention. But it is the sculpting of the fairways around the bunkering that really impresses me. I don't know of any other course where these dips and hollows in the fairway carpet are so captivating – they give movement to the fairways in such as way as to make them a natural extension of the bunkers.
However after hole 6 the course is laid on flatter terrain. This is a result of the land swap in the 60's. There are many good holes later in the course- the par 3 11th is a gem. And the short, tight dogleg par four 16th is memorable with bunkers everywhere. The longer par 4 seventeenth hole is unique with a copse of non native trees protecting the right side of the green. And the closing par 4 is a strong hole.
However as good as the course is, it does not consistently match the quality shown in those first 6 holes. The latest revision by Crafter + Mogford Golf Strategies may well rectify this!
Peter Wood is the founder of The Travelling Golfer – click the link to read his full review.
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Metropolitan is quite simply one of the best courses in Australia, beautifully manicured fairways are a treat to the golfer upon standing to address their shot.
Pure couch fairways with large landing areas are kept in pristine condition all year round, fast bent grass greens are hand mown to the edges of the outstanding greenside bunkers which are those ones found typically on the Melbourne sandbelt, they're a real treat.
Enjoy the opportunity to play here if it comes your way :)
Tyson
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Attention to detail and conditioning at “Metro” is second to none, I even heard that some of the green-side bunkers have their edges hand-cut with a scissors! To help you visualize the bunkers, imagine a set of waves about to crash onto the shore. Imagine the waves as they rise to a crescendo, take their last breath and fight for position before unleashing their power. Fortunately the greens are very large, which is an act of fairness given the brutality of the bunkers that ravenously hunt your golf ball. Most of the holes have some movement and offer very firm and bouncy playing conditions. Weaker (and condemned) aspects of the course are driven by recent disappointing alterations and re-routing, noticeably the lack of accessibility to the par three 13th hole (third effort at this hole in recent years!) and the vast non-descript par five 14th fairway. I also thought that the man-made reservoir and very bright evergreen trees close to the 17th green stood out as being uncharacteristic with the rest of the vegetation on the property. With that said, despite being so close to the city and civilized development, there’s an enjoyable sense of containment and isolation from the hustle and bustle of nearby housing estates. Among a collection of world-class holes, my favourite hole was the par five 6th hole which moves uphill from left to right and possibly has the most interesting green on the Sandbelt. Wonderful contours swim their way between the hostile bunkers and add to the best stretch of the course. Metro is regarded as a “tier 1” course and I support the motion.
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