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