revamp, apparently under the auspices of Phil Mickelson (though it is not clear who was actually proposed to do the work). But for whatever reason, the project has not gone ahead, and the course remains shuttered, with no signs of being revived. “When I first heard that the Trumps were planning to blow the course apart and start again, I was horrified,” says Harrison. “I made some attempt to approach them about helping do whatever changes were necessary. That didn’t happen, and I really don’t know what the outcome is – it would be too distressing to follow it up.” After a long and successful career, Harrison says he still has some goals he would like to fulfil, most notably, building a course in authentic sand dune land. He built the Moonah course at the National Golf Club on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, for Norman: it opened in 2002, and, like a lot of Australia’s top courses, it shares characteristics with links layouts, but is not, however, truly built on linksland. “Moonah lies in very attractive, rolling sandy country but is not strictly ‘dunes’ land, and I’d very much like to have at least one completed course in the dunes at some stage,” he says. “We’ve got one in perhaps the best dunes country I’ve ever seen on the South Australian coast ready to start construction. But it’s been nine years in the making, and we have done very detailed design including accurate contours in order to gain a very difficult approval, and we’re now just waiting for the opportunity to put it on the ground. The major changes to Newcastle should be starting construction early next year, and we are going to move a number of holes further to the north-east to ‘dunesy’ country closer to the beach. This project also has a lot of appeal. I’m also pleased that Scott Champion, who worked part time with me at GNGCD while doing his landscape degree, is still with me and has worked his way into all aspects of course design. “Other than that, I’m quite pleased to have had the diversity that my career has offered – from building courses in mountainous country in Asia where the earthwork is on a massive scale, to courses such as The Glades (and four others in Australia) where the site was dead flat and the proposed shape had to be drawn in half-metre contours over the entire property to satisfy the local authority’s flood requirements. It’s been a really interesting ride, and mostly enjoyable, and I’m glad I didn’t trade it for a career with Lend Lease!” BOB HARRISON The Moonah course at National GC near Melbourne, Australia 41 Photo: Gary Lisbon
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