LATEST
NEWS

Sean Dudley
/ Categories: News

Reworked nineteenth hole at Kingston Heath opens for play

The nineteenth hole at Kingston Heath Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia, has reopened following a recent project by Ogilvy Clayton Cocking Mead (OCCM) Golf Course Design.

The hole, which lies on the northwest corner of the property behind the first green, was originally created in 2008 while the club underwent a greens conversion project and is used when the club wants to rest one of its par three holes.

Both the PGA Tour and Golf Australia incorporated it into the tournament layout, at the expense of the tenth, improving spectator movement around the course, and allowing for tees on the fourth hole to be moved back onto the tenth hole.

The club wanted the hole to better match the rest of the course, with style of green and bunker design introduced by Mick Morcom and Alister MacKenzie when Kingston Heath was originally constructed in the 1920s.

“Agronomically, the green never performed as well as the other 18 and rebuilding the hole has allowed us to ensure the putting surface has the same consistency in speed and firmness as the main holes,” explained architect Mike Cocking.

Cocking said that Morcom and MacKenzie’s best bunkers are “intricately shaped with capes and bays creating irregular, natural looking hazards while putting surfaces typically feature long grades and edges that rise up into the surrounding bunkers or mounds.”

“These slopes serve to penalise missed shots on the ‘short-side’ by shouldering the ball further away from the hole but also act as a back stop for golfers approaching from the other side of the hole,” said Cocking.

The new nineteenth plays between 110 and 135 metres, with a longer tee also added at around 160 metres for tournament use. This will offer some variety when the tenth and nineteenth holes are both in play.

The Kingston Heath course is widely regarded, along with the nearby Royal Melbourne courses on Australia’s famous golf sandbelt, as the country’s finest. The club has hosted the Australian Open on seven occasions, seven Australian Match Play Championships and, in 2016, the World Cup of Golf. The development of the course is described by John McLindon in an article from in the May 2017 issue of Golf Course Architecture.

Previous Article New course at Chee Chan Golf Resort set to open this May
Next Article Bird concerns seemingly resolved, but Coul Links still faces key objections
Print
5575 Rate this article:
5.0
Slideshow HTML
  • Lovely Golf Course

    The heavily bunkered green on the reworked nineteenth hole at Kingston Heath

  • Lovely Golf Course

    OCCM was tasked with making the nineteenth more in keeping with the Mick Morcom and Alister MacKenzie traits on the rest of the course

  • Lovely Golf Course

    The hole during the construction phase

Sean Dudley

Sean DudleySean Dudley

Other posts by Sean Dudley
Contact author

Contact author

x
The October 2024 issue of Golf Course Architecture is out now!
Magazine, News | Thu 17 Oct, 2024

The October 2024 issue of Golf Course Architecture is out now!

The Keep at McLemore, a Bill Bergin-Rees Jones mountaintop design in northwest Georgia, features on the cover

Fall 2024 issue of ASGCA’s By Design magazine is out now
Magazine, News | Tue 10 Sep, 2024

Fall 2024 issue of ASGCA’s By Design magazine is out now

Cover story focuses on how today’s architects have been inspired by the links courses of Britain and Ireland

FEATURE
ARTICLES

Goodwood: Down in the woods
Report | Richard Humphreys

Goodwood: Down in the woods

Golf At Goodwood has a new practice facility designed by James Edwards and built by MJ Abbott

Cedar Rapids: Blown away
Vaughn Halyard
On site | Adam Lawrence

Cedar Rapids: Blown away

After an acclaimed 2015 restoration by Ron Prichard, Iowa club thought it was set fair for the future. But Mother Nature had other ideas, says Adam Lawrence

North Ranch: Time for transformation
North Ranch CC
Report | Richard Humphreys

North Ranch: Time for transformation

Fifty years after it was originally laid out, the Ted Robinson layout has been re-envisioned by Jackson-Kahn Design and rebuilt by Landscapes Unlimited

Team building
Turfgrass
Interview | Richard Humphreys

Team building

Turfgrass has launched its US arm with the appointment of John Lawrence, Adam Moeller and Brad Owen. Richard Humphreys speaks with them, Turfgrass founder John Clarkin and director of agronomy Julian Mooney to find out more

Birdie Act: An end to templates?
Kevin Murray
Feature | Adam Lawrence

Birdie Act: An end to templates?

Legislation before the US Congress would extend the copyright protection that currently exists for buildings architecture to golf course design. But would that preclude the construction of classic hole designs, asks Adam Lawrence?

The art of project management
Leeds Golf Design
Opinion | Giulia Ferroni

The art of project management

Giulia Ferroni of Leeds Golf Design spells out the intricacies of executing a masterplan and the skills required from a golf course architect

Brian Curley: Life of Brian
Brian Curley
Interview | Adam Lawrence

Brian Curley: Life of Brian

The designer has surely clocked up more air miles than anyone else in the business. Adam Lawrence caught up with him in between flights to discuss his career and his new venture with Jim Wagner

Spey Bay: Old and new
CDP
On site | Adam Lawrence

Spey Bay: Old and new

Scottish club is a very old-fashioned links with very modern ownership, an interesting mix, says Adam Lawrence

The Club at Golden Valley: Golden and modern
Peter Wong
Report | Richard Humphreys

The Club at Golden Valley: Golden and modern

Kevin Norby has completed a centennial project at Minnesota course, to modernise infrastructure and restore much of AW Tillinghast’s design philosophy

The Club at Quail Ridge: Turning up the contrast
Fry/Straka
Report | Richard Humphreys

The Club at Quail Ridge: Turning up the contrast

Fry/Straka and NMP Golf Construction embark on a huge rebuild of the North course, five years after the South was renovated

Minchinhampton GC: Striving for sustainability
Minchinhampton Golf Club
| Matthew Mears

Minchinhampton GC: Striving for sustainability

Matthew Mears discusses the benefits a ClearWater washpad recycling system has realised for the Cotswolds club

Gopher Watch Competition – October 2024
Gopher Watch, News | Mon 21 Oct, 2024

Gopher Watch Competition – October 2024

Which course has Sandy the gopher visited this month?

MOST
POPULAR

FEATURED
BUSINESSES