Twin Waters Golf Club

Magazine Ratings

Located only a couple of minutes up the road from where I was staying (although my impression was the hotel was almost a part of the course), I was looking forward to playing Twin Waters.  I decided to get in an early morning round hitting of at 6.45am and avoid any slow play.

On arrival at the club the cleaner had to let me through the doors to get to the pro shop.  The club house is fairly large with a nice big outdoor area overlooking the driving range.  The pro shop attendant was as friendly as you can be at such an early time in the morning (he was wishing he was still in bed, but then so did I).  I usually like to walk a course as you get a real appreciation of how the course.

Map of Twin Waters GC

Scorecard for Twin Waters Golf Club

Hole 1 – 482 meter par 5

The first thing I noticed with Twin Waters was that it was a fairly flat track.  Play was from the social tees with the first hole being a 482m par 5.  This was a fairly plain hole being dead straight with a couple of fairway bunkers, with a few big man made mounds (more on this a bit later).  There had been a bit of rain overnight so there was a bit of moisture around, which was particularly evident on the greens.

Approach to the first green

There was a bit of sand sticking to the ball.  I’m fairly confident that there had been no maintenance recently so it must have been how the greens were constructed.

Hole 2 – 143m Par 3

Hole 2 was a bit more interesting, a medium length par 3 hole with water on the right.  The greens on most of the holes had some substantial undulations and were very firm.  I managed to hit the green here but due to the hardness the ball moved quite a bit away from the pin.

The second green has water in play

Hole 3 – Camel humps on the fairway

Hole 3 is a short par 4.  It is here that the course started to lose my interest.  Seeing huge humps (almost looking like camels) on the edge of a dead flat fairway looked totally out of place.  I am no golf architect, but it just did not seem right.  It was here I started also to come across some of the course native wildlife, with some kangaroos intrigued with what some crazy guy was doing chasing a little ball at such an ungodly hour.

Kangaroos on the 4th fairway

The next few holes were uneventful and also saw the batteries on the camera die (if only I had of charged the damn thing).  Hole six is a short par 4 with water running up the left side of the fairway up to the green.  Quite scenic and a joy to play.  The water remains in play even for the approach shot which always gets the blood running.

Hole 5 – Short par 4 (my last photo)

The signature hole for the course, 8^th par 4, is modeled on the road hole at St Andrews Old Course.  I will take their word for it, looks similar from what I have seen on TV, except there is no road, only water up the right side.  It can be an intimidating tee shot if you go for length.  There is the temptation to bail out left to ensure the next shot is not played wearing scuba gear.  I can say that the road hole won’t be a problem when I eventually get to play it as I went for glory, just a little too much on the length and I was through the fairway.

I must admit that a lot of the holes after the 8th didn’t excite me until I reached the last.  There seemed to be quite a bit of dampness around the course, although not much rain had fallen the night before, and the other courses in the area seemed nowhere near as wet (maybe some drainage problems)

The 18th was at least a strong finishing hole.  A shortish par 5, there was a large landing area, with water to the right from the tee shot.  But if you went to far to either side there were trees to partially block the second.  The green was also raised quite a bit, with a solid wall of rough on the front and some large undulation on the green.

I guess playing three courses on my Sunshine Coast trip there had to be one loser.  In this case it was Twin Waters.  I had also been impressed by Club Pelican the day before so playing Twin Waters was like taking a step backwards.

Overall I found the course fairly flat, the greens very firm but slow and the rough a place to avoid.  On average it was a good two inches deep, which made it interesting to play out of and still remain on the green.

The interesting thing is most people I speak to all highly regard the course.  Maybe I need another visit but make it the first course I play.  Access to the course is available outside of competition times so there is ample opportunity to play.