Tim Liddy recently went to Australia with a golf study tour of Alister MacKenzie courses by the ASGCA, SAGCA and EIGCA . They studied New South Wales, Royal Sydney, Metropolitan, Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath. Tim has a good friend (Andy Coogan, who grew up across the street from Carnoustie Golf Course in Scotland -another story) that lives in Melbourne and is a member of Victoria Golf Club, so he took the opportunity to study Victoria and talk to its Director of Grounds Ian Todd.

Above is some of their conversation.

Thanks to Tim for shooting and editing this interview. When I was at Victoria in 2003, I had the pleasure of playing the course with Mike Clayton who has been in charge of restoring and renovating the course. It was one of the most pleasurable rounds of the decade and his thoughts on golf course design made a strong impression on me at the time. The work he has done there is remarkable, and Victoria is not to be missed.

With Australia’s central bank being the first globally to muster some audacity and raise interest rates since the credit crisis began, perhaps the Antipodeans can also be the leaders in recapitalizing some of the world’s wonderful golf terrain. In Australia, that is first and foremost greater Melbourne, where the quality of the Sand Belt collection is easily expandable. This modern example of the region is the Ranfurlie course at Amstel Golf Club, an honest and thoughtful layout with representative firm turf and lipless, greenside hazards from Mike Clayton and his design team. The modest property doesn’t have a ton of elevation change, but the blessed sand and many charismatic trees have been used to full advantage, making for a beautiful setting and ideal member course. If all cities could be so lucky as to boast a course such as Ranfurlie or a dozen others as fantastically fun alternatives to all-world tracks like Kingston Heath and Royal Melbourne…ah, me. Don’t miss out on ’surely the finest ‘flaming’ links in the Southern Hemisphere’ at Barnbougle if you get this close, a majestic effort on which Mr. Clayton’s team collaborated with Renaissance.