Greg Norman stood on the balcony of a second-storey building in the late 1990s and surveyed the vast plain of salty wasteland before him. Beside him was Bob Harrison, chief course architect of Greg Norman Golf Design. The pair stood silently, watching, as the ever-present breeze off Port Phillip whipped up a cloud of dust. Norman turned to Harrison and said: ‘This might just be the worst site selected in the history of golf course construction.’
Only the most visionary of developers could see a championship golf course evolving out of a 445-hectare site that was home to Cheetham Salt Works, which for nearly a century had supplied Victorians with salt. But the people behind Sanctuary Lakes, a 20-minute drive west of Melbourne, knew it could be done. It was a challenge Norman and Harrison could not resist.
‘The land,’ recalls Harrison, ‘was incredibly flat. There wasn’t a tree to be seen. In terms of having a blank canvas to work with . . . Sanctuary Lakes was about as blank as it gets. You have to imagine – this land was used for farming salt. We knew it was going to be a difficult job, but we still felt we could create a quality course.’
Today Sanctuary Lakes is the centrepiece of a large residential development, its splendour unrecognisable from the scene that confronted the design team in the days before the course opened for play in 1999. Decorating the landscape are rolling fairways, and long expanses of wispy golden rough, and big sloping greens surrounded by equally cavernous bunkers. At 6456 metres from the championship markers, Norman and Harrison have created a lengthy excursion that places demands on your ability to plot a route around trouble whilst dealing with the consequences when you do stray from the ideal playing line.
The 342-metre, par-four 3rd is an enticing prospect for the player who itches to get their driver in hand as often as possible and have a bash. The wide fairway provides a generous landing area. The key, though, is finding the best side from which to approach the green, and that depends on the flag position. A large bunker left of the putting surface poses one of the toughest sand escapes at Sanctuary Lakes and should be avoided at all costs.
As with many Norman and Harrison courses, the bunkering is a standout attraction. No finer example of their bunker work exists than the back nine at Sanctuary Lakes. Greenside traps on the 11th and 13th holes will punish the slightest mishits, while the nine deep traps strung between tee and green at the 315-metre 15th will make you think long and hard before attempting any heroics from the tee.
After the sand-dominated stretch of holes from the 11th to 15th, the par-five 16th, par-three 17th and par-four 18th holes unfold alongside lakes and wetlands. The best and most demanding of these is the 17th, a 202-metre par-three, which is heavily bunkered between the putting surface and the wetlands to the left. The best players may take a long iron and send the ball high, Greg Norman-style, on to the green. But for the average player, the ideal shot is to land a well-struck fairway metal short of the green and let the ball roll up to the flag.
Norman and Harrison did a magnificent job in creating this par-72 layout, a benchmark for all future course developments on less than ideal land. If it could be done at Sanctuary Lakes, one imagines it could be done just about anywhere.
Sanctuary Lakes is a private club but members of interstate and overseas clubs can apply for a tee time. Guests at the adjoining Quest serviced apartments also have access to the course.
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MEMORABLE HOLES 3rd, 8th, 11th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th WHERE TO GO Greg Norman Dr, Sanctuary Lakes, Victoria 3030 BOOK A ROUND (03) 9395 2888, www.sanctuarylakes.com.au OTHER 120 GREAT COURSES NEARBY Eynesbury (48 km) WHERE TO STAY Quest Sanctuary Lakes apartments overlook the course, offering guests access to the layout and to Sanctuary Lakes Recreation Club. Play-and-stay packages are available. BEFORE/AFTER YOUR ROUND Take a walk on the wild side and see animals roam freely at Werribee Open Range Zoo, a 25-minute drive west. There, you can head out on safari across grassy plains where rhinos, giraffes, zebras and antelopes graze. |