Club Pelican

IN: COURSE REVIEWS | BY: Bruce Young | | REGION: Sunshine Coast, QLD DATE: 11 Mar 2002 | Rated

Club Pelican

Hole 18

(Photo: David Scaletti/Sportscapes)

I arrived at Pelican Waters on Queensland's Sunshine Coast to play the course with preconceived ideas and thoughts. I agree one should not do that but hearsay and others opinions can be an influencing factor when considering which of the many course out there to play. I had heard it was a tough unforgiving golf course but by the time I had played it for the first time I had fallen in love with the place.

Sure there is no denying it is tough, and perhaps at times unforgiving, and if you are planning to play it off the back tees be warned it may well eat your lunch. But that is why they construct three, four and sometimes five tee blocks on these type of courses. They adjust the degree of difficulty to suit your level of skill. I have no sympathy for those who play a golf course from the back tees and then complain how difficult it is. The back tees on any course are really for the best players as the strategies from there are built around their higher skill level they display, not to mention the distance factor.

Pelican Waters boasts several holes that in my opinion are absolutely world class and could hold their own on any golf course anywhere and I will outline those in more detail later.

The original developers, the Henzell Group, had been active in real estate and development in the Caloundra area for many years and this area of land had been earmarked for a golf related residential development for ten years or so before the project commenced construction in the late 90's.

The developer had approached, and entertained, approaches from several leading design companies but in the end Greg Norman was chosen and he added further value to that selection by introducing the Macquarie Bank / Medallist collaboration to assist in financing the course and Troon Golf to manage the operation. The course opened in November 2000.

Essentially there are two loops of nine, one heading north and one south of the clubhouse with very few holes within sight of another, in fact, there are only three occasions where holes adjoin each other. This linear nature offers a large amount of golf course frontage or views over water to golf, thus maximising land value.

The course begins with a relatively generous par four. I say relatively generous as it leads you gently into what follows. Fairway bunkers guard the left side of the fairway but there is plenty of room right although the further right you go the more difficult the angle for the approach. But at 359 metres a comfortable start.

The next few holes are spectacular and outstanding. The second has all the ingredients of a beautifully designed golf hole. Not long as the crow flies at 314 metres but if you are planning on taking that straight line you had better hit it long and straight in order to clear the water that skirts the right hand side.

That would leave a very short approach to a green with three different levels. A more conservative approach from the tee leaves an approach over a series of bunkers to a green angled against you. One of those great short par fours that is fraught with danger if you get it wrong but rewards are available for those that get it right.

The third is a sweeping par five around a lake along the right hand side separating real estate from golf with a "bite off as much as you dare" type bunker along the right hand side between the lake and the fairway. The hole then straightens out until around 90 metres from the green where it sweeps back to the right. At 500 metres it is reachable for the very long hitter but there is danger all the way down the right half of the hole for those getting too adventurous. The green is perhaps a little narrow in the front half probably only ten paces across and slopping down into the bunker either side so it may be that will need some work. It is however a great looking risk reward / hole.

The fourth is a beautiful looking hole framed up magnificently from the tee. The bunkers that frame the green are some thirty metres short and so a little deceiving in terms of distance. The back bunkers also provide visual appeal with a false front to the green. From the back tees a long iron and from the middle just a medium iron.

The fifth is one hell of a golf hole. Again not overly long at 349 metres from the back but bunkers guarding the right side protect a line that will give you best access to the green. The green is protected by a lake that crosses the fairway some 60 metres out and then skirts the left side of the green, so anything short and left will find a watery grave.

There are many good holes on the course but I would also include the par four 12th and par three 14th and par four 15th as others that really took my eye.

The 12th is an almost reachable par 4 with a fairly generous landing area for the tee shot the intrigue however comes with the second shot and just where the flag is placed. Guarded by a huge mound on the front right of the green the flag can actually be tucked behind the mound which means that getting too close can be a problem.

The par 3 14th is a beauty in fact my favourite par three on the course. Only 160 metres from the back it is flanked all the way down the left side by a huge bunker that actually runs down to the lake alongside. In order to access the green and more especially left hand flag positions the left hand trap must be challenged. There is plenty of room to the right of the green but that leaves an awkward approach through swales to save par.

The par four fifteenth is deceiving from the tee. It appears from there to have no fairway to hit to but that is merely appearance as landing area is more generous than that. It pays to be down the right half here as it allows better access to a green guarded in the front left by a large bunker the shoulder of which also feeds down into the fairway ensuring that the second must be carefully thought out.

The finishing hole could be very good but for a rather strangely placed blackboy in the middle of the fairway in the landing area for the average hitter. I'm never a fan of something that small in the middle of the fairway as there is such an element of luck as to whether you are in it or not. Otherwise a very strong finishing hole with the best angle from the left half of the fairway which requires a flirtation with the left hand fairway trap.

The grasses used are Tifdwarf on the greens, Rileys on the fairways, Santa Anna on the tees and a combination of grasses in the roughs including Centipede and St Augustine.

Tifdwarf got the nod here ahead of 328 Tifgreen and whilst there have been some settling in issues the greens when I played them in February appear headed in the right direction. Tifdwarf is capable of providing a quality putting surface and once established will offer just that.

The Rileys grass (Australian variety of Bermuda) used on the fairways was actually developed by the same gentleman who developed the highly successful Greenless Park used so extensively throughout Australia as a fairway grass. It offers a year round quality playing surface and clearly copes with the heat of the summer here with no problems.

As you would expect with a course that is managed by one of the multi-national management companies (in this case Troon Golf) the level of service is first class on arrival, during and at the completion of your round.

The clubhouse is well designed and spacious and offers outdoor and indoor casual and fine dining. A roomy well stocked pro shop offers a wide range of clothing options. As is always the case with this style of operation you are made to feel important as a guest of the course.

The key issue that confronts Pelican Waters at present is to make the golf course more user friendly for the average player and below who will, of course, represent their greatest revenue source. This is currently being undertaken and I am sure that once a balance is found this course will be recognised as one of the best in the land. Such measures will and must include the reduction of rough in areas that will not come into play for the good player and in a manner that will not unduly effect the natural aesthetics of the landscape.

Even as it is now, Pelican Waters could rightly claim the title of a great tournament course but tournaments will not played there every day. It is potentially a course of the highest quality capable of world wide acceptance and recognition.

The Clubhouse is surrounded by waterways and is indisputably the best in the region. With an a la carte and buffet restaurant, verandah and indoor bars, a sandstone fireplace and sitting room and convenient concierge and baggage services, it is the place to dine and unwind.

A new development adjacent to the course, [url=www.vardonpoint.net.au]Vardon Point[/url], is now up and running offering one, two, three, or four bedroom luxurious apartments for short term serviced accommodation. And when I say luxurious I mean just that. Spacious with quality furnishings and all mod cons made it a pleasure to stay in and being within four minutes walk from the clubhouse offered great views over the first fairway and to the course and bushland beyond.

Located in beautiful Golden Beach, Pelican Waters is the ideal place to getaway and play. Just an hour from Brisbane along the Bruce Highway, and less than half an hour from world famous Noosa, Pelican Waters is close to the renowned surf beaches and shopping of the fabulous Sunshine Coast.

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