Eastern Golf Club prepares for relocation…and the prospects of a more expensive Yering Meadows

23 Aug 2013

With approvals finally in place and a contractor engaged, the Eastern Golf Club will shortly begin work on their new facility at Windsor Park, which is adjacent to the Yering Meadows golf course in Victoria’s Yarra Valley. Time will tell, whether this relocation will be judged a masterstroke that saved a struggling club, or one of the most expensive mistakes in Australian golf. We hope for the former, but fear for the latter.

Let’s review the relocation move. Currently Eastern has around 1,000 members, and when the vote to relocate was taken in 2008 more than 40% of them voted against it. Given the Yering site is 35 minutes further from the city than their current Doncaster home, it’s unlikely that these objectors will move when the old site gets decommissioned. Even if they do, and 100% of existing members shift to Yering in 2015, it’s worth considering what kind of golf facility would be appropriate for a club like Eastern.

From a cramped, land-locked 18-hole course set beside a busy metropolitan road, Eastern members are moving to a spacious, tranquil site alongside the Yarra River. Here up to 1,000 of them will enjoy 27 Greg Norman designed “championship” holes, along with a 9-hole par three course, an enormous practice facility and a professional teaching academy. There are other ‘world-class’ amenities as well, including 4 tennis courts, a 25-metre indoor lap pool, a gymnasium and 5,500sqm Clubhouse. This is the burger with the lot version of a relocation, and believed to be costing in the vicinity of $60-$70 Million. The club’s Doncaster site was sold to Mirvac for $99 Million.

Back in 2009 when the decision to engage Greg Norman Golf Course Design was made, the club remarked that they were interested in creating a genuine world-class facility that became part of that ‘Melbourne/Sandbelt golf’ conversation. Submissions were received from more than a dozen architects worldwide, and Norman’s company was selected, principally we were told, because the board admired the courses created during Bob Harrison’s tenure. Harrison left Norman’s company soon after, but the club stuck with a design team now led by American Jason McCoy. In Australia McCoy has been involved in the design of the East Course at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide and Stonecutters Ridge in Sydney.

Irrespective of whether the club has appointed the best design team available or not, the sheer scale of the proposed development and the amount of golf squeezed onto this property is concerning. The 450 acres available for golf at Yering, include an undulating upland area and a vast soggy field down below that is subject to regular flooding. In order to get golf above the flood levels playing areas will need to be built up, and a series of water hazards created. At least 11 holes on the full course, and most of the par threes, will interact with the water in some way.

Whilst water holes as a concept are fine, you have to question the logic of having too many on a property like this. Next door at Yering Meadows, for example, the most common criticism is of too much golf crammed onto a tight property, and too many narrow holes bordered by water. Eastern had the opportunity to create a genuine point of difference here, and deliver for members an expansive 18-hole course, on a largely beautiful site, with plenty of play space and width. Remembering, that width and strategic space are common ingredients shared by all of the world’s great courses.

The problem with the new Eastern site is that the best available land is terrific, but there isn’t enough of it to develop a naturally undulating 18-hole course. Because you could only get 12-13 holes across the rolling ground, the use of the floodplain was essential. That said, a small section of this flooded area actually touches an elbow of the Yarra River, and isn’t unattractive. Limiting golf to 18 holes might have yielded something exceptional but cramming 27 plus a par 3 course, instead, means tighter golf corridors, more water holes and possible confusion over the best or ‘proper’ 18 hole loop.

While the par three layout should prove popular, it’s difficult to see the logic in the full 27-hole course, given the financial troubles of neighbouring clubs and the fact that we are now talking about a regional club whose timesheet is unlikely to be bursting at the seam.

By building 27 ‘full’ holes instead of 18 the designers have been forced to squeeze more golf out on the flatter ground than is ideal, and potentially sacrifice some of the better land for the large practice area. Not only is the ‘main’ golf course likely to be worse off, the facility will use more water and cost more to maintain. It will also feel emptier if the expected membership boost fails to materialise. So much for becoming part of that Melbourne/Sandbelt conversation.

Surely the lesson from Yering Meadows is that one great course is better than one and half good ones. The Eastern GC board had the money, so perhaps the prevailing view was they should spend it. For the cost of those additional 9 holes, however, the club might have been able to purchase the 27 across the street, or perhaps the 36 at Heritage a little further away. Or even protected their future by leaving more of it in the bank.

Regardless, the fact that virtually every spare metre of the floodplain is now utilised for golf seems like a risk. Jason McCoy might be a passionate and experienced course builder, but he will need to deliver the best Greg Norman golf course in Australia to prevent The Eastern relocation from turning into an expensive white elephant.

Below: Eastern Golf Club - Relocation Masterplan.