12 AUGUST 2019 | golf australia
andhasbeenwell-entrenched in national
course rankings for 17 years. Its latest ranking
came in January this year when it finished at
No.11 on Golf Australia’s Top-100 Public
Access Course list, an improvement on its two
previous standings.
This bounce back in the rank can be
attributed to changes made to the course
three years ago.
Greg Norman Golf Course Design was
charged with maintaining the essence that is
Brookwater while tweaking the course for
improved playability and aesthetics. A
redesign program was undertaken at
Brookwater, which saw greens enlarged,
bunkers softened and areas of deep rough cut
back. The Shark himself made a visit to what
is arguably his best design in Queensland to
make his personal recommendations, with the
front nine opening in November 2016 and theentire 18 holes open for play in March 2017.
Before the remodeling, Brookwater had
areas of long rough as well as scrub and tall
trees close to playing lines, which led to
plenty of lost balls.
The remedy started from the ground up
with the removal of much of the cluttered
grass plantings and deep rough. Multiple trees
were removed across the course, while large
branches and limbs were trimmed to clear out
sight and playing lines from tees and into
greens. This has vastly improved the strategic
values of playing a round here.
Perhaps the biggest change came on the
greens with the Bermuda Tifdwarf surfaces
redone, while the greens were reshaped, made
larger and some of the severe slopes and
undulations softened to oer more pin
positions. Drainage work was also conducted
on many of the greens to ensure the highquality of the playing surfaces are maintained.
After more than two years of maturation,
Brookwater’s Bermuda putting surfaces are
some of the best in the country, which is
indicative of the standard to be found at
Troon Golf-managed courses.
Brookwater, despite these playability
improvements, remains a long, tough,
undulating test that asks questions of your
game that other courses don’t. In the course of
18 holes there are heroic carries, tight drives
and approaches into greens from a variety of
lies that range from subtle to dramatic.
From the championship tees, the journey is
long (one of the top-10 longest in Australia),
brutish and something I would only
recommend for pros and elite amateurs. I’d
suggest moving forward a tee, where the
course plays shorter but no less dramatic.
Elevation changes are Brookwater’sThe steep uphill approach
to the 10th green does have
an Augusta National feel.