St Andrews Beach Golf Course (Jan 2011)

A kangaroo keeping me company on the front 9. Gave me a moment to catch my breath.

Uphill approach on the back 9

15th green

Great view from the 17th tee

View from the 18th tee

My feet are still recovering from this round (several days ago).

What can I say other than this is a wonderful course to play.

Whilst I haven't played many of the courses down the Mornington Peninsula, the others have a lot to live up to to match this one.

My plan is to play the Dunes, Portsea, Sorrento, Eagle Ridge, Rosebud CC, Mornington, Cape Schank (RACV) and the National in the coming years.

A review of Moonah Links (Legends) will be forthcoming.

This is a tough course to play the first time. There are numerous blind shots required to be hit. Also, the greens were large. With enormous secondary chipping area which could be mistaken for the putting surface, it was so well manicured.

The first is a prime example of where local knowledge is a massive advantage. The green cannot be seen from the fairway, only from the elevated tee which is a long way away.

The 13th is the hardest hole on the card. It requires a 170m (approx) uphill drive to clear the scrub to reach the fairway. After losing a couple of balls, I decided to hit off from the red tee instead of emptying my bag of spare balls.

Had a wonderful round and a bargain at $59 for MCC members.

Hope the photos give you a good idea of what this course is like.

For a public course, it's in very good condition. Greens were in very good nick and well looked after. Not too many unrepaired pitch marks. Size of greens really challenged a high handicapper like myself.

I look forward to returning here again and trying to improve on my 120 odd shots that I had. 54 putts probably explains where my scoring weakness lies.

The course is pretty bare bones with regard to facilities.

There are no paved pathways and there are no signs at the various tee boxes other than the hole number.

I found myself sweating and tired from walking up hills and between holes on sandy, steep pathways. Distance between holes was sometimes a good walk.

I couldn't imagine walking this course if I was 60+ years old. Carts can be hired. Possibly a good option even for the young...

You only see the clubhouse at the start and end of your round- as the turn is midway out on the course. Clubhouse is only a 'shack' but the staff were very friendly and helpful which is all that you need.

My only gripe was that the maintenance crew were following me throughout my round. This became very annoying and put me off my game a bit. Noisy lawnmowers and green spraying equipment is not great company. I guess that's the price I pay for playing so early in the morning.