Albert Park golf course is quite tough - despite its rating. At a par of 70 its rating is 69. The 3 low markers in our field (2 on scratch, one on -1) were 39 over par for the 4 rounds. If we look at where they lost shots we can see which holes played hard for them and which played easy. The 2 straight par 5s were 2-shotters for them and they shot 12 under on them. But the three toughest holes were pars 3s - the 15th where they dropped 9 shots, the 8th where they dropped 5 shots and the 12th where they also dropped 5.

The greenkeeper prepared the course to perfection. The small slopy greens were cut just right - slow enough to hold in the breeze but fast enough to be frightened of down-slope/side-hill putts. The greens were mowed every day without any competitors noticing, and the fairway mowing was almost un-noticed.

The toughness of the course lies in the greens - too slopy to be assured that even good approaches will yield uphill putts, and the sidehill putts being such that it was difficult to gauge the degree of break.

This all makes one wonder whether the course rating of 69 is a fair reflection of the course!

 The card we used:

The course: