Address: 1910 Donnybrook Road, Yan Yean
Number of Holes: 18
19th Hole: Yes including a mobile one.
Motorized Carts: Yes
Cost:
9 — $20/ 18 — $23 (weekday)
9 — $30 / 18 — $35 (weekend)
Growling Frog opened on the 1st of September 2004 after a few months delay due to the lack of rain the Melbourne has had over the past 12 months. With the fact that the course is so new there are few things that wont be quite right yet. Around the course there are a quite a few areas that haven’t had the chance to grow a grass cover yet so there is a bit of mud about. Apart from the obvious things wrong that you would expect from a brand new course, Growling Frog is in great condition. One of the things you will notice about Growling Frog is there is quite often a sizable rough between the tee box & the start of the fairway. The other thing you will notice is the abundance of bunkers, they are everywhere. Make sure you bring your sandwedge & maybe a beach towel because if you’re not careful you will spend a lot of time in the sand. As unbelievable as it may sound I didn’t find any bunkers at all, more by good luck than good management, but Trevor found himself in a couple. He said the sand in the greenside bunkers could have been a bit deeper. It make’s it hard to play out greenside bunkers when you don’t have enough sand to get underneath the ball. The fairways are in great condition, (not that I found many, no bunkers but not many fairways either), there are a few weeds that have been sprayed but not yet removed. The greens are big & undulating making for some very interesting putts, the are in fantastic condition & roll true.
One problem I noticed, I don’t know if this is something that will be fixed in the future, is there are no seats beside the tees. It may not sound like much, but toward the end of the round we were all looking for some where to take a load off.
The Clubhouse is in a fantastic position. From the inside the clubhouse you can see the 1st tee the 9th green, the 10th tee & the 18th green through floor to ceiling windows. It is a great place to finish your round.. At the moment there is no bar, but that will be rectified in the coming weeks.
For a course that has just opened Growling Frog is fantastic, in the coming months it will only get better. Trevor & Neil weren’t overly impressed with the course, the cost being a factor in their judgement, but I enjoyed my first round here.
