It’s Saturday and therefore its time for golf! Welcome to CRAPP 2 from the Griffith Golf Club. Andrew, Sue and their daughter Emily joined me for the July monthly medal. It rained most of the night but the rain cleared about an hour before our tee time. The course was damp but not wet, in fact it was in very good nick. Now for the ratings.

Design – The course is very flat, based on the nature of the area, also its right next to the airport and you don’t get hilly airports. The design was OK but it just lacked a bit of panache to overcome the “blandness” for want of a better word. Rating was 15 out of 20

Condition – It was tremendous, The fairways, green surrounds and greens were all in great condition. The fairways were superb, equal to the best fairways I’ve played on in the last few years, very much on par the the fairways on the Melbourne sand belt courses. It was one of the big surprises of this course. The other surprise was the pace of the greens, the quickest greens I have ever played on outside of Royal Melbourne West about 7 years ago. Very happy to play as a member on this course. Rating was 18 out of 20.

Cost – Very reasonable with a price of $35 for 18 holes which is comparable to other regional courses around OZ but with far better conditions. Rating 17 out of 20.

Visual Appeal – Unfortunately being very flat affects the visual aspect of the course and creates a bit of “blandness” which affects the rating. It was pleasant to look at and the lush green conditions certainly lifted the appeal. Rating – 15 out of 20.

Facilities – Whilst the golf facilities were very commendable, the clubhouse and pro shop were very dated and needed modernisation big time.It had a driving range, practice nets and a reasonable practice putting green but ordinary post game facilities, basically no food and just minimal selections at the bar. Rating – 5 out of 10.

Ambience – Once again the poor facilities had an effect re ambience. Whilst it was a good view from the clubhouse balcony there was not an overwhelming up feeling, maybe it being winter time but it was monthly medal and good weather so I would have expected a bit more “buzz” around the place. Rating 5 out of 10.

So the CRAPP rating for Griffith Golf Club was 75. Some modernisation of the facilities and some tweaking of the course structure, in my opinion would see this course become one of the gems in regional Australia.