Ross Watson
The Designer - Why I did it...

Over the years I've been fortunate enough to be asked to design many courses throughout Australia and Asia and didn't for one minute imagine that I could ever be overly excited by any further approaches that came my way.

Until... that very first day I arrived on the Central Coast and set foot on the land on which Magenta Shores now stands. I could scarcely believe me eyes.

Bordering it on one side was the Pacific Ocean with the white-capped breakers and on the other, beyond the roadway, was Tuggerah Lake. Visually, the site was absolutely stunning, to say the least, and after taking it all in my immediate thoughts were how that vast exposure to the onshore winds would enter into the design plans.

I still remember thinking that here in front of me was the untouched canvas that all golf architects - certainly this one - have on their eternal wish-list. Everything I'd always dreamed of in terms of a natural setting for a golf course awaited me.

As for the land we had to work with, we had ten hectares of a municipal rubbish tip at the windier southern end and of the remaining ninety-one hectares probably seventy-five hectares had been used for sand mining. Elsewhere, it was remnant literal and bangalay forest, as well as coastal banksias.

Clearly, considerable earthworks had to be undertaken to get it into shape, but beneath my feet were mostly the basic sand dunes that architects crave.

As it happened, we needed between two and eight metres of landfill through various parts of the course and the fifth tee is one area that has eight metres of fill beneath it. Also, by raising the dump site area it meant all those holes went from having no views to panoramic ocean views.

One of the beauties of this game of ours is that no two courses on which we play are exactly the same. Many are strikingly similar, but not the same. Then the game varies from day to day, even minute by minute, with the strength and direction of the wind and dryness or otherwise of the turf.

As I've suggested, the wind factor was paramount here in all my planning. To give some idea of just how ferocious, uncharitable and changeable it can be, I recall a friend who's a scratch-marker hitting a five-iron around 170 metres here and from that exact same spot the next day he needed a one-wood!

So, it was not just the wind's consistency, but the strength it can reach that figured greatly in my planning. Had I not taken this into careful consideration, the course could have become almost unplayable at times.

Because of that, I made a point of adding extra land to those parts of the course that I always refer to as the RMZ, or "Receptive Mug Zone". I didn't have oodles of land to work with, but I selectively opened the most exposed landing areas to where it wouldn't be too hard to plot a path towards a bogey or double-bogey. In some places, I've even pushed the landing area out to fifty or sixty metres and, as you're aware, when the wind's up here at Magenta Shores you can need every last metre of that.

By and large, though, the fairways are thirty to forty metres in the landing zone for the average-type player and twenty to thirty metres for the scratch marker.

Because of the coastal exposure, we also had to be very careful with our shaping of the putting surfaces. I could not make them too undulating and they had to be of a size that would give some scope. I make no secret of the fact that I've tried to emulate Scottish greens, where there always seems to be something happening, and I must say I have never before attempted anything quite like what I've done here.

We've incorporated some subtle ripples, typical of what you see on those coastal courses over there, and I just hope all golfers will come to love these greens, because of those interesting, subtle undulations.

Regularly, I'm asked to nominate what aspect of Magenta Shores I am particularly proud of. Unstintingly, I nominate the four par-threes. They really possess that 'wow' factor and I modestly suggest that given time they could be recognised as the best collection of par-threes anywhere in Australia. In my view, they're that good.

Each faces a different direction, on the cardinal points, which adds so much to their collective appeal.

No single hole embraces the ocean and is more visually stimulating than the second. This lengthy par-five sweeps right along the foreshores and provides a scenic backdrop that, I'm sure you'll agree, makes walking that hole perhaps even more memorable than the number you finally write on the scorecard. As you know only too well, pretty much the whole of Australia's coastline now has protection zones, but on this hole you simply couldn't get any nearer the water without getting wet.

Visually, I'm not sure that I've seen very much like Magenta Shores anywhere else in this country and, mark my words, there are some breath-taking designs popping up all around us. But to have had the ocean right there with that accompanying wind playing such an influential role, just as it does so much with the more famous British courses built on links land, makes it very special indeed.

With the doors of Magenta Shores now wide open, it will fascinate me to see just where it eventually settles among the magnitude of courses, both old and brand new, that are increasingly available to the Australian golfing public.

So far the reviews and feedback have been nothing short of ecstatic in assessing what we've done. The pro shop tells me that the parting words from most visitors seem to follow the line that "I'll be back, I've got unfinished business here."

That encapsulates what Magenta Shores is all about. It's not the kind of course where you'll walk off the first time and feel you've got the better of it. It needs extended time and patience to figure out just where to hit, which club to use, how much allowance to make for the prevailing wind, where best to place your approach on the green and so forth. It's an insightful examination that will take all golfers some time to complete.

Its overall similarity to British links is purposely striking, because of the terrain and location that I had to work with. This is supported by the number of Tour pros who see Magenta Shores as the ideal location to sharpen their wares for the European Tour and links golf especially and are now playing here on their visits home.

I'm sure the positive impressions from pros and amateurs alike will continue to be reflected in the years ahead by the national rankings.

This whole project stimulated me to go outside the box, to become much more adventurous and push my boundaries further than ever before. Without doubt, Magenta Shores is the most creative design I've ever been involved with.

I just hope you extract as much pleasure playing it as I did designing it.