Mike Clayton

Is Elanora the Fontainebleau of Sydney or Fontainebleau the Elanora of Paris?

The rocky escarpment in the middle of the course has great similarities with our Parisian client 10,000 miles away. Harley Kruse explains how more native vegetation will in time make the Sydney sandstone more visible.

@mikeclaytongolf.bsky.social with contractor Ben Burke at Yarra Yarra GC. We are executing our partner Harley Kruse's plan to revegetate some key areas with indigenous species such as stipa, rice flower and trigger plant.

CDP and KruseGolf have been jointly appointed consulting course architect to Elanora Country Club, NSW, Australia.

@mikeclaytongolf.bsky.social:
"We are delighted to be working at Elanora which I believe to be New South Wales's best golfing property north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge."

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www.golf.org.au/mike-clayton....
On Ian B-F Cam Smith and the unknowable. And the difference between Peter Thomson and Greg Norman.

t.co/jqg4P0tiJe. On Grace Kim and three of the finest half dozen shots hit by an Australian on the final hole of a major championship

The latest edition of the UK's National Club Golfer / Golf World. A piece on 7 Mile Beach by its co-designer, @mikeclaytongolf.bsky.social.

It is - but a lot of heathland work to grow in.

images.ctfassets.net/3urhge2ecl20...

On the new Royal Sydney and its 18th hole now being “able to hold its head up in polite society” (A.W Tillinghast)?

Included in Golf World's new article on its ranking of GB&I's links courses is this essay by our own @mikeclaytongolf.bsky.social.

t.co/1MFJb0W9sB

On the US Open - with a tennis comparison from John Fitzgerald thrown in.

No doubt. That’s suffocatingly dull as well.
Both a result of the equipment.
Fix the ball. Fix the driver.

Of course -if they bothered to fix the damn equipment they wouldn’t have to rely on greens at 15+ feet and hack out rough.

Not the sort of golf we want to watch. Like so many US Opens it looks like no one is playing well.
Of course they are but the final 2 groups +14 combined on the front 9. Ugh.

Clayton: US Open made to identify golf's premier ball strikers Columnist Mike Clayton previews the 2025 US Open, its host venue, and who is most likely to emerge as this year's champion

www.golf.org.au/clayton-on-t.... On Oakmont. A high bar to match Rory v History at Augusta and Alcaraz v Sinner in Paris.

. Nice summation by @geoffshac.bsky.social

The mystery is isolating one hole from another. I don’t get it.
Here at Woodlands (Melb Sandbelt) instead of looking into a wall of rubbish ti-tree left of the par 5,15th you now see through to the 13th hole. And vice -versa.

A great Australian short 4 almost no one talks about. Curlewis 12 (old 3) No hole in the country uses a boundary better (down the left) as a hazard and the green is one of Vern Morcom’s best.

Seven Mile Beach.
17. Looking good and getting closer.

The Aussies are going well at the Scottish's Men's Amateur Championship at North Berwick: followed around Billy Dowling (first round leader), Kayun Mudadana (current leader), and Max Moring @mikeclaytongolf.bsky.social

14th hole with the City of London behind.

The Addington, Surrey, England.

Designed by JF Abercromby & HS Colt.

Restored by Messrs Clayton, DeVries & Pont.

@mikeclaytongolf.bsky.social
@ivgd1.bsky.social

📷: Will Watt

Maybe 8 of the last 10 cards were ‘foreigners’??
I was acknowledging Huggy’s point it was curious how few Americans were in the top dozen. In the end 3 of the top 18.

I simply thought it interesting 12 of the top 15 are ‘foreigners’
Australians have done particularly well at the last two tour schools.
8 of the 10 possible cards.

A brief glance at the Senior PGA leaderboard made me smile. Just the one American in the top-ten. Which hints at how obnoxious is the near closed-shop policy of the Champions Tour. How is that even legal? 🤷‍♂️

Frank and Hendrik presented our Draft Course Plan and proposed renovations to the practice facilities to Royal Dublin's members at a town hall event last night.

@ivgd1.bsky.social
@mikeclaytongolf.bsky.social

Seven Mile Beach's 14th awaits the arrival of golfers.

📷: Anthony Toogood

@mikeclaytongolf.bsky.social

We so rarely see them in Australia- but years ago we played a 36 hole tournament on a course where almost every shot off the fairway had mud on the ball
The rule is - mud on the left ball goes right - and vice versa. But it’s a horror story.

insightful as always Mike with some good insights from @geoffshac.bsky.social as well. Portrush would be a lovely walk, and I assume Oakmont as well. The PGA Championship continues to choose venues that cement its place at the bottom of the 4 majors.

Sometimes it's worth remembering where you started. @lukasmichel.bsky.social's video with @mikeclaytongolf.bsky.social was filmed in 2021.

Preview play begins at Seven Mile Beach on Thursday. For more information, please consult the club's social media feeds.

And it’ll remain the 4th of four until they move it overseas once every four years. In 50 years it’d at least be the equal of the others and in the southern hemisphere it’d be #1.