The Metropolitan Golf Club

The tee shot should be played right of the fairway bunker on the left. The second shot to an open green requires a long iron or fairway wood.

One of the most picturesque holes on the course. The hole is heavily bunkered and the green moderately contoured. Anything not landing on the green will bring about a tough second shot.

A two-tiered green sloping from left to right requires a tee shot to be played into the right hand side of the fairway. Such positioning opens up the second shot to the green. However, the greenside bunkers on the left is one to stay away from.

A fairway bunker jutting out from the right side of the fairway requires a tee shot down the left. The second shot should be played short of the bunkers, allowing a pitch to a slightly elevated green. This hole favours the long hitters.

Another hole made more difficult by the addition of a new championship tee. Two deep fairway bunkers are right in play down the left side of the driving area, the right hand fairway bunker is of little concern. The green features a huge slope off the shoulder of the right hand greenside bunker and if the flag is in the right half of the green an approach from the left half of the fairway - usually with a short or mid iron - is ideal. Widely regarded as one of the classic holes on the course.

The 6th is the second of three front nine par fives and the player must drive to the far left side of the dogleg if an approach over the huge gum trees that block both the shot and view down to the green is to be avoided. Jack Nicklaus, famously, carried the fairway bunker that stretches across the left half of the fairway (270 metres) with a driver and a small ball in the 1967 Australian P.G.A Championship. The green and surrounds have been redesigned, the new cavernous bunkers and heavily contoured green require skilled shotmaking whether from a long second or short third shot.

The longest par three on the course is characterized by a generous green sloping from the top right to the bottom left from the tee. A long iron or wood is required.

A big fairway bunker has to be negotiated with the drive. The second shot should be placed on the right side of the fairway, which makes the approach considerably easier as the green slopes from left to right.

A perfect hole to drag out that tired old story of "when I was your age I could drive it across those trees". In 1968 Nicklaus flew it over the corner trees on this sharp dogleg right with a three wood and hit a wedge to the green for four straight days but "the trees were only so high when I was your age". They have grown up so tall now it's impossible to pull that shot off. Most play down to the corner with a long iron or a three wood and if the driver comes out it has to be perfectly faded around the corner or it runs through the fairway. The second shot can vary between a four iron down to an eight or nine. This is the most beautifully contoured and shaped green on the golf course - being on in two is no guarantee of a par.

A long dogleg left plays all of its length. The hole requires two good shots to reach the large green in two.

A testing par three. The green slopes diagonally as you look at it from the tee-box. The tee shot should be directed towards the left part of the green. Play conservatively.

Off the tee, the ideal position is the centre right part of the fairway to avoid sand traps on the left. The second shot should be played to the right side of the green, taking the front bunkers out of play.

Playing to a large, well bunkered green, a shot to the middle of the putting surface is desirable. if you miss the green, be prepared for a tough up and down.

A dogleg left as well as fairway bunkers on that side demand a shot to the right of the fairway off the tee. From there the second shot should be played to within pitching distance of the green with a chance for birdie. This hole favours the long hitters.

This is probably the most difficult of Metropolitan's par fours and again the strategy is simple and clear. A long bunker with a high lip sits into the left side of the fairway and a green that angles from its front left corner to the back right clearly favours an approach from close to the fairway bunker. A greenside bunker closes off the flag for those approaching from the right and only a big high fade will get the job done for those who fly their drives too far to the right.

This short par four doglegs sharply right around several deep fairway bunkers that have proved pivotal in deciding at least two Australian Opens. Bob Shearer in 1979 and Ian Baker-Finch in 1986 both drove into the bunkers and made killer bogeys that cost them their chance in those tournaments. Some can drive far enough to reach the green but it's almost impossible to keep such a long shot on the small sloping green. Often the pin placement dictates the best place to play to from the tee with the most difficult pin to get close to being behind the front right bunker, when the flag is there it's often easier to approach from 70 metres than it is from 30. A wonderful example of how great a well designed short par four can be.

A single deep bunker that is almost impossible to hit the green from, sits in the left side of the driving area. It's the one place not to go. Some curiously sited trees (but favorites of the members) 60 metres short of the green make for a blind second for those who have driven to the right, although that is the only effect they have in the play of the hole. The green is relatively large, not in truth that difficult to hit and only when the pin is tucked close to the bunkers do they have much influence on the approach.

The championship tee added for the 1997 Australian Open stretched this hole out to 433 metres and into a wind from the north it's a brutally difficult hole. The hole is actually dead straight and it is the blocked drive that is caught by the fairway bunkers down the right, but when the flag is on the left of the green it's clearly best to approach from close to the bunkers. In the 1979 Australian Open, Greg Norman hit two terrific shots, the second with a five iron, just under the tier of the two level green and then three putted to lose by one to Jack Newton. Eighteen years later in 1997, from almost exactly the same spot, Norman three putted in the playoff with Lee Westwood to lose the Open again.