THE MOOD at Paradise Palms was bittersweet – a combination of excitement tinged with sadness.
Less than 24 hours after Australian Golf Digest visited the Cairns resort, the members were preparing to farewell the course’s iconic, par-3 seventh hole – a gorgeous, downhill number measuring 182 metres from the tips. Its elongated green wraps around a lake which had collected many new, old and slightly bruised golf balls over the 25 years it was in play.
It was given a fitting tribute on January 15, but its demise was more than two decades in the making. The original Graham Marsh-Ross Watson masterplan thoughtfully allowed for the possibility that Paradise Palms Drive would one day be extended to allow for new residential developments.
After the development was placed in receivership in August 2013, Cairns-based businessman Darren Halpin, along with investors from Sydney and Brisbane, purchased the property last September. They immediately progressed with the Orchid North estate, which will incorporate 585 new dwellings at an estimated value of $330 million while providing the resort with a much-needed injection of funds.
That development will be built on the old driving range, with the connecting road cutting through the seventh, bringing an end to its rein as the postcard hole of Paradise Palms. Some members expressed devastation at their most treasured hole being sacrificed for progress, but acknowledged it was for the greater good.
“The members are excited to see some changes on the golf course but at the same time they are sad to see No.7 go,” says general manager Peter Blackburn.
“In this golf economy, you have to be realistic about a business surviving and the development will make this golf course viable in the future.
“It’s not a decision the owner took lightly, but council dictated how this had to be done and, unfortunately, we had to lose our iconic par 3.”
In order to maintain an 18-hole rotation, the two nines have now been reversed. The former par-5 first had to be split into a 330m par 4 and a 150m par 3 that now play as the 10th and 11th, respectively.
The course will play as a par 71 until the old 387m, par-4 second is lengthened to play as a par 5 measuring approximately 480m.
It represents a dramatic change for a course which ranked as high as No.29 in the 1994 Australian Golf Digest Top 100 Courses ranking, but one the club hopes can help recapture former glory.
“We would love to return the course to the top 25,” says Blackburn.
“That’s the goal. With all the improvements we have scheduled in the near future, we want to bring it back to what it used to be.
“People come here because of the natural beauty of the course and even through the receivership period our greens staff did a magnificent job in keeping a high standard of presentation.”
Paradise Palms is also about to embark on an extensive bunkering program it hopes will safeguard against severe washouts, like the 500mm of rain that fell in 10 days during December. The club will also look to improve its putting surfaces once funding becomes available.
In a further boost to the Paradise Palms experience, a brand new fleet of Club Car Visage golf carts will arrive in April, complete with hole-by-hole flyovers, 3D graphics, course diagrams and shot distances.
The layout is a tropical haven with wildly undulating fairways that, while testing your balance, do a wonderful job of guiding rainwater into the designated waterways, allowing the course to remain in play after heavy rainfall.
The new opening hole is now a 529m par 5 featuring water down the right side of the fairway and an enormous green complex.
Picturesque, rocky creeks cross the layout and challenge golfers to take them on at the 387m second and the 331m fifth. At the 394m, par-4 15th, a layup from the tee is required to leave a long second shot into a raised green complex with a steep drop to the left. While the Tifdwarf Bermuda greens are surprisingly receptive to solid approaches, sloping surrounds and tightly mown fringes allow for a variety of short-game shots should you miss your target. Formerly host to the North Queensland X-Ray Services Cairns Classic – won by US PGA Tour winner Marc Leishman in the early days of his professional career in 2006 – Paradise Palms is hoping to make a return to Queensland’s Sunshine Tour this winter with final dates still to be confirmed.
The resort itself is not only a family-friendly facility, but also available to locals whom are invited to swim in the pool, make use of the large children’s playground and relax in the clubhouse. Inside, Fifty Nine restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and makes use of the abundant local produce to deliver some Australian culinary favourites, as well as an infusion of Asian and European dishes.
Paradise Palms is a Top 100 experience on the comeback trail. The good news is, difficult decisions have been made and truly great golf is on its way.
THE DETAILS
Paradise Palms Resort and Country Club
Paradise Palms Drive, Kewarra Beach, Qld
Par 71, 6,212m
Phone: (07) 4059 9900
