World first synthetic golf course
The revolutionary Reef Palms golf course is being created at the resort township of Zilzie Bay, a short 30-minute drive from Rockhampton airport.
Built on a magnificent parcel of land alongside the Great Barrier Reef marine park, the world-first synthetic golf course also boasts many outstanding natural features.
Apart from its spectacular location, another of the site's major assets is an abundance of Livistona palm trees.
Southeast winds off the Coral Sea will also influence the par-70 Reef Palms course and place a premium on accuracy and club selection.
While bunkering, which was added during construction, will enhance tactical play.
Also worthy of note is that a number of holes - particularly on the front nine - are laid out among a series of lakes that double as feature water hazards.
Other design offerings include false-front greens, strategic do-or-die carries and the blissful privilege of walking a golf course without having to bear prolonged, heart-thumping hill climbs.
The first nine golf holes are nearing completion, with just three greens remaining to be installed with synthetic grass.
Extensive testing and trialling is planned for the first six months of 2008.
O'Hern takes firsthand look at world-first golf course
Australian Open runner-up Nick O'Hern has agreed to endorse world-first technology developed by Ozgolf Technologies to mastermind the revolutionary synthetic golf course at Zilzie Bay in Queensland.
O'Hern, who has twice defeated Tiger Woods in head-to-head match-play, took a firsthand look at the rapidly emerging Reef Palms golf course on Monday, December 10 before flying to Sydney to compete in the Australian Open.
The 18-hole Reef Palms course combines a system of synthetic greens, tees and fringes with Keppel couch fairways being treated by NutriMix - a 100 per cent organic mixture that retains moisture in the soil resulting in minimal irrigation of fairway grass.
NutriMix, a product developed by Soil Sub Technologies, is derived by mixing the major by-products of sugar or palm waste with either natural or artificial peat.
O'Hern, a member of the two-man Australian team that competed in the 2007 World Cup in China, is keen to back innovation in golf.
"All the Americans are practicing on synthetic greens but no one has had the guts to use it so extensively, so this is fantastic," said the 2006 Australian PGA champion.
"I am pleased to be associated with the products, the technologies and the Zilzie Bay project."