"I enjoy playing that kind of golf," Poulter said after his round.
"A number of the courses we play week in week out it seems like you are taking your driver head cover off on every single par four, par five and the odd the par three.
"It's nice not to do that. It's nice to hit the odd iron off the tee. So I like the way this golf course sets up for me."
Dressed from head to toe in lilac, the Englishman started at the 10th and picked up seven birdies with only one dropped shot at the 11th to take a one stroke lead over local player Ashley Hall.
A group of six players including Australians Peter Lonard, Jarrod Lyle and Matthew Giles are two back, and two ahead of Donald who is tied for 11th after a bogey free round which kept him in contention.
"Obviously it was a perfect day for scoring," said Donald, who has been making headlines this week with his money list title success on both sides of the Atlantic.
"I hit it quite well on the back nine but (on) my front nine just made no putts."
