Inflation is on the rise and the cost-of-living is starting to hit the hip pocket nerve. But there’s no need to sacrifice your golf game.
CHURCHILL WAVERLEY G&BC– ENDEAVOUR HILLS & ROWVILLE COURSES
Melbourne, Victoria
Green fees: $35 (weekdays), $45 (weekends).
Churchill-Waverley Golf and Bowls Club currently operates two separate golf courses – Endeavour Hills and Rowville.
Endeavour Hills layout lies next to the Churchill National Park and has 27 holes onsite, but it is the 18-hole West Course that will test your game with heavily tree-lined couch fairways, sizeable greens and expansive bunkering covering the undulating terrain.
One hole you will remember here is the sharp dogleg left 15th where longer hitters can attack and shorter hitters can still match them with a good strategy. The generous green, protected on three sides by bunkers, has multiple pin positions and can dictate the way you choose to play the hole.
The Rowville course – a five-minute drive to the north along Churchill Park Drive – is a little more open than its neighbour, but no less challenging with dozens of bunkers scattered across the layout.
GAILES GC
Brisbane, Queensland
Green fees: $35 (weekdays), $45 (weekends).
Gailes is widely regarded as one of the best wet weather courses in the Queensland capital.
In fact, it is this attribute that led to the club hosting the Australian Open back in 1955, when flooding elsewhere in Brisbane meant the event had to move to a better-draining course and Gailes was the choice.
Nearly 65 years on from that championship, won by the great South African Bobby Locke, Gailes is arguably a much sterner test with many trees maturing into towering timbers lining most fairways.
In recent years, most of the improvements have come in the increasingly high quality of its Wintergreen couch fairways and tees as well as the Bermuda 328 greens.
GLENMORE HERITAGE VALLEY GC – LINKS COURSE
Sydney, NSW
Green fees: $35 (weekdays), $43 (weekends).
Glenmore Heritage Valley is a 27-hole complex and the course is generally played as two combinations – The Links (1-18) and The Valley (10-27).
The Links is by far the most challenging layout of the two. It boasts some tough holes but none are more testing than the 589-metre par-5 6th, which features out-of-bounds left of the fairway and a lateral water hazard running the full length of the hole to the right. A great drive must be followed by a solid fairway wood and mid to short iron third shot to reach the green and have a chance at birdie or par.
GOONAWARRA GC
Melbourne, Victoria
Green fees: $35 (weekdays), $39 (Sat), $42 (Sun).
Goonawarra is one of the best public accessible courses north of Melbourne’s CBD.
Opened for play in 1981 and designed Tony Cashmore, Goonawarra is an enjoyable par-70 course with generously wide fairways and large undulating greens. In fact, the putting surfaces are widely acclaimed for their smooth roll and speed.
IVANHOE GC
Melbourne, Victoria
Green fees: $35 (weekdays), $36 (weekends)
A round of golf at Ivanhoe is more like a nature trail walk.
Covering land north of the banks of the Yarra River, Ivanhoe combines the beauty of interesting golf – undulating fairways and greens – with great natural sights like lagoons and water courses teeming with birdlife.
And all this just 20 minutes’ drive east of the city centre.
NORTH WEST BAY GC
Hobart, Tasmania
Green fee: $35 (seven days).
Just 20 minutes’ drive south of Hobart’s CBD lies North West Bay Golf Club – Australia’s southern-most 18-hole course.
The layout started as nine holes in the mid-60s, designed by Alf Toogood – the English-born patriarch of the famous Toogood golfing family that still remains close to the game in Tasmania today.
By the end of that decade the layout had been extended to 18 holes, such was the popularity of the course. It has changed significantly during the past 50 years with new holes replacing old as part of a development plan (provided by the Alf’s son, Peter), which added dramatically to the length and challenge the course presented.
North West Bay’s most memorable offering is the 429-metre par-4 11th. The view from the tee, down the fairway, to North West Bay beyond is striking. The gun-barrel straight fairway descends gradually from the tee and with a downhill approach shot, this hole plays much shorter than the scorecard suggests. The key here, though, is to approach from the right half of the fairway, to get the best angle into a green that slopes from left-to-right.
www.northwestbaygolfclub.com.au
REDLAND BAY GC
Brisbane, Queensland
Green fees: $35 (weekdays), $40 (weekends).
Situated on the foreshore of beautiful Moreton Bay, Redland Bay offers picturesque coastal views, manicured Bermuda grass greens and gentle undulating fairways.
Redland Bay was designed by Brisbane-based Stan Francis and is an easy-walking layout with several interesting short par-4s, with the best arguably the 295-metre 7th hole where trees, sand and water play havoc off the tee and a dam needs to be crossed with the short approach into the green.
WOLLONGONG GC
Wollongong, NSW
Green fees: $35 (Mondays), $45 (Tues-Sun).
Wollongong is a links golf experience like few others in Australia, with the course starting ‘in town’ and holes played across the land directly behind City Beach.
Golf has been played here since 1897, but the challenges are much different these days with water hazards being added to the landscape as part of a major redesign by course architect, Ross Watson, which began more than a decade ago.
$34-$20
NORTH ADELAIDE GC – SOUTH COURSE
Adelaide, South Australia
Green fees: $33.50 (weekdays), $42 (weekends).
Only a short walk from the city in the Adelaide parklands, North Adelaide’s par-71 South Course offers a challenging layout with stunning views of Adelaide’s skyline.
The playing surfaces here are superb. Beautiful kikuyu fairways, Santa Ana couch tees and well-tended bentgrass greens compliment the interesting and testing design.
Mature gum trees line every fairway and bunkers are placed to guard most greens, making accurate ball-striking a premium from tee-to-green. But there is no water and very little rough to speak of, so no time wasted looking for wayward shots.
CARDINIA BEACON HILLS GL – HILLS COURSE
Melbourne, Victoria
Green fees: $33 (weekdays), $43 (weekends).
Set in an idyllic rural location abutting Cardinia Reservoir in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, Cardinia Beaconhills is a strong test of golf with a panoramic view from many holes.
WEST BEACH PARKS – PATAWALONGA COURSE
Adelaide, South Australia
Green fees: $33 (weekdays), $42 (weekends).
With its terrific kikuyu fairways and enormous undulating bentgrass greens – averaging 750 square metres – West Beach Park’s Patawalonga layout is regarded as one of South Australia’s best public courses.
Redesigned by Neil Crafter in 1998, the Patawalonga is a links-style course with relatively wide fairways punctuated by plenty of bunkering. The remodelled back nine has the lion’s share of the layout’s best offerings with the short par-4 10th offering just enough temptation from the tee to get you into trouble.
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