With cost-of-living pressures being what they are at the moment, you don’t need to avoid the golf course to save your pennies.
WARRNAMBOOL GC
Warrnambool, Victoria
Green fee: $49 (seven days).
Set in and around the sand dune landscape so common on Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast, the course is enjoyable for golfers of all standards. But the accurate ball-striker will excel here as most of the fairways are lined with ti-tree, some thick rough and sandy wasteland.
Some of that ti-tree has been cleared to expose vast sandy wasteland on some of its best holes, which can be found midway through the front nine.
BAIRNSDALE GC
Bairnsdale, Victoria
Green fee: $46 (seven days).
From the beautiful rotunda in the main street of town, it’s about a 15-minute drive south to Eagle Point where you will find the Bairnsdale Golf and Bowls Club.
Nicely maintained couch fairways and some of the best putting surfaces in all of Vicroria’s Gippsland region make Bairnsdale a must for any golfer visiting the area.
The two par-4s leading away from the clubhouse ease you into the round, before the first significant challenge presents on the 491-metre par-5 3rd hole. There is out-of-bounds well off to the right of the fairway, which will only hinder wild hitters. Of more concern are the fairway bunkers – one on the right of the driving zone and another on the left of the popular lay-up distance from the green. Avoid the pitfalls en route here and you can have a good shot at an early birdie.
The 3rd is followed by arguably the prettiest of Bairnsdale’s holes – a 134-metre par-3 played over the edge of a water lily-filled lake to a large green protected left and right by bunkers and featuring a ridge running through its heart. It’s a good test of your iron play early in the round.
$45-$40
CLUBARHAM G&SC
Barham, New South Wales
Green fee: $45 (seven days).
Any golf course which has a hole named “Gallipoli” must be worth a look at.
The hole in question is the 383-metre par-4 5th at cluBarham Golf & Sports Club. One of the deepest and largest bunkers of any course on the Murray River guards the entire front of the small elevated green and it is not uncommon for players to rack up big numbers trying to extricate their ball from the sand.
The par-72 course is carved from natural bushland and a stream winds its way through most of the holes, while majestic river gums and cypress pine trees line many of the holes. Top players consider the best way to play Barham is hold your score around the front nine and make your score on the inward half which consists of three par-5s, with two under 450-metres in length.
Renowned architect Ross Watson has redesigned some holes – the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 9th holes are of note – but the majority of the routing remains unchanged from its humble beginnings nearly a century ago.
COBRAM-BAROOGA GC
Barooga, New South Wales
Green fee: $45 (seven days).
Cobram-Barooga GC offers one of the best value golfing experiences along the great Murray River.
The 36-hole complex, incorporates an Old and West Course, which are always in very good condition.
Both courses present differing challenges but the more mature Vern Morcom-designed Old Course – the host of the PGA Tour of Australasia’s TPS Murray River tournament won by Hannah Green earlier this year – is the pick of the two.
In recent times, the course has been renumbered and several holes redesigned by course architect Ben Davey (Contour Golf Design) as part of the clubhouse’s relocation to the adjoining Barooga Sports Club. These new holes have certainly added some depth to the quality of Morcom’s original creation.
COUNTRY CLUB TASMANIA
Prospect Vale, Tasmania
Green fee: $45 (seven days).
The gambling golfer will fit right in at Country Club Tasmania – not just in the resort’s casino, but also on the Peter Thomson and Mike Wolveridge-designed course.
The course, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, features the Thomson and Wolveridge trademark risk-and-reward options on many holes. The pair crafted the layout with a priority on course management. If you think your way around this course you will avoid the water that comes into play on 12 holes and the bunkers spread throughout.
www.countryclubtasmania.com.au
HAWKS NEST GC
Hawks Nest, New South Wales
Green fee: $45 (seven days).
This seaside hideaway at the southern end of NSW’s Great Lakes region lies between the beautiful Myall River and the crashing surf of the Pacific Ocean.
Hawks Nest is deceptively tough from the back markers while offering an enjoyable challenge to the high handicapper or novice from the front tees. In recent times, the club commissioned former Tour player and course designer Craig Parry to create a masterplan for redesigning the course to fulfil its enomous potential with an emphasis on encouraging a variety of shots and playing lines on each hole.
LEONGATHA GC
Leongatha South, Victoria
Green fee: $45 (seven days)
Carved from magnificent bushland, Leongatha is the highest ranked course in Victoria’s Gippsland region.
The Vern Morcom-designed par-70 layout covers idyllic rolling terrain with fairways flanked by majestic trees, some of which are clearly more than a century old.
Morcom took full advantage of the topography, creating some truly memorable holes that dogleg left and right and across varying terrain. These risk-reward holes also feature smallish greens, which place a real premium on finding the right spot in the fairway from the tee and accuracy from the fairway.
MORUYA GC
Moruya, New South Wales
Green fee: $45 (seven days).
The high-quality design and presentation of the Moruya layout is such that it has become the home of the South Coast Open, which is a qualifying event for the Australasian PGA Tour’s NSW Open.
The 485-metre par-5 1st is a terrific opening hole that gives you the opportunity to score well straight out of the blocks, that is if you can avoid the out-of-bounds left and the creek that cuts through the fairway about 180 metres from the green.
This long, straight three-shotter is not indicative of the remaining holes in the round, with all, except the par-3s, doglegging left or right between tee and green. This is a wonderful feature of the design as you are forced to answer numerous questions about club and shot selection during the round, adding to the overall enjoyment.
MOSS VALE GC
Moss Vale, New South Wales
Green fee: $45 (seven days).
Located in the heart of the picturesque Southern Highlands, Moss Vale Golf Club is widely regarded as one of the prettiest layouts in regional New South Wales.
The overriding challenge at Moss Vale is keeping your ball in play between the seemingly endless rows of pines, elms, eucalypts and claret ash trees that line every fairway. There is also a creek, which meanders through the course, that must be crossed 12 times during a round.
From the clubhouse, the Moss Vale course appears hilly with several holes sweeping down from a nearby hill to greens near the clubhouse. But the majority of the course is gently undulating and makes for a pleasant walk.
OCEAN SHORES CC
Ocean Shores, New South Wales
Green fee: $45 (seven days).
Ocean Shores Country Club offers spectacular scenery as well as great golf. There are fantastic Pacific Ocean views from the clubhouse, while the Great Dividing Range forms a distant and majestic backdrop to many holes on the par-72 layout.
Designed by Bruce Devlin and Robert Von Hagge, Ocean Shores opened for play in 1972 and has withstood the test of time across half a century, which is testament to the quality of the design and foresight of advances in equipment shortening courses. This layout is a strong 6,359 metres from the back tips, while the well-manicured greens are some of the biggest and most challenging in New South Wales.
All that said, the club is embarking on a staged redesign of the course with acclaimed architect Richard Chamberlain overseeing the work.
QUEENSCLIFF GC
Queenscliff, Victoria
Green fees: $45 (weekdays); $50 (weekends).
Queenscliff is located on Department of Defence land Swan Island at the eastern tip of the beautiful Bellarine Peninsula.
The sandy site has some gentle undulations perfect for golf and a collection of gorgeous cypress pine trees that are hallmarks of some of the grandest venues in the game.
www.queenscliffgolfclub.com.au
DEVONPORT CC
Spreyton, Tasmania
Green fee: $44 (seven days).
Devonport has long been regarded as one of the best courses in Tasmania. A regular host of the Tasmanian Open and Amateur, it is an unpretentious beauty.
The club has completed an extensive $11 million upgrade of its clubhouse after the golf club merged with the Devonport Bowls and Croquet Club and Spreyton Bowls Club.
The new club features a state-of-the-art sports centre, an international standard indoor bowls area, four grass greens and a two croquet courts, while the acclaimed Vern Morcom-designed course also now includes a remodelled par-3 10th hole, crafted by course architect Graeme Grant.
The new hole plays shorter than the original, whilst covering the same terrain, and still has the tidal Mersey River as a backdrop to the hole. Grant created a new green complex, with a pear-shaped putting surface protected by three small pot-like bunkers and a more expansive sandy hazard. Narrow at the front and wide at the back, the green is only a few metres from scrub on the edge of the riverbank.
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