For mine, the South Course quite rightly is the pick of the combinations, as it covers some easy walking terrain as well as elevated ground where the holes follow the broad slopes that were there long before golf holes covered the landscape.

For pure aesthetics it’s hard to go past the 9th and 18th holes, which feature tees at the foot of the Dividing Range, with sweeping views over the course and surrounding farmland towards Lilydale and Coldstream. Both holes take advantage of a right-to-left sloping bowl, presenting a choice to either funnel your ball down the slope and be faced with a much shorter (but more challenging) second shot up a significant elevation, or play it safe out to the right and maintain your commanding position above the hole, albeit with a longer shot in.

The tee shot on the 176-metre par-3 13th at Eastern must avoid water and sand. PHOTO: Brendan James.

Another trademark of Norman-designed layouts is the high quality of the par-3s. Two of the best at The Eastern are on the back nine of the South Course, with the 176-metre 13th particularly memorable, courtesy of a tee shot which skirts the right edge of a lake and must clear a beach-like bunker that runs the length of the left side of the green. The 163-metre 17th has an elevated green and bunkers short and to both sides making the putting surface appear smaller than it is as you stand on the tee. But there are ample landing areas to either the left or right if you take dead aim at the flag but don’t hit the perfect shot.

The Eastern Golf Club is a private members’ club, but interstate and international visitors, who are members of a golf club, are welcome to enquire about tee times. Guests staying at the adjoining Yering Gorge Cottages also have exclusive playing rights at The Eastern.

Driving away from the clubhouse at The Eastern, you can be in the car park of the neighbouring Yering Meadows Golf Club in about six minutes.

One of the first clubs to accept a property developer’s deal to relocate to the Yarra Valley was Croydon Golf Club. After 80 years on its site in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, the 47-hectare course was sold for $35.1 million and a replacement 27-hole course was built – at a cost of $20 million – on a 131-hectare site, 15 minutes’ drive away in the valley.

Course designer Ross Watson was commissioned and the first 18 holes – the Nursery Course – opened for play in June 2008. An additional nine holes, alongside the club’s 15-hectare walnut plantation, opened less than 12 months later.

The club was sold in 2016 to a property investor, who plans to enhance Yering Meadows with accommodation options as well as conference facilities.

Water plays a significant role in Ross Watson’s design at Yering Meadows. PHOTO: Brendan James.

The three combinations of 18 holes – the previously mentioned Nursery course (1-18), Valley course (10-27) and Homestead course (19-9) – cover a massive area that incorporates wetlands and more undulating topography west of the clubhouse.

Watson’s design at Yering Meadows is a good one that easily blends with the surrounding Yarra Valley landscape and the ranges to the north of the course.

On the Nursery course, the wetlands are a dominant feature of the layout and can be seen on every hole. Watson, however, has managed to route his holes successfully through the wetlands without making these water hazards too penal.

For mine, I really liked the Valley course combination (10-27). It is the shortest of the three 18-hole combinations at 6,336 metres from the Black tees, but to me it didn’t seem that much shorter … or easier.

It did, however, offer the greatest variety of holes. The front nine, again, works across generally flat terrain and is surrounded by wetlands, while the back nine features plenty of elevation changes between tee and green.

The trio of holes starting with the par-5 23rd are the highlight of this course. At 500-metres from the tips, the 23rd is cut into the side of a hill beneath one of two Walnut orchards flanking holes on the Valley course. A good drive will get some extra metres and bring the green much closer for big hitters. The second shot, from an elevated position, is then played down into a valley where the putting surface is guarded by water left and two bunkers – one right and another long.

Yering Meadows lies at the end of the Yarra Valley’s ‘Golf Avenue’, otherwise known as Victoria Rd, which runs north from the Maroondah Highway that links the region to the city. Yering Meadows, The Eastern and Gardiners Run golf course, all have entrances coming off Victoria Rd.

Gardiners Run – named after a cattle station of the same name that was established on the site by pastoralist John Gardiner in 1837 – is nearly a decade old having been created on the back of a land swap deal involving developer CSR and the original club, Chirnside Park Country Club.

The terrific short par-4 5th at Gardiners Run poses some serious questions on the tee. PHOTO: Brendan James.

Once the deal was successfully negotiated, Pacific Coast Design’s Phil Ryan got to work crafting a par-72 on its current site, which was previously used by CSR as a quarry.

Three lakes were created, most of holes are thickly tree-lined but are generally well away from the playing lines as the fairways are generous in width. Large bunkers punctuate your progress along most fairways and sand traps of varying sizes and depths protect all greens.

Now that the edges and surrounds of many holes have filled out with vegetation, it feels like the layout has been in the ground here for much longer.

The long par-4 18th has become widely regarded as a tough, but memorable, closing hole. The dogleg left of 384 metres has a crop of bunkers lying just right of the driving zone, but it is the approach that excites. With water wrapping around most of the green from front left, through the back and to the right, the best line into the angled green is from the right, near the fairway bunkers.