As a Victorian golfing destination, Gippsland is often overlooked behind the likes of the Mornington and Bellarine Peninsulas as well as the world-famous Melbourne Sandbelt.

In Gippsland, you won’t find 6,500-metre modern championship layouts created by big name designers. What you will find are a well-maintained variety of courses that every golfer can enjoy.

With the Princes and South Gippsland Highways leading from the capital’s south eastern suburbs straight through the heart of the region, it is very accessible and when you’re not on the course there is a long list of attractions to experience.

I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised at the quality of the layouts you will find scattered throughout the region, from Lang Lang in the west to Lakes Entrance in the east. And when you discover the green fee these courses charge, you will agree Gippsland golf offers incredible value for money.

Aussie Golf Ranch. PHOTO: Brendan James

GATEWAY TO GIPPSLAND

The Monash Freeway weaves its way from the city out through Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs and splits into the Princes and South Gippsland Freeways, which both then wind eastward through Gippsland.

Taking the South Gippsland road will lead you on a longer more scenic loop through the southern parts of the region, before re-joining the Princes Highway nearly 200kms away in Sale.

It is on this route where you will experience a real Gippsland golfing highlight – Lang Lang Golf Club, which is 90 minutes’ drive from inner city Melbourne.

If you have ever owned a Holden, the name Lang Lang might sound familiar. Lang Lang was home to the General Motors Holden proving ground, which was first opened in 1957 and included nearly 45km of sealed and unsealed test roads among other testing facilities.

The club dates back to 1925 but it wasn’t until 1963 – after playing on sand scrapes across six different properties in the area – that the club settled into its current location … a very long par-5 east of the proving ground.

The course was designed by 1937 Australian Open Champion and long-time Riversdale Golf Club professional, George Naismith, who, along with fellow golf pro, Bill Walker, created the layout free of charge.

This par-70 offers hints of the Melbourne Sandbelt with its superbly maintained couch fairways and bentgrass greens, while the bunkering is also a memorable feature. The layout, at 5,710 metres from the tips, is not long by modern standards but its predominantly narrow tree-lined holes demand precision ball-striking.

But it is a course where you can make a score, as PGA professional and club member Peter Wilson proved recently. Wilson, 45, made international headlines when he shot an 11 under 59 around the layout not once, but twice, and on consecutive days.

Lang Lang lies roughly halfway between Melbourne and Phillip Island, which is internationally famous for two things – its motor racing circuit and the march of penguins that waddle ashore each day at sunset.

The circuit has hosted numerous motor racing events like the Australian MotoGP, World Superbike Championship and the Supercar Series during the past 25 years.

Phillip Island GC. PHOTO: Brendan James.

The penguin parade spectacle, which is one of Australia’s most popular attractions, can be seen at nearby Summerland Beach, which was also the original home of the Phillip Island Golf Club – a true links layout covering a sand dune landscape that, at that time in the 1920s, drew favourable comparisons with the Barwon Heads course on the Bellarine Peninsula.

But the club, then known as Summerland Golf Club, lapsed during World War II and a new site, on edge of the Cowes township, on the north side of the island was established.

It is an easy walking par-72 with a front nine featuring more heavily tree lined fairways, but the inward half is slightly longer with three par-5s offering some good scoring opportunities. But short gems like the 320-metre par-4 8th and the 292-metre par-4 13th can play much tougher than the scorecard might suggest.

Short holes are the order of the day on Phillip Island’s other layout – the nine-hole par-3 course at the Aussie Golf Ranch.

The ranch was the brainchild of PGA professional Rohan Walker, who dreamed of building and operating a golf course. His plan was to build a course where he could teach kids the basics of the game whilst also providing a challenging layout for golfers of all abilities.

He found 23 acres of coastal dunes, about 100 metres from a secluded sandy beach on Red Rocks Bay and just a few minutes’ drive west of Cowes. Acclaimed course designer Ross Watson was commissioned to design the nine-hole layout and it was then constructed to USGA specifications.

Known as the 'Saltwater Creek' course, the nine holes stretch to 1,324 metres. The links course, with holes between 103 and 183 metres, has nearly 20 bunkers, water on many holes and grass-covered mounds surrounding each green. The G2 Bentgrass greens have plenty of movement and are nicely kept.

The highlight of the layout is Watson’s ‘homage’ to the Redan hole at Scotland’s North Berwick. The 145-metre 4th features a bunker set into the front of the kidney-shaped putting surface and a second bunker through the back of the green. The shape of the green allows approach shots to hit the front left and feed right towards any flag hidden behind the front trap.

Walker sold the ranch in early 2023 and the new owners are planning to develop more facilities to enhance the golfing experience.

Leongatha GC. PHOTO: Brendan James.

INTO THE RANGES

As you head east through Gippsland, the beautiful Strzelecki Ranges come into view. The range extends south from the Latrobe Valley to Wilson’s Promontory on the edge of Bass Strait and is named after Polish explorer Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, who led an expedition through the region during the 1840s.

The Strzelecki Ranges are spectacular and the golf courses to be found here will surprise the first-time visitor with just how good they are. Many clubs here operate on a shoestring budget and some rely on volunteers to assist, but the playing surfaces and the variety of fun holes to be found prove these layouts are punching well above their weight.

Leongatha Golf Club is widely regarded as the best layout to be found in Gippsland. Carved from magnificent bushland just south of Leongatha, the par-70 is laid across superb undulating terrain, while the heavily tree-lined fairways offer a real sense of isolation during the round. Leongatha was designed by Vern Morcom, the long-time curator at Kingston Heath and a prolific designer throughout Victoria for more than 40 years from the late 1920s.

Leongatha’s fairways are flanked with magnificent trees, predominantly gums, rising from the bush that is home to a wide variety of birds and wildlife. These fairways were fully converted to Santa Ana couch grass back in the mid-2000s and have thrived ever since, making these playing surfaces the envy of some major city clubs boasting far bigger budgets and grounds staff.

The topography gives rise to several blind tee shots, while the smallish greens place a real premium on accuracy from the fairway. For mine the best holes are left until last. The 146-metre par-3 16th is played from an elevated tee to a dramatically sloping green, while the 479-metre par-5 18th is a genuine three-shotter because of the sharp doglegging right fairway, which is bound by tall timbers and thick scrub for its entire length.

Leongatha, which is about two hours’ drive from Melbourne, is an ideal base to explore the surrounding towns of the ranges and experience some fabulous courses.

The drive heading north east out of Leongatha is winding and wonderful, and 20 kilometres into the journey you will find the picturesque town of Mirboo North. The village, of little more than 2,600 people, lies at the top of Grand Ridge Rd (that links the Latrobe Valley with South Gippsland) and apart from the historic attractions it offers, there is also a good golf course to be played.