Locals are well aware of Bairnsdale’s enviable year-round conditioning and interesting variation of holes, some of which make you feel as though you’re on a Melbourne Sandbelt course. But has the course captured the attention of city golfers? Not so much.

Discussions amongst Melbourne golfers about where to play golf in Gippsland often throw up Lakes Entrance and Leongatha as the must-play layouts and Bairnsdale – more than three and a half hour’s drive east of Melbourne – is too often forgotten.

However, that is changing.

“I don’t think there’s a poor hole,” Bairnsdale General Manager, Jeff Graham, said.

“It’s an even, consistent layout that is going to test most golfers when they come and play here. It’s not overly long. You’ll generally come up with a good lie in the bunkers and then some of those holes you stand on, you think, ‘this is an impressive hole for where we are’. “The more work we do on it, I think the more notoriety we’ll get.”

Situated in Eagle Point and only a three-minute drive from Paynesville, Bairnsdale is among Victoria’s oldest golf clubs, having been founded in 1904, and has been at its current site on Bairnsdale-Paynesville Road since 1958.

The superb par-3 4th hole with an angled green squeezed between a trio of bunkers. PHOTO: Henry Peters.

Since 2015, it’s twice been named ‘Golf Facility of the Year’ by Golf Australia, is a two-time winner of the PGA of Australia’s ‘Regional Pro-Am of the Year’ award and was named ‘Golf Club of the Year’ by Golf Victoria in 2017.

Three-time European Tour winner Marcus Fraser had glowing praise for Bairnsdale after he shared victory with Daniel Fox in the club’s 2019 Pro-Am.

“People talk about this course being one of the best in country Victoria, I believe it is one of the best country courses in the entire country,” Fraser said.

Graham points to the local climate as a key factor in the course’s conditioning.

“The fact that we are this sort of riviera temperate climate, it generally doesn’t get as cold here in the winter or as warm in summer as what it does in Melbourne,” he said.

The 3rd hole is an impressive par-5 with a testing final approach. PHOTO: Henry Peters.

His use of the word ‘riviera’ isn’t flippant. It’s a noun locals use to describe the area.

“That’s what many people call this area because it’s on a different rain belt from Melbourne and Sydney, it’s in between both. So, we do have a different climate.”

Last year, Victoria endured massive rainfall and Bairnsdale withstood it with very minimal interruption to play.

“We closed for one day through the whole 18-month period so every other day we were open in some capacity,” Graham said.

Whether you’re visiting in July or January, the presentation of the tree-lined parkland course is likely to leave an impression.

There’s impressive coverage on the couch fairways which provide a brilliant playing surface even through winter, and putts on Bairnsdale’s bent grass greens roll true.

“I strongly believe that the biggest strength is its consistent condition,” Graham says.

“It’s always in good condition, there’s good bunkering around most greens and across most fairways that have been redeveloped.”

Towering gum trees are a feature of the par-71 course (take note of the glorious eucalypt right in front of the pro shop).

Striding the tree-lined fairways conjures memories to some of Melbourne’s far better known Sandbelt courses and the same comparisons can be made below the course’s surface.

Tall gum trees can obscure your approach shot on the par-4 9th hole. PHOTO: Henry Peters.

“The course was built with a pretty high level of sand capping,” Graham said. “When they put the course down, the first good metre is sand, so it drains really, really well.”

The south-eastern corner of the property stands out.

The gentle dogleg right par-5 3rd hugs Bairnsdale’s southern boundary and features a daring approach to a small green framed to the right by two small bunkers and to the left by a small pond, which also adds to the aesthetic of the short par-3 4th and its small green surrounded by a trio of bunkers.

Most of the front nine is relatively flat though seven of the last 10 holes feature striking elevation changes, beginning at the straight mid-length par-4 9th.

Longer hitters must decide whether to lay back to the wide part of the fairway or take driver and challenge the large gum tree which obstructs the left side of the landing area. A bold, straight drive will leave a short downhill approach to a narrow green flanked left and right by bunkers.

Arguably the most challenging hole is the long dogleg right par-4 12th where tall gums on the inside of the hole make cutting the corner extremely difficult.

Doglegs are common at Bairnsdale with nine of its holes featuring pronounced changes in direction.

If you’re afraid of bunkers, you probably won’t excel here because every hole has at least one.

The back nine is the pick of the two halves and perhaps the most notable elevation change is at the par-5 13th. Stretching to 503 metres and flanked on the right from tee-to-green by open farmland, the out of bounds threat looms large. A good tee shot will come to rest on one of the highest points of the course and leave a downhill approach with a stunning view of Eagle Point Bay in the distance. The 13th also features a pair of cross bunkers much closer to the green and a hollow just short of the putting surface which gathers more than its fair share of golf balls.

The 3rd, 4th and 13th were made more memorable by the new bunkering and green complexes they received as part of Bairnsdale’s master plan provided by acclaimed golf course designer, Graeme Grant.

“It does feel like you’re playing a Sandbelt golf course, certainly on those holes,” Graham said.

While parts of the front nine feel constrained in terms of space, there’s more room to move on the inward half.

Doglegs are the order of the day across the Bairnsdale layout. PHOTO: Henry Peters.

The 16th – stretching to 415 metres – is the longest par-4 at Bairnsdale and plays uphill with a blind tee shot. The wide fairway gets narrower the further you drive and as you walk over the crest of the hill, you’re confronted by the look and feel of the Sandbelt.

One of the most severe doglegs is saved for the par-5 finishing hole. The 18th features a flat tee shot to the top of a hill before the fairway bends sharply downhill and to the left. Long hitters might favour a 3-wood to avoid overshooting the fairway, while the downhill approach and open green entrance gives weekend warriors a genuine chance to finish with a flurry.

Under the current master plan, there aren’t any further green reconstructions planned in the next five years. It leaves you to wonder how much better the course could be if money was no object.

Improvements to bunkering and increasing fescue green surrounds are in the pipeline while major work to paths will be carried out to protect them from rain and the vast fleet of carts which traverse the course.

But the change with perhaps the most transformational potential is the possible addition of on-course accommodation.

Bairnsdale owns a large swathe of land to the west of its course and is conducting a feasibility study to determine not only where accommodation units could be built but what form they could take.

“That’ll define whether it’s luxury top end units or whether it’s RV carpark type stuff,” Graham said.

Graham says on-site accommodation would also strengthen Bairnsdale’s working relationship with tourist destinations including Metung Hot Springs – which has taken over Metung’s nine-hole golf course – and boost East Gippsland’s overall appeal as a golf destination.

“We’re keen to drive tourism to the region to play golf,” Graham said. “We’ve done our homework on primary golf tourism and what people want when they want to go play golf trips and it’s generally more than one course in a region.

“People will come out here and have holidays, we get a lot of tourists, but they’re not here just for golf. They might spend two weeks on the lakes and they might have one hit of golf in the meantime, which is different to say someone organising a golf trip to King Island where they only go specifically to play golf for two or three rounds.

“And when they do that, you’re talking about generally more than one course is played so you want to have a cluster of courses that are attractive for people to come along.

“And we’ll do that more if we’ve got accommodation.”

Graham said he was shocked by the lack of non-local golfers visiting Bairnsdale when he started as club General Manager in early 2018.

“We just had almost zero what I’d call ‘primary tourists’,” he said. “There was just practically none of them and not too many people in Melbourne know of Bairnsdale Golf Club although we got a good boost through COVID when the state was locked down. Our visitation numbers jumped by about 35 percent and we’ve held that number.

“I think what happened was they went back and told people how good Bairnsdale Golf Club is and we’ve had more visitation, so it has changed.”

With about 710 golf and bowls members at the time of writing, Bairnsdale counts itself as one of Victoria’s larger country golf clubs.

As is often the case with other regional clubs, volunteers are its lifeblood.

More than 100 people regularly volunteered their time to Bairnsdale throughout the pandemic to keep the club ticking along.

“The volume of support from the members and the community is tremendous. That’s the upside of being in the country. It’s a good positive club,” Graham said.

And with green fees of under $50 for 18 holes (and only $18 for juniors), a holiday in East Gippsland is not complete without a pitstop at Bairnsdale Golf Club.

FACT FILE

LOCATION: Paynesville Rd, Eagle Point, Victoria

CONTACT: (03) 5156 6252; (03) 5156 6847 (pro shop)

WEBSITE: www.bairnsdalegolf.com.au

DESIGNERS: Original designer unknown. Graeme Grant (2012).

PLAYING SURFACES: Bentgrass (greens), Santa Anna and Wintergreen couch (fairways, tees).

COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Craig Rimington.

PGA PROFESSIONAL: Matt Portelli.

GREEN FEE: $49 (18 holes, seven days).

MEMBERSHIP: The club has a large choice of membership categories to suit every golfer’s lifestyle. Check out the club’s website for more detail or to download the membership kit.

ACCOLADES: Golf Facility of the Year (Golf Australia) in 2015-16; two-time winner of the PGA of Australia’s ‘Regional Pro-Am of the Year’ award.