The founding members of Cobram Golf Club could never have envisioned their humble nine-hole sand scrape course would one day expand to become a massive rolling 36-hole complex.
That it would host big tournaments offering, to them, unthinkable amounts of prizemoney. Furthermore, their beloved course would not even be in Victoria, but would be north of the Murray River in the neighbouring town of Barooga.
Not in their wildest dreams.
But that is exactly how the past 112 years have panned out for the Murray River club, which is today one of the major destination golf clubs to be found along the mighty river.
The club was first established in 1912 on land occupied today by Cobram Primary School. There were several moves following World War I before the decision was made to search for good golfing land on the New South Wales side of the river. They eventually found it and the first balls were struck across the new Barooga course in April 1928.
It was a move that would, decades later, prove to be the making of the club and not just because the course was routed on better land.
Within a few years the course was expanded to 18 holes with long-time Victoria Golf Club professional Alf Findlay adding nine holes to the original nine set out on Barooga Station by the early membership.
But there was to be one more major move in the early 1950s when the club purchased its own land and commissioned Vern Morcom – the long-time curator at Kingston Heath, who was also a prolific course designer throughout Victoria – to create their new layout, which opened for play in 1955 and is known today as the Old Course.
The following year, New South Wales became the first Australian state to permit poker machines in registered clubs. Cobram Barooga Golf Club was sitting on a potential gold mine, little more than a kilometre north of the border.
The installation of the club’s first poker machine on trial generated significant income, and led to the club’s dream of watered fairways, grass greens, and a year-round golfing season to become a reality. In the decades that followed, busloads of cashed up Victorian punters, as well as a golfing membership that had swelled to more than 3000, would provide the club with enough of a financial windfall that, in 1980, more land was purchased. One of Australia’s finest ever amateur golfers, Kevin Hartley, was then engaged to design a new layout, known as the West Course, which had all 18 holes in play by 1987.
I first played at Cobram Barooga in 1989 and was a regular visitor during the 1990s when I believe the focus of the club shifted more towards ramping up the appeal of its golf courses. After all, Victoria had legalised poker machines in 1991 and the stream of buses carrying punting day-trippers had all but dried up.
The golf club amalgamated with the neighbouring Barooga Sports Club in 2009, which ultimately led to the clubhouse relocating to the Sporties Club precinct in 2020 and, with that, came the most significant design changes to Morcom’s Old Course since 1965 when the greens were converted from sand to bentgrass.
The Old Course has been renumbered and many holes redesigned by course architect Ben Davey (Contour Golf Design) as part of the clubhouse’s relocation.
There also appears to have been a vegetation program implemented to lose some non-native trees amongst the majestic Red gums and widen the playing lines on several holes that had been hemmed in after years of unchecked tree growth. Part of this ‘opening up’ of the Old Course has led to mowing lines being altered as well as the incorporation of more areas of short grass connecting greens with tees as well as adjoining fairways, not unlike what you find throughout the Melbourne Sandbelt.
An Old Course round now starts a short walk from the clubhouse across Golf Course Rd. This ‘paddock’ is home to the opening five holes of the Old Course and the adjoining West Course. The first five holes are a challenging introduction, with the 386-metre 2nd being the sternest test of them all. The tee shot is blind over the crest of a hill, which is slightly higher on the left of the dogleg right hole. Once over the hill, correct club selection is paramount for the approach into an elevated green lying beyond a deep and wide bunker carved out of the upslope.
The Old Course has a great collection of par-3s and two of the best – which have changed very little since Morcom signed off on his design here – are played within the first five holes.
The 3rd stretches to 192 metres from the tips and is played to a green that lies diagonally to your approach and features a bunker short right. This is definitely one tee shot that favours the right-hander with a little fade.
Then there is the diminutive 5th hole, which is a slightly uphill journey of 130 metres with one large bunker short left and another two on the right of the putting surface. The green sits perched on a hill and is almost like an upturned saucer with slopes ready to push your ball away from the centre of the green.
Having played the 5th, you head back across Golf Course Rd for the remaining 13 holes. This is where you will find all the recent design changes, which have added more depth to the quality of Morcom’s original creation and undoubtedly led to the Old Course re-entering Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Public Access Courses ranking in 2021 and then improving a further four places to sit at No.90 in 2023.
“The redesign work on the Old Course has grown in and enhanced a round here,” Top-100 judge Scott Matthews said. “The new 18th, a short par-4 that offers a semi-blind tee shot, is memorable as is the driveable old 1st hole, which sits better within the re-routing as the 16th. Both holes create a wonderful climax to the round where anything can happen, depending on your willingness to be aggressive from the tee.”
The Old Course has been the host of the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Webex Players Series Murray River since 2022, with New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori claiming this year’s title previously won by Sarah Jane Smith (2023) and major champion Hannah Green (2022). So, it should be no surprise the condition of its playing surfaces is also very good. The Old Course has bentgrass greens and a mix of common couch and wintergreen fairways, with plans to convert all fairways to the latter. All have benefited from the installation of an automated irrigation system in mid-2023.
Across the road, Hartley’s West Course was created in a different era to the Old Course so it’s not surprising it offers a different experience. The greens are bigger, but the penalties for missing these targets are also more unforgiving.
A round on the West has, in recent years, become increasingly a test of accuracy from tee to green, with many of the trees planted during just after construction now reaching their 30th year and filling out the edges of many holes.
For mine, the West Course back nine, with tight driving holes weaving between plenty of bunkers and several large water hazards, might be the most challenging stretch of holes to be found on the entire property. For example, the par-3s – the 162-metre 13th and the lakeside 16th at 183 metres – are both demanding of good club selection and solid ball-striking to avoid compiling a significant number of strokes.
Like so many layouts at 36-hole facilities, the West Course’s reputation would be enhanced if it wasn’t adjoining the highly acclaimed Old Course. Locate it anywhere else and it would step into its own spotlight as a challenging and interesting layout.
FACT FILE
LOCATION: Cnr Burkinshaw and Golf Course Rd, Barooga, NSW.
CONTACT: (03) 5873 4372 (pro shop); (03) 5873 4304 (club).
WEBSITE: www.cbgc.com.au
DESIGNERS: Old Course – Vern Morcom (1955), Ben Davey – Contour Golf Design (2020). West Course – Kevin Hartley (1987).
PLAYING SURFACES: Old Course – Bentgrass (greens), common couch and wintergreen couch (fairways). West Course – Bentgrass (greens), Legend couch (fairways).
COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Terry Vogel.
GREEN FEES: Summer, autumn and spring, $55 (18 holes, Monday to Thursday), $60 (Friday to Sunday); Winter, $50 (18 holes, Monday to Thursday), $55 (Friday to Sunday).
MEMBERSHIPS: Full golf membership – and a new category for people living outside 30km from the course – are currently open. Check the website for further details.
STAY & PLAY PACKAGES: Cobram Barooga offers a range of seasonal stay and play weekday and weekend packages including golf, accommodation, breakfasts and in-house meal credits. The Winter package from June 1 to August 31 offers all of the above for two people, minimum two nights, for $145 per person per night. Book your stay via the website.
ACCOLADES: Cobram Barooga’s Old Course was ranked No.90 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Public Access Courses for 2023.
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