A tick over 25 years ago, five-time Open Champion and prolific course designer Peter Thomson stood on a sand dune overlooking a vast area of grazing land on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. He liked what he saw. He would later proclaim the site as the “some of the finest golfing land to be found in Australia.”
Along with design partners Mike Wolveridge and Ross Perrett, Thomson was commissioned by the developers, Golf Australia Holdings, and the then-named Australian Golf Union to create the first of two planned courses for Moonah Links. Also included on the masterplan for the 196-hectare property in the golf-rich Cups region were state-of-the-art teaching and practice facilities as well as a resort and residential development.
By the time the Open Course was finished in 2001, the Australian Golf Union had changed its name to Golf Australia and Moonah Links was quickly named “The Home of Australian Golf.”
In its first handful of years after opening, Moonah Links gained a new owner in developer Paddy Handbury and hosted two Australian Open Championships – 2003 and 2005 – across the layout Thomson would later refer to as a “Leviathan” and “a mighty and ferocious test of golfing ability, the likes of which even the top pros only occasionally experience.”
Designed specifically to test the game’s best players contesting our national championship, the Open Course was originally lambasted by some as being too hard for the average player. However, if the course is played from the correct tees to suit a player’s ability, the Open course is an enjoyable excursion across some of the best golfing land in the country.
The course has been routed over, through and around rolling sand dunes that undoubtedly took Mother Nature hundreds, if not, thousands of years to create.
For the average golfer, the Open Course provides a stiff, but fair, challenge. It also gives them the chance to follow in the footsteps of some great current Australian players like Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby, Peter Lonard, Adam Scott and Stuart Appleby – an opportunity that is difficult to come by given the Open has traditionally been played on private courses like Royal Melbourne, Royal Sydney or The Australian.
The peninsula is prone to being buffeted by strong winds and the Open Course really bares its teeth on such days. But the strength of the challenge here is the enjoyable aspect of any round across the Open Course’s fairways. You know if you can play to your handicap here you have indeed played well.
A short pitch from the 1st tee is a bronze sculpture of Thomson, who is perfectly positioned to observe golfers as they begin their rounds.
The par-4 opening hole is relatively short by modern standards, but it demands precision from the tee. Measuring 339 metres from the tips, players need to skirt the fairway trap on the right to give themselves the best possible line into an elevated green, which is surrounded by ancient Moonah trees and guarded by one of Thomson’s trademark pot bunkers.
Three similar sandy hazards flank the picturesque 5th green – arguably one of the most challenging par-3s on the entire Peninsula – which sits 174 metres from the championship markers. Club choice here is pivotal and is made more difficult by the prevailing southerly winds blowing diagonally from behind and the left. Any tee shot landing short of the raised, bentgrass putting surface will trickle back into a valley, while missing the green left or right will leave a testing bunker shot, which is something you will encounter on most holes on the Open Course.
There are more than 80 bunkers scattered across the Open Course but arguably the toughest hole on the layout has no sand at all. From the tips, the par-4 6th measures 449 metres and follows a valley between dunes left and right as it gradually rises to the green. On a calm day the 6th green is a strong drive and a long- or mid-iron away but as the hole runs in a south-westerly direction, into the prevailing wind, it becomes a real brute when there is any hint of a breeze. During the final round of the 2005 Australian Open, few players could reach the green here, but Rod Pampling was successful in launching two full-blooded drivers into the middle of the putting surface.
That is the last hole where you won’t have to fashion a bunker escape.
There is plenty of work to be done to try and avoid the sand on the 428-metre 8th hole.
RIGHT: Pick your playing line wisely on the par-5 18th hole of the Open Course. PHOTO: Brendan James.
The thought-provoking par-4 begins with an elevated tee shot overlooking three, cavernous fairway bunkers that will force some players to the edges of the fairways. The sand can be avoided by taking less than driver, of course, but doing so will leave plenty of work to find the raised green and also brings the traps short of the putting surface into play.
Another quality, risk-reward offering awaits at the par-5 15th hole. The bunker-riddled, 491-metre journey can be completed from tee-to-green in two powerful shots, so long as players successfully navigate their way around nine deep bunkers, many of which are in the middle of the fairway.
It is a similar story on the closing hole – a 582-metre par-5 – which is a minefield of bunkers. There are 11 cavernous pits strategically placed in the fairway between the tee and green. The fairway has also been crafted so that the contouring actually feeds rolling balls towards some of the bunkers so players must hit well clear of them to stay on the short grass.
The finishing touches were still being made to the Open Course in 2000 when a parade of course designers visited the site to look at the adjoining land earmarked for Moonah Links’ second course.
The design firms of Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Ben Crenshaw and Englishman Donald Steele all pitched for the job alongside Thomson, Wolveridge and Perrett but it was TWP that was chosen to create what we know today as the Legends Course.
The Legends, the first Australian design of Ross Perrett, opened for play three years after the adjoining Open layout, and within a year it had found a place – alongside the adjoining Open Course – in Australia’s Top-100 Courses ranking. Both courses now host the Victorian PGA Championship on the Australasian PGA Tour.
Having successfully fulfilled the brief to design a course that would complement the brutish Open layout, Perrett’s Legends Course would ultimately fall more into favour with visitors and has regularly ranked higher than the Open Course.
Although the 1st tee of the Legends course is no more than a 7-iron shot from the 18th green of the Open course, it heads out across a vastly different landscape.
The Legends opens with a series of almost parkland-style holes that rise and fall through valleys and in between long and dense stretches of ancient Moonah trees. The high ground off to the sides of these fairways has largely been filled with houses overlooking the course.
The course then takes on a new complexion as the ancient Moonah trees thin out and wild, rugged bunkering, high sand dunes alongside gently rolling fairways give rise to a links-style course.
Very little earth was moved in the creation of the Legends Course, which gives the impression it has been here for decades. Perrett did a wonderful job in routing the course to follow the roll of the land, sticking to the low ground wherever possible, while the aforementioned bunkering is not only visually intimidating, but it adds to the visual appeal of the layout.
An interesting feature of the course is its celebration of past Australian Open champions. Each hole has been named after a winner of the championship, with the likes of Tom Watson (3rd hole), Greg Norman (4th), Arnold Palmer (6th) Jack Nicklaus (7th) and Gary Player (9th) all represented.
One of the most enjoyable attributes of the Legends Course is the variety of holes and strategies required to play them well. The par-5s are all different and each demands a different approach depending on the wind strength and direction as well as the boldness of your play. This can be best seen on the 495-metre par-5 9th hole where the shortest line to the green is down the right half of the fairway but this route is also the most treacherous. Eight bunkers line the right edge of the fairway, which follows a valley between rows of mounds to reach the green set in an amphitheatre created by high, deep grass-covered dunes. With the prevailing wind pushing in from the right, the 9th calls for smart play not brute strength to better par.
One of the best short par-4s on the peninsula follows at the 272-metre 11th. Named after the great South African golfer Bobby Locke, the 11th is reachable from the tee for long-hitters, but the wind conditions must be conducive. Any hint of a southerly breeze will certainly be tempting enough to take the driver here but there are four penal bunkers to clear with the shot to reach the sanctuary of the green. With a wide fairway lying to the left of the sand traps, the conservative play is a long iron from the tee and a short iron approach to set up a birdie opportunity.
The par-3 16th is another fun hole and has been named after 1936 Australian Open Champion and seven-time major winner, Gene Sarazen. The hole plays 185 metres downhill to the largest green in the southern hemisphere, which makes club selection all the more difficult when the prevailing south-westerly is blowing. The gigantic, undulating putting surface has been left bunkerless, so the challenge here is determined by the wind and/or pin position.
The standard of presentation on the Legends and Open Courses has improved to a level rivalling what it was when Moonah Links gained a reputation for having some of the best playing surfaces in the country.
FACT FILE
LOCATION: Peter Thomson Drive, Fingal, Victoria.
CONTACT: (03) 5988 2047 (pro shop); (03) 5988 2000 (resort).
WEBSITE: www.moonahlinks.com.au
DESIGNERS: Peter Thomson, Mike Wolveridge and Ross Perrett (Open Course 2001); Ross Perrett (Legends Course 2004).
PLAYING SURFACES: A1 bentgrass (greens); Santa Ana couch (fairways, tees).
COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Kyle Wilson.
GREEN FEES: October to April, $125 (18 holes), $250 (all day play); May to September $110 (18 holes), $220 (all day play).
MEMBERSHIPS: Moonah Links offers unlimited playing rights on both courses through its Silver Medallion program. There is no upfront purchase, and the annual subscription is $3,792, which includes discounted motorised carts and guest green fees, unlimited use of practice facilities and range balls. Check the website for further entitlements.
ACCOMMODATION: Peppers Moonah Links Resort has 70 deluxe rooms and suites, all with balconies and terraces overlooking the courses. All Open Rooms overlook the 1st fairway of the Open Course with a large private terrace, open plan living area, and a deep freestanding bath and rain shower.
ACCOLADES: Moonah Links Legends Course was ranked No.44 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Courses for 2024. The Open Course climbed to No.64. Both courses are also ranked in Australia’s Top-100 Public Access Courses for 2023.
Related Articles
Review: Bonville Golf Resort
Review: Mt Compass Golf Course
