Melbourne’s incredible Sandbelt is a golfing region like no other anywhere in the world.
It is here, in the Victorian capital’s south-eastern suburbs, where you will find courses of great critical acclaim and international renown. Leading the way is Royal Melbourne with its East and West Courses, while Victoria Golf Club is across the road. A little further afield you will find Kingston Heath, Metropolitan, Commonwealth and Woodlands … just to name a few. They are all magnificent courses and home to equally impressive private golf clubs.
Sharing the neighbourhood with some of these iconic courses is Sandy Golf Links, which underwent a major transformation a handful of years ago and is today one of this country’s greatest examples of how high-quality and interesting, engaging public golf will always be successful in attracting people to this great sport.
Golf has been played across the course’s current site since 1946, after the local council purchased the land and then commissioned Vern Morcom to produce nine holes.
In 1928, Morcom began his 40-year reign as Kingston Heath head greenkeeper and during that time he also became a prolific course designer, overseeing the creation of 34 new courses as well as the remodelling or part design of another 55 layouts through to the mid-1960s.
The task of building Sandringham was close to Morcom’s heart. He was brought up in the Sandbelt, learning the ropes from his father, Mick – the renowned Royal Melbourne head greenkeeper – and observing the work of great designers like Dr Alister MacKenzie and Alex Russell. Less than 12 months after the end of World War II, the then-45-year-old Morcom had his chance to route a layout across the same sandy, rolling terrain he had grown so familiar with at neighbouring Royal Melbourne.
Today, Morcom’s design provides the “bones” of what is the stretch of holes from the 4th to the 9th, as well as the 11th, 13th, 14th and 15th holes. He oversaw the addition of three more holes in 1951 and another six to complete the 18 holes five years later. Except for some rebuilding on the back nine in the 1990s, Morcom’s design remained relatively unchanged for nearly seven decades.
However, most of the risk-and-reward elements to Morcom’s work were gradually lost over the years, as fairways began to narrow between the lines of ti-tree and occasional eucalypts, which was to the detriment of the design. Where Morcom had created a sweeping dogleg with enough width to encourage a choice of playing line, years of growth had left one option – stay out of the rough and do what you can to find the middle of the fairway. Sandringham had lost the public golf sensibility of Morcom’s original design intentions.
The first time I ever stepped onto the Sandringham course was during the Presidents Cup in 1998, when I parked my car somewhere in the middle of the 3rd fairway and wandered across Cheltenham Rd to Royal Melbourne. I had seen enough to warrant a return visit with my clubs.
A handful of rounds at Sandringham followed over the years before the 2011 Presidents Cup, when its fairways doubled as a car park once again. Sandringham’s opening hole was also converted into a practice range for the United States and International teams, which was a sign of things to come.
With each visit to play (and park), the course became tighter, leaving a lot less room for error on each hole. Lost balls in ti-tree were common for higher handicappers and casual golfers, which is a real no-no for a public course, while there was little strategy to engage and enthuse better players.
All that changed in May 2019 when work commenced on a $19 million redevelopment project which transformed Sandringham into the new home of Australian golf.
Funded by the Victorian Government in partnership with golf’s national body, Golf Australia, and Royal Melbourne, the now-branded Sandy Golf Links is home to the Australian Golf Centre.
Golf Australia, the PGA of Australia, Golf Victoria and the National High Performance Centre are based here, and there is a driving range, with each of the 30 bays complete with Top Tracer technology, as well as short game areas and a huge “Himalayas-style” putting green.
But the star of the show is the golf course.
Redesigned by acclaimed architect Mike Cocking from OCM (Ogilvy, Cocking and Mead) and rebuilt by Royal Melbourne’s course staff, Sandy Links reopened for play in November 2020. Despite the opening coming in between Covid-19 lockdowns, the accolades for the new course were immediate and loud.
The driving range covers what was the 1st and 9th holes of the original course. Cocking then crafted the remaining 16 holes into a shorter 18-hole routing, incorporating seven par-3s and 11 par-4s.
In essence, this par-65 covers the same sandy terrain as its more illustrious neighbour and Cocking has successfully drawn inspiration from aspects of Royal Melbourne to produce a wonderful layout.
OCM worked closely on the project with Royal Melbourne’s course superintendent, Richard Forsyth and used the same grasses – “Sutton’s Mix” bentgrass on greens and fescue for surrounds – which Royal Melbourne converted to nearly 20 years ago.
Sandy Links encapsulates everything that is fun and wonderful about Sandbelt golf. As Cocking says: “it represents a Sandbelt experience for the public.”
“The greens and bunkers definitely have that Sandbelt-like appearance and importantly they play similarly, too, with golfers having to decide from the tee the preferred side of the fairway to hit to in order to gain the best angle into the green,” Cocking said.
“Typically, a fairway bunker guards this approach, so even those new to the game start to understand the concept of risk and reward.”
Cocking said he didn’t look to copy particular holes from Royal Melbourne or any of the world-class courses nearby, but there were some holes which provided the inspiration for some of Sandy’s reworked holes.
“The double green at the 5th and 10th has a similar look and feel to the double green 8th and 16th at Kingston Heath,” Cocking said.
“Sandy’s downhill par-3 7th, which plays over similar terrain as the approach into the 3rd hole on Royal Melbourne’s West course, definitely has hallmarks of that famous green, with the fallaway tilted putting surface and valley in the approach. Meanwhile, the uphill par-3 16th pays homage to the lost 7th at Royal Melbourne, which was known as Mount Misery, and also borrows a little from the other famous uphill par-3 on the Sandbelt ... the 15th hole at Kingston Heath.”
The underlying concept of the redesign was to make it more strategic for better players and equally forgiving for beginners, casual players and high handicappers.
“The idea was to follow the simple rules of strategy, which the Sandbelt does so well, with width and angles,” Cocking said. “Fairways have been made wide both for strategy and to cater for the range of golfers who use the facility, with greens angled to reward play from one side of the fairway or the other. Bunkers around the greens and a scattering in the fairways reinforce this strategy.
“We did a lot of things so that the course doesn’t daunt anyone, but it’s also a great layout for lower handicappers, because to score well you probably need to attack it from the right spots.
“It is short enough [with two sets of tees, both comparatively short at less than 5,000 metres] that it’s playable for all, but a test for those who want to take it on using the width on offer.
“Really, it’s the perfect length for kids and beginners – both men and women – and those who are wanting to prolong their golf but who now find the big courses too tough.”
Some may assume a short, wide course would be a pushover for better players. Not so. Some of Australia’s top amateurs and professionals have played Sandy during the past few years and the official course record, at the time of writing, remains a hard-fought five-under 60 by long-time pro and Sandbelt expert Matt Griffin.
A round here is full of highlights, the first of which presents at the opening hole, a gentle par-4 that is stretched to 335 metres from the tips. I must declare a personal connection here. In the lead up to the re-opening of Sandy Links, the course’s management ran an online competition calling for people to name each of the holes. The opening hole has obviously been designed to get you into your round with little fuss. There are two bunkers staggered to the sides of a wide fairway and can be easily avoided, before hitting a short iron into a receptive green. Yours truly submitted the suggestion of “Away”, as in getting the field away and into their round with little to no fuss. And that name is on the scorecard today.
The first real taste of Sandbelt golf comes at the 150-metre par-3 2nd, known as “Sandpit”. The tee shot is played across flat terrain to a spectacular green complex with typically sprawling bunkers left and right of the angled putting surface, which is cut right to the lip of the sandy hazards.
My favourite hole at Sandy Links is the 305-metre dogleg right par-4 6th hole, which is appropriately named “Temptation”. A massive bunker stretches all the way down the right side, or inside of the dogleg, which begs the question of you on the tee: what line will you take with your tee shot over the sand? Bite off too much and you will have an awkward second shot from the bunker. Get the line right and you will be left with a simple pitch up the green to leave a realistic birdie chance.
Cocking has a knack for designing fantastic par-3s and all seven at Sandy Links offer something different. My favourite is the visually stunning downhill 12th, which, again, is appropriately named “High Tee”. While the drop from tee to green, some 155 metres away, is not too dramatic, you are afforded an unobscured view of all that lies ahead. The left of the wide, undulating green is stacked with bunkers – four in total of varying size – while a tee shot missing to the right is likely to find the lone bunker which cuts deep into the putting surface. What a wonderful one-shotter!
Elevating Cocking’s redesign to even greater heights is the set-up and generally high presentation of the course. Despite the heavy traffic of players across a golfing week, course superintendent Gerri O’Callaghan and her team provide beautifully manicured playing surfaces, with the greens and their surrounds being an absolute standout.
FACT FILE
LOCATION: Cheltenham Rd, Cheltenham, Victoria, 3192.
CONTACT: 0477 774 633.
WEBSITE: www.sandringham.golf
DESIGNERS: Vern Morcom (1946, 1951, 1956); OCM – Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Cocking and Ashley Mead (2020).
PLAYING SURFACES: Couch (fairways); Fescue (greens surrounds); Sutton’s Mix bentgrass (greens).
COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Gerri O’Callaghan.
PGA PROFESSIONALS: Chris Donovan, Mark Stephens, Zac Morwood, Dan Whyley.
GREEN FEES: $59.50 (18 holes, weekday, Bayside Council resident), $64.50 (weekend, Bayside Council resident); $62 (18 holes, weekday, Non Bayside Council resident), $67 (weekend, Non-Bayside Council resident).
MEMBERSHIPS: Sandy Golf Links is a public course and is home to the Sandringham Golf Club, which is affiliated with the Victorian Golf League. There is currently a waiting list to join.
Related Articles
Review: Bonville Golf Resort
Review: Mt Compass Golf Course
