Victoria’s High Country and the adjoining Goulburn Valley region are perhaps the least known of the state’s golfing destinations, despite the number of easily accessible and affordable courses on offer.
One such hole is the 334-metre par-4 7th where the straight heavily tree-lined fairway dips and rolls through a small depression before rising again to the small bentgrass-covered green. The challenge here is avoiding the long branches of a huge Red gum – just short and right of the green – that reach into the fairway with seemingly only one thing in mind … catching your approaching ball.
A picturesque 25-minute drive southeast of Euroa will have you in the car park of the Strathbogie Golf Club, which celebrates its centenary this year.
The town has a population of around 300. There’s a general store with a café, a war memorial and the golf club, which boasts a small but passionate membership who voluntarily look after the course like it is their own.
The club, particularly in recent times, has benefitted from the incredible generosity of several Melbourne clubs, who have provided second-hand machinery and turf as well as architectural and agronomic advice.
So, bearing this in mind, don’t turn up to play Strathbogie expecting perfectly manicured fairways. Golf here is raw. It is what you might expect if perhaps magically transported back to the game’s formative years. Like me, you might even find a small flock of sheep wandering aimlessly across the 6th fairway having escaped through the fence from an adjoining paddock to gnaw on a better-quality couch grass.
In saying all that, the putting surfaces and immediate surrounds at Strathbogie are good and the fairways aren’t bad to hit off, which is a tip of the hat to the club’s volunteers. What is impressive is the routing, which takes full advantage of its undulating location in the Strathbogie Ranges.
The current course only dates back to the 1980s when the club was forced to move across the road from its original home of more than 65 years. Wangaratta-based golf professional, clubmaker and course designer Dick Pendlebury staked out the new layout, although some holes were later redesigned by Commonwealth Golf Club professional Bill Edgar.
To Edgar’s credit, three of Strathbogie’s best holes – the 15th, 16th and 17th – are his design work. The 127-metre par-3 17th is a beauty with the challenge belying its diminutive stature. The hole is played across the side of a hill with the green terraced into the slope. A miscued tee shot to the right here and your ball could bound tens of metres down the hill and well away from the elevated green.
Pendlebury’s best work remains his design at the Jubilee Golf Club, a leisurely 75-minute drive northeast from Strathbogie to the western outskirts of Wangaratta.
Like so many of the courses featured here, Jubilee began as a sand scrape course and, after three decades of play, moved to its present location in 1963. English-born Pendlebury oversaw the routing and construction of the layout across the foothill of a range through Warby-Ovens National Park. It is a beautiful location and Pendlebury took full advantage of the hillside terrain to provide challenging golf as well as outstanding views. There are several holes that offer strong doses of both, but the 475-metre par-5 5th hole is, for mine, the best of them all.
The long, snaking fairway is one of the highest on the course providing great views towards the distant Great Dividing Range where snow covers the peaks in winter. The undulating fairway has two gentle doglegs that lead to an elevated two-tiered green protected by a bunker front right. Wild hitting golfers can run into trouble here if they spray their second shot too far left toward a large dam.
Pendlebury’s design is very good and was a real surprise to this first-time visitor to the course. I was just as impressed with presentation of the fairways (the club is in the process of converting all to Santa Ana couch) and the bentgrass greens. It blows the mind a little to think this course is prepared by two full-time greens staff with the help of volunteers.
Jubilee is one of two courses to be found in Wangaratta, with the oldest club to be found just eight minutes’ drive closer to town.
Wangaratta Golf Club covers rolling terrain north of town and beside the Yarrawonga Rd heading north towards the Murray River holiday haven.
The club dates back to 1906 when it was laid out on the grounds of the historic Waldara Homestead, which later became the clubhouse before being sold by the club in 2020. Further, a trio of holes were also sold to developers and the land used for a residential development that has helped finance the construction of a new clubhouse, an undercover driving range, which is operational 24 hours a day, and three new holes.
One of those new holes opens the round at Wangaratta and it has easily lived up to expectations as a strategic starter. The 256-metre par-4 appears fairly straightforward as you stand on the tee but a lake to the right pinches well into the fairway, narrowing the hole significantly, unless you are brave enough to try and hit a long tee shot beyond the edges of the hazard. If successful, this will leave a short pitch into the upturned saucer shaped green and a chance at an opening birdie.
Heading southeast out of town leads you through rich wine-growing areas and on toward Victoria’s Alpine high country via Myrtleford, about 40 minutes’ drive from Wangaratta.
Myrtleford Golf Club is situated in the Ovens Valley along the Barwidgee Creek and is surrounded by hills of covered by dense native bush. Some holes offer picturesque views of Mt. Buffalo, while others are lined by massive River gums that date back hundreds of years.
The creek, which is apparently rich with trout, lies left of the fairway on the 400-metre par-4 15th hole. Rated the hardest hole on the course, the tee shot here must find the left half of the fairway – flirting with the stream – to enjoy a shorter, more direct line into the green for the second shot. really only comes into play on one hole.
Myrtleford is a little-known gem where $35 will get you an entertaining and challenging 18 holes played on nicely presented couch fairways and bentgrass greens, with scenic mountain views. It would be great value for money at twice the price.
Continuing your ascent into the mountains via the Great Alpine Way will, after about 25 minutes, lead you to Bright Country Golf Club at the foot of the Victorian Alps.
The club dates to 1909 and for decades golf was played across the steep, privately owned land in the area. But a new home on generally flat land for the club was established and the first nine holes opened for play in 1989. The remaining holes opened within three years.
Designed by Tony Cashmore – who created The Dunes and Thirteenth Beach’s Beach and Creek layouts – the course covers land that was a pine plantation for many years before it was wiped out by a massive bushfire in the early 1980s. Cashmore has produced a high-country gem where the golf is as memorable as the surrounding alpine views.
Venture a little further into the hills and you will find Mt Beauty Golf Club, a windy 40-minute drive away. Forget the windy, mountain drive … it’s worth it as this place is beauty by name, beauty by nature.
Of all the courses featured on this high-country road trip, this par-72 features the most dramatic elevation changes as you navigate holes laid out across beautiful rolling terrain wedged between the base of Mt Beauty and the village that shares its name. Then there are the magnificent views from most holes to Mt Bogong – Victoria’s highest mountain at 1,986 metres – and West Peak.
One such hole is the 2nd, a challenging 341-metre par-4 where finding the left half of the fairway is a must and then you must take enough club to successfully carry your ball all the way up the hill to the green. Playing this hole in winter or very early spring brings out the best in the view with snow covering the peaks in the distance beyond the green.
The hole I liked the most was the all-or-nothing 141-metre par-3 17th. By all-or-nothing I mean the green is terraced into the side of a steep hill, and any miscued shot to the right of the putting surface will bound away back down the slope leaving a blind, uphill pitch to the small green. The conversative play is to aim to the left edge of the green so even a slightly offline tee shot will land safely or get a helpful kick towards the flag.
WHERE TO PLAY
SHEPPARTON GC
Green fee: $45 (18 holes, seven days).
MOOROOPNA GC
Green fee: $40 (18 holes, seven days).
HILL TOP G&CC
Green fee: $40 (18 holes, seven days).
EUROA GC
Green fee: $30 (18 holes, seven days).
STRATHBOGIE GC
Green fee: $30 (per day).
JUBILEE GC
Green fee: $40 (18 holes, seven days).
WANGARATTA GC
Green fee: $30 (18 holes, seven days).
MYRTLEFORD GC
Green fee: $35 (18 holes, seven days).
BRIGHT CGC
Green fee: $45 (18 holes, seven days).
MT BEAUTY GC
Green fee: $35 (per day).
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