Queensland’s Gold Coast boasts more attractions and venues than any other destination in the southern hemisphere and it’s also easy to adopt the laid-back local lifestyle with more than 70 kilometres of beaches and 100,000 hectares of world heritage-listed rainforest never far away.
PALMER COLONIAL GC
Much like the entire Gold Coast region, water is the major talking point at Palmer Colonial Golf Club. The course initially known as Paradise Springs and later Colonial has been under the ownership of Queensland businessman Clive Palmer since 2011.
One must wonder, what came first for the Japanese course designer Mitsuaki Kobayashi – the water hazards or the holes?
Given all the lakes and ponds at Palmer Colonial are man-made and water hazards can be found on 16 of the layout’s 18 holes, you can figure what Kobayashi’s answer might be.
Kobayashi transformed flat uninteresting cow paddocks into an easy-walking course with fairways flanked by towering eucalypts or a lake.
At 6,424 metres from the tips, this par-72 is certainly no shrinking violet and, combined with the water hazards, Palmer Colonial represents a good, enjoyable challenge for both casual and better players.
Of note are the high quality par-4s, with the best of them being the 355-metre 15th hole, which features a dogleg right fairway wrapping around the edge of a lake. On the tee, players must choose their driving line over the edge of the lake and select the appropriate club. A drive too far to the left will run through the fairway and among the tall gum trees, leaving a tricky approach into a well-bunkered green.
Green fees: $119.50 (18 holes with cart & merchandise pack), $69.50 (walking).
Website: www.palmergolf.com.au
PALMER GOLD COAST
A short drive (about seven minutes) away is Palmer Colonial’s sister course, Palmer Gold Coast, which was known as Robina Woods until billionaire Palmer assumed ownership and control of both clubs.
“… The designers got maximum bang for their creative buck from every sliver of land made available to them.”
To fully appreciate Graham Marsh and Ross Watson’s feat in designing this layout, do a Google map search for Palmer Gold Coast. This will give you a clear insight into how the designers got maximum bang for their creative buck from every sliver of land made available to them.
Admittedly, many of the residential areas backing onto the layout had not been built when the course was constructed and opened for play in 1989. But Marsh and Watson knew the course would have to be spread far and wide to fit single holes in between rows of then planned housing. The result is a course that offers a great variety of holes and presents golfers the challenge of using every club in the bag to try and better their handicap … or par.
Green fees: $119.50 (18 holes with cart & merchandise pack), $69.50 to $79.50 (walking).
Website: www.palmergolf.com.au
SOUTHPORT GC
Measuring just 5,816 metres from the tips, Southport is not a long par-71. It is an easy walking layout where defence of its par comes from tight driving lines on heavily tree-lined fairways punctuated by well-placed bunkers and numerous ponds and lakes.
The back nine might be significantly shorter than the front nine with an inward par of 34, but it certainly plays harder. With three par-5s on the outward half, there is always a chance of establishing a good score by the time you have reached the turn. The trick at Southport is maintaining that level of achievement en route back to the clubhouse.
Southport is a private club but there are some tee times made available for social play on most Mondays, Fridays and Sundays.
Green fees: $90 (18 holes).
Website: www.southportgolfclub.com.au
THE GRAND GC
The last time the Australian Open was played in the Sunshine State, it was in the Gold Coast Hinterland in 2001 at the then relatively new Greg Norman and Bob Harrison-designed The Grand Golf Club.
A decade earlier, the $30 million course was almost ready for play, while the clubhouse was ready to go. The Japanese owners opened the club for one day before shutting the doors, unable to finance the daily operations of the course. The layout lay idle for five years before a syndicate of Gold Coast businessmen, all keen golfers, negotiated to buy the site and establish The Grand as the Gold Coast’s most exclusive golf club.
Norman and Harrison were re-commissioned to upgrade the design. The greens were rebuilt, bunkers were added and some fairways were altered before the course was ready to go again. In October 1997, Norman officially opened the course and just four years later Stuart Appleby won the Open there.
The layout covers very good golfing terrain that gives rise to many memorable holes, while the playing surfaces are beautifully manicured. However, the only way a golfing visitor to the Gold Coast will experience these delights is if they know a member.
Green fees: N/A
Website: www.thegrandgolfclub.com.au
BURLEIGH GC
When Burleigh Golf Club was established in the early-1950s, it was surrounded by thick bushland. And although the past 60-plus years have seen suburbia replace the bush, the course remains an oasis in the ‘burbs.
The routing at Burleigh has not changed in more than half a century but in recent times most of the greens and bunkers have been rebuilt to modern standards. The landscape will soon change with the development of The Verge retirement village overlooking the course.
Burleigh boasts two distinct nines. The front nine covers wonderful undulating land where tees and greens are perched on the highest points of the course and approach shots are played from a wide variety of lies. There is good elevation change on several holes of the back nine but it is the tight driving lines of the dogleg holes across the easy walking stretches of the layout that provide a point of the difference to the outward half.
Burleigh is a private club but visitor tee times are available Monday, Tuesday and Sunday mornings.
Green fees: $40 (18 holes Monday); $60 (Tuesday and Sunday).
Website: www.burleighgolfclub.com.au
PALM MEADOWS GC
When Palm Meadows infamously closed in 2010, it was the end of a nearly two-decade fall from grace as one of this country’s celebrated tournament venues.
Having hosted the likes of Greg Norman, Ray Floyd, Curtis Strange, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam in the Palm Meadows Cup for five years from 1988, the gates were closed on the Graham Marsh and Ross Watson-designed layout and the course was seemingly left to die a natural death.
But the course reopened a few months later under new leaseholders, Gold Coast Golf Management, which has successfully overseen nearly eight years of consistent improvement. Having dropped off national ranking lists for several years, it returned to Golf Australia’s Top-100 Public Access Courses in 2013 at No.78. In January this year it had risen to No.52. According to our judges, it’s simply a case of consistently better presentation complementing what has always been an enjoyable design.
The iconic 18th is by far the best-known hole: A huge dogleg-right par-5 that requires at least one water carry for every golfer and two for those taking the brave line from the tee. It’s a hole that never fails to get the pulse racing regardless of the conditions or the calibre of your play.
Green fees: $79 (weekdays inc. cart), $89 (weekends); $45 (twilight, inc. cart).
Website: www.palmmeadows.com.au
COOLANGATTA & TWEED HEADS GC
Located on the western bank of the beautiful Tweed River and on a 101-hectare wild life reserve, Coolangatta and Tweed Heads offers a memorable golfing experience that has been more than 80 years in the making.
The West Course is marginally longer than its River Course neighbour and, over the years, it has become a much tighter layout with the maturing of trees, although the ground staff does a terrific job to make sure the playing lines are kept relatively clear and don’t compromise the quality of the design.
Both courses have undergone upgrades in recent years, including bunker and green renovations (grass conversions and redesigns), to elevate their quality.
On the West Course, the putting surfaces were converted from bentgrass to TifEagle, with several greens being reshaped and made bigger during the conversion. These greens now more closely resemble the TifGreen 328 greens on the River Course, which were changed from bentgrass nearly two decades ago.
All these changes have seen both courses elevated significantly in the national rankings, with the West Course No.77 and the River Course No.66 in Golf Australia’s Top-100 Public Access Courses ranking in 2019. The continued improvement program will see further rises for both layouts.
Green fees: $30 (18 holes, Monday and Tuesday); $46 (Wednesday to Sunday). Bookings are certainly recommended.
Website: www.cooltweedgolf.com.au
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