It begins as a trickle in the Australian Alps and winds northwest forming the border between NSW and Victoria before flowing into South Australia then heading south and, ultimately, out to sea.
A 10-minute drive back into town and north across the river will have you pulling into the car park of the Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort, which has 45 holes – the 18-hole Lake and Murray Courses as well as a short nine-hole Executive Course – making it one of the largest publicly accessible golf complexes in the southern hemisphere.
It’s actually hard to imagine this massive expanse of golf course landscape, club and accommodation buildings was a dairy farm a century ago.
Nearly 110 acres of dairy farming land was purchased in 1926 and nine holes were laid out and ready for play within 12 months. The course was extended to 18 holes within the next 20 years ... and it has been growing ever since.
In 1957, course architect Sam Berriman, who designed great Victorian layouts like Horsham and Keysborough, was commissioned to create a new 18-hole layout. Nearly 25 years later, designers Peter Thomson and Mike Wolveridge added another nine before completing their 18 holes five years later.
The Murray course, designed by Thomson and Wolveridge, is, in my opinion, one of the best layouts you will find anywhere along the Murray and is ranked No.50 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Public Access Courses in the country.
Huge river gums dominate the flood basin landscape and natural lagoons border many of the fairways. The first four holes lead you to the north bank of the river and the best of these holes is the 360-metre 3rd. It is a terrific par-4 with a wide landing zone from the tee, but the best line into the green is from the right half of the fairway as trees can obscure your view from the left. A billabong cutting into the fairway lies short of the kidney-shaped green, which is also protected by two bunkers, ensuring you think hard about your approach shot club selection.
The Lake Course – ranked No.69 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Public Access Courses – is a contrasting design to its Murray neighbour. It is more open but still features some big gums, lakes and plenty of bunkers. This course incorporates some older-style design holes with new holes created by Thomson and Wolveridge.
It is one of the old Berriman-designed holes that you will get your heart racing as you near the turn. The 283-metre par-4 8th is a picturesque hole that is dominated by a lake that is easily reachable from the elevated tee. This pretty hazard also comes into play for the wedge approach to the smallish green.
While water dominates at the 8th, it is sand that will be your curse at the 322-metre par-4 15th. This is a classic Thomson and Wolveridge-designed hole with the strategic use of bunkers, on the fairway and around the green, as well as mounding. The fairway narrows in the landing area with three bunkers and a small mound presenting problems. The second shot is to an elevated green nestled between four bunkers and several mounds. Standing down on the fairway it is a great sight - bunkers cut into the slope and hillocks defining the landscape behind the flag.
Off the course, the club has a myriad of facilities for resort guests to enjoy including great dining and bars, a health and fitness centre, croquet lawns, heated swimming pool, lawn bowls and a 60-seat cinema.
Cobram-Barooga Golf Club, 30 minutes’ drive west of Yarrawonga, is typical of the Murray River’s big resort courses in offering great golf and outstanding facilities.
The 36-hole complex, incorporating the Old and West Courses, is always presented well with the fairways having a good cover of couch and the bentgrass greens rolling true. The layout is built on sandy soil, which offers excellent drainage and dry conditions under foot year-round.
Both courses present differing challenges but, for mine, the more mature Vern Morcom-designed Old Course – the host of the PGA Tour of Australia’s TPS Murray River tournament won by Hannah Green earlier this year – is the pick of the two, as it places a real premium on good course management and equally good shot-making.
In recent times, the course has been renumbered and several holes redesigned by course architects Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford (Golf Strategies) as part of the clubhouse’s relocation to the adjoining Barooga Sports Club. These new holes have certainly added some depth to the quality of Morcom’s original creation.
What was the Old Course’s ‘iconic’ opening hole, now plays a pivotal role in the final run to the clubhouse. The 239-metre par-4 16th is a real ‘sleeper’. It may be short but it can certainly be the unravelling of a player, looking to make a birdie late in the round. From the elevated tee it looks like you could throw the ball on the green, but it better be a straight ‘throw’. Huge pine trees line the fairway and surround the heavily bunkered green, with their low hanging limbs making a scrambling par a tough task.
Cobram-Barooga is a wonderful experience with enough variety, beautifully presented, to entice you back again and again. It’s worked for me.
Cobram-Barooga’s nearest golf course neighbour has long been regarded as one of the hidden gems among the Murray River courses.
But the Tocumwal Golf & Bowls Club – just 10 minutes’ drive to the north west – has grown increasingly popular with travelling golfers simply because of the variety of holes to be played and the high quality of its presentation. All of this has led to the club hosting major events, like the NSW Mid-Amateur Championship and the PGA of Australia’s national and various state Associate Professionals Championships.
Both courses have beautifully presented true rolling greens to be found at the end of gently undulating fairways of equally impressive Wintergreen couch.
The two 18-hole layouts are known as the President’s and Captain’s Courses.
The original layout was opened in 1956 and the creation of a second 18 holes, designed by Kevin Hartley, was opened for play in 1993. All of the holes have since been combined to mix the old with the new.
The majority of the President’s course is made up of holes that were built on land purchased from the RAAF in the early 1950s. During World War II, a 60 square kilometre area, including the site of both courses today, was commissioned by the U.S. Army Air Corps as part of its top-secret aerodrome. It was a heavy bomber base, prepared for an attempted Japanese invasion. At the height of the war, the complex was the largest of its kind in the Commonwealth, with 450 buildings and four runways.
The two holes that close a round on the President’s course are among the best Tocumwal has to offer.
The 355-metre par-4 17th is a terrific driving hole, it is the mid- or short-iron approach to the green that is the real test. There is little room for error as you fire through a narrow chute, created by towering river gums, to find the putting surface. If you can avoid the trees, and the three bunkers around the green, and you might just finish the round with a par or better.
One of the biggest course changes made at Tocumwal in recent years has been the introduction of a new 18th hole, after the construction of two bowling greens between the clubhouse and the course. The green complex of this 152-metre par-3 is a beauty. The figure-eight shaped putting surface is angled slightly to your approach, with bunkers skirting both sides of the green, and demands a top shelf tee shot to make a closing birdie.
There are a few routes to choose from when heading west from Tocumwal to Echuca and on to Moama. I’ve always taken the slightly longer route along the B400 to Echuca via Nathalia. Why?
I always make time to stop at Brereton’s Bakery in Nathalia. It’s an old school bakery with glass cabinets full of delicious goodies (think of the best cream bun you have ever had … they’ve got it) and the seductive smell of freshly baked bread filling the air. And the coffee is pretty good.
The anticipation of, and later satisfaction of devouring, the coffee and bags of baked goods make the 90-minute drive from Tocumwal to Echuca fly by.
From the historic city of Echuca, where paddle-steamers from a bygone era still ferry tourists up and down the river, it is just a short drive north across the NSW border to Moama and the Rich River Golf Club.
The club, too, has a rich history dating back more than 100 years when it was founded as the Echuca Golf Club on the banks of the Campaspe River some 15km south. In 1968, the course was extended to 18 holes and converted to grass greens.
But the club had a major problem. It would flood from time-to-time. From 1973 to 1975, it was flooded five times and a decision to move north of the border was made.
In 1976, 800 members of the Echuca Golf Club bought 300 acres of land near Echuca’s border twin town, Moama, at a cost of $80 per acre. The present-day site was selected because it was flood free and undulating enough to produce a quality layout.
Brothers, Geoff and Ted Parslow, were commissioned to design the layout (the current West course), which was officially opened in the 1979. The popularity of the layout and the club’s facilities led to a second course being built and the East Course was opened for play in 1988.
In 2019, the club began a major renovation of its East Course – being overseen by Thomson Perrett Golf Design (TP Golf) – which it hoped would ultimately return the layout to the Top-100 Public Access Courses ranking. After years on the outer, the East layout was ranked No.82 in 2021 and the expectation it will climb higher again in 2023.
The East Course differs greatly to the West Course. It is a more open, links-style layout that in recent times has seen fairways widened, some bunkers taken out of play and green complexes re-crafted. All the changes give the overall feeling that this is now a more strategic and fun course to play.
Some of the most noticeable changes to the East Course come late in the round. The green of the 144-metre par-3 16th has been moved left to hover above the edge of a lake.
At the next hole, the designers embraced the club’s desire to create more risk and reward during the round. The 346-metre 17th used to boast two routes to the green – a small alternate island fairway gave ‘gamblers’ a chance at hitting a short-iron second shot while the conservative route was to a fairway doglegging left around the large lake. The island has since been removed and the lake made larger, while the fairway has been widened and two greenside bunkers also taken out of play. From the tee, the key is to pick your line over the edge of the lake and commit to the shot. There is plenty of fairway to the right of the water but the temptation to take the water on is too much for many to avoid.
The West Course has mature tree lined fairways and smaller greens than its younger neighbour. Several new holes – including the 12th, 15 and 16th holes – have been created on the West Course in recent times as room was made for the construction of a mini-golf course adjoining the clubhouse.
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