Though with less PR than its New Zealand neighbor, Australia is the home of spectacular new courses - complemented by some of the world's classics, including Royal Melbourne and a series of heavyweights in the famed Melbourne Sandbelt. Who wins? Golf travelers, who get two fantastic and rising golf vacation destinations well worth the journey.
Australia golf vacations
Best golf vacation operators
Australia New Zealand Golf - a respected package provider based in New Zealand. Its US office can be reached at 1-800-622-6606
more coming soon...
Top Australia golf courses
Tasmania
Barnbougle Dunes; NE Tasmanian coast - a Tom Doak links golf masterpiece, World's Top 7 you can play and Top 35 overall
Melbourne Sandbelt and Mornington Peninsula
Royal Melbourne Golf Club; Melbourne, consistent Top 10 in the World and a classic, but updated Alister Mackenzie design
Kingston Heath Golf Club; Melbourne, Top 25 in World, open to International and Interstate visitors
The National Golf Club; Cape Schanck, spectacular 54-hole complex; private, but open weekdays for visitors
Moonah golf course; Top 10 in Australia by Greg Norman
Old course; Robert Trent Jones, Jr design
Ocean golf course; Peter Thomson design
Metropolitan Golf Club; Melbourne, also private, but interstate and overseas visitors can play some weekdays
The Golf Club, St. Andrews Beach; Tom Doak's Gunnamatta course rated among Top 20 in Australia
Woodlands Golf Club; Melbourne Sandbelt - Top 15 in Australia; visitors welcome most weekdays;
Yarra Yarra Golf Club; Melbourne Sandbelt - private, but allows interstate and overseas play with introduction by home club
Moonah Links; markets itself as the "home of golf"
Open Course; architect Peter Thomson says, "the leviathan...is a new experience for Australian golf. Visitors will get a whiff of what top championship play is really like."
Legends Course; more playable, but still a challenge
Thirteenth Beach Golf Links; Bellarine Peninsula; one of Top Resorts in Australia;
Beach Course - Top 15 in Australia, Tony Cashmore design, "Rough and the greens have been tamed...yet still a tremendous challenge"
Creek Course - Top 15 Public Access courses, Nick Faldo and Tony Cashmore design
New South Wales
New South Wales Golf Club; NSW - Top 50 course in the world; private, but visitors can play during week reserving in advance
Newcastle Golf Club; NSW - in the famous Hunter Valley - rated one of Australia's Top 15 courses
Western Australia
The Cut; rugged and beautiful Indian Ocean coastline, set in rolling dunes and designed by James Wilcher (formerly of Greg Norman), consistently a Top 10 course
The Golf Club, Kennedy Bay; 40 minutes from Perth on the Indian Ocean near Mandurah; rated #1 in Western Australia an designed by Ian Baker-Finch, Michael Choate and Roger Mackay
Joondalup - Quarry Dunes; consistently rated "Australia's #1 Resort golf course
Secret Harbour Golf Links; 40 minutes from Perth near Mandurah; rated Top 25 in its category in Australia; Graham Marsh design
Sanctuary Golf Resort; south of Mandurah; Michael Choate design on the grounds of a full-service resort
Victoria
Victoria Golf Club; Victoria, an Alister Mackenzie redesign and one of Australia's Top 10 courses
Commonwealth Golf Club; Victoria - Top 16 in Australia; interstate and international visitors welcome;
Adelaide
Royal Adelaide Golf Club; Adelaide, another private Alister Mackenzie redesign, but which allows limited international and interstate guests
Queensland
Laguna Whitsundays; Turtle Point Golf Club; Top 25 in Australia, large resort on Queensland coast, also building new Greg Norman and Karrie Webb courses
Secrets and Tips for Australia golf vacations
Augusta National to…Australia?
Alister Mackenzie’s Adventure Down Under helped produce 5 of the World’s Top 100 courses. Did you know you can play them all - and more?
Augusta National, Cypress Point, and Royal Melbourne have two things in common - they were designed by Dr. MacKenzie and are cathedrals of golf. Ten of his courses are in the World's Top 100.
You will hear a lot of Dr. Mackenzie’s name on CBS during The Masters at Augusta National soon, but how much do you know about Mackenzie’s other work? Especially in golf-mad Australia?
Australia golf - spectacular holes
Australia golf's most spectacular holes
Australia's classic courses and exciting architectural renaissance the past 10 years have produced an amazing array of challenging courses and thrilling holes.
According to Darius Oliver, author of Australia's Finest Golf Courses, here are the best, beginning with the National Golf Club - Old course's 7th hole (photo by National Golf Club)
For the complete short list with photos, click here
Australia golf - Barnbougle Dunes
Tasmania? Barnbougle Dunes?
You may wonder: 1) Where the heck is Tasmania? and 2) Are there golf courses there?
Normally, I'd wonder with you, as my knowledge began with the ravenous Devil of Bugs Bunny lore.
Tasmania, it turns out, is an island off Australia, which I learned from editors of Golf Odyssey, who promptly traversed the globe to evaluate Barnbougle Dunes, the lauded Tom Doak golf course.
The skinny? It's worth the trek to this Top-35-in-the-world course, no matter how many hours of cranky fliers you have to endure.
