BUNKER-TO-BUNKER…. What do you think? Email comments to rob@insidegolf.com.au
By Peter Owen
AS I write this, the course where I play most of my golf on the Sunshine Coast has been closed for three straight days and our course superintendent tells me we’ve had 1300mm of rain in the first four months of the year.
So I’m not sure I should be spruiking Queensland’s weather as a reason why this state should rate highly for playing golf. But, seriously, after living in south-east Queensland for nearly 50 years, I can assure readers its (normally) sublime weather allows you to comfortably play the game throughout the year. And that’s important.
I don’t know a lot about Sydney’s courses, but I know the harbour city has some classics, and I do enjoy playing the regional gems at Ocean Shores, Bonville and along the Murray River.
I grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham and, at a young age, sampled the delights of Royal Melbourne, Victoria, Kingston Heath, Huntingdale and other sand belt courses, though I should confess that my golf was played very early in the morning and late in the afternoons, interrupted only by the grounds staff and some irate members, who quickly dispatched my mates and me back over the fence.
However I have played enough golf in Melbourne, and throughout the state, to realise Victoria has strong claims for the title, despite it being too cold in winter and too hot in summer.
I’ve never played in Western Australia or the Northern Territory and my only experience of South Australia was 18 holes at a club in the Adelaide Hills with my son before dashing off to Oakbank for the very last running of the Great Eastern Steeplechase.
But I do know Tasmania. With three courses – Cape Wickham, Barnbougle Dunes and Barnbougle Lost Farm – entrenched in Australia’s top 10, Ocean Dunes not far behind, and Seven Mile Beach threatening to rival any of them when it opens later this year, Tassie is a golfer’s paradise.
The best state for golf in Australia? I reckon Tassie’s quite possibly the best place to play golf in the whole world.
By Michael Court
HOW easy is this?
I only need to look outside on this lovely autumn day to know that New South Wales, the Premier State, is the best place to play golf in this wonderful country of ours.
Maybe it isn’t raining in Victoria, but you can bet it’s damn cold – especially for those wanting an early-morning tee-off – to try and beat those winds howling in off Bass Strait.
Queensland? Well, don’t even think about playing there in the middle of the day.
Your shirts and shorts will be soaked with sweat before you’re halfway round. And that’s in winter.
Summer golf? Don’t even think about it. It’s way too hot.
And so, it comes to golf courses. Sure, Victoria has long boasted that it has the best layouts in this country.
Granted they do have some of the best in the world. But are they any better than New South Wales Golf Club? – or Elanora, Monash, Killara, Pymble, Terrey Hills, Cromer? The list is endless.
I was lucky enough to play many of those while confined to Sydney’s Northern Beaches during the pandemic when I wasn’t allowed to travel to my own course further up the north shore.
Such were the quality of these courses that there was a small part of me actually hoping the pandemic restrictions could last just a little bit longer – so I could go back and play them all again.
I’ve played Royal Melbourne (West) and Kingston Heath, also Huntingdale and Yarra Yarra and frankly they are pretty phenomenal.
And I’ve trekked down to Tassie a few times to play Barnbougle Dunes and Lost Farm . . . and they are golf experiences that I will long cherish.
. . . and as soon as my clubs and golf gear are dry enough for a re-run I’ll happily go back.
Until then, Sydney golf might be as good as anywhere in the world and I wouldn’t swap it for anywhere else in the world either! Alright, maybe for Ireland.
But I’ve already given away too many of our Sydney golf secrets.
You golfers stick to your own state and I’’ll stick to mine . . . and be content that golf in this country is actually better – and more affordable – than most countries in the world.
By Michael Davis
There’s more than a hint of good old fashioned golf snobbery among Victorians when it comes to the abundance of great courses in their state.
They usually point to the ubiquitous rankings produced by seemingly every Tom, Dick and Harry and the fact that Victorian layouts, by any measure, dominate the upper echelon of most ranking lists.
To be honest, the Victorian view that the state offers by far the best overall golf experience in the nation is somewhat flawed.
This is because very few Victorians ever get to play the courses which allow the state to claim the mantle of being the best.
There is no argument that Victoria’s fabled sandbelt layouts like Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath and Victoria are world class.
But they are also private member clubs which cost a ‘bomb” to join, sometimes after waiting for some years to be granted the privilege to play them. And even then, only if you are deemed ‘worthy’ of membership.
To be fair, though, if your credit card pings ‘transaction approved’ on the day, your application usually goes through smoothly.
But here’s rub. Victoria has equally good courses on the Mornington and Bellarine peninsulas an hour or so from the CBD where anyone can play.
And what’s more, there are any number of suburban and country courses scattered around the state which are all great tracks.
Not forgetting either, the abundance of fabulous layouts along the Victorian side of the Murray River.
Victoria is spoilt for golf riches more than any other state.
By Larry Canning
For me, it’s a case of what socio-economic-demographic you fit into and from that, two important points emanate.
Firstly, Melbourne’s famous Sandbelt is easily the best group of courses in a small area in this country and now Victoria has a bunch of great layouts down Mornington and in the Bellarine Peninsula, but are these beauties accessible to punters like me? I’d have to whack my two cars and my youngest son on eBay to afford membership at some, and for that matter, what committee in their right mind would let me join?
Secondly, that opening sentence contains more multi-syllable words than I’ve written in INSIDE GOLF in 20 years.
I had a brief chat with a mate who recognised me while I was busking outside of Woollies the other day. He’d just returned from a golf trip along the Murray River and was singing the praises of all the courses there, which reminded me, NSW has some of the best golf courses outside of the big cities. And even I can afford to play them.
Queensland has some rippers but from what I’ve heard, are also becoming a bit exie. WA, SA and Tasmania also possess some of the best in our lucky country too, but again will I need to be first on the Lotto queue at my newsagents tomorrow morning?
So, for a state with the best tracks, Victoria wins by a three-shot par 5, but unless someone leaves an open cheque book in my guitar case, I’ll stay in country NSW.
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