Australia Golf Trip and course reviews W/ Photos

[Schley]

Posted this on GCA, but wanted to share the wealth here to a wider audience. This will give awareness of what a great destination Australia is and should be considered for a golf.

 

 

 

Just returned from a Australia golf trip and it was my lifetime highlight for sure. 10 rounds of golf –The Metropolitan, Kingston Heath, Royal Melbourne (Composite Course), Cathedral GC, Cape Wickham (King Is), Ocean Dunes (King Is), Barnbougle Dunes, Barnbougle Lost Farm, New South Wales GC, The Lakes GCSo a couple impressions:

• The sun can be pretty intense there in the summer and liberal use of sunblock is needed on all exposed skin.
  
• Melbourne has a very deep bench of courses to pick from and not overly spread out.
  
• Not easy to get to King Island as you need a private charter, ours was delayed from taking off from Melbourne for 3 hours. Flexibility is the key there.
  
• Flys can be a pest in the summer, particularly on King Island and Tasmania unless you have wind/rain.
  
• Snakes are everywhere it seems with warning signs all over. I saw two and hate snakes so freaks me out.
  
• Royal Melbourne greens are fast! You got to be below the hole at all times it seems.
  
• Cape Wickham has ocean holes on probably 12 or 13 of their holes. Prettiest course I have played.
  
• Ocean Dunes is so tight with numerous blind shots and to top it off with very thick grass, like 3 feet high native grass. I lost 11 balls and my playing partner (21 handicap lost yes, 21 balls exactly!). Not fun, but did have great views.
  
• Caddies aren't typical there, nor are motorized carts
  
• New South Wales hole #6 wasn't open yet, but wow what a hole!
  
• Cathedral Lodge is a very private retreat for the very well to do in Australia. A couple very weird holes (Norman's climb is an uphill par 4) and 18 has a couple trees in the fairway.
  

Here are my humble rankings of the courses along with a brief about each:

1. Cape Wickham - holy shishkabobs if this was in the US it would blow Pebble Beach away. Wonderful vistas all over the course. You go out for the first 13 holes then for the last 5 after the clubhouse 14-18 are spectacular holes with elevation changes, shots over water and playing from the surf literally on 18. Played this after Ocean Dunes and really there is no comparison IMO, more playable and beautiful golf course. I look for this course to get into the world top 25, it is that special. Historical lighthouse just adjacent to the course is a landmark as well like Turnberry. Again King Island isn't easy to get to.
    
   
2. Royal Melbourne - We played the composite and the thing that stood out the most was very fast greens with some tilt to them. Have to be below the hole. Numerous 3 jacks or even 4 jacks were enjoyed by all. The other architectural feature were the bunkers which were true hazards, which were deep but with uniform sand throughout fair. Forgiving off the tee for the most part. Supposedly 2700 members for the two courses with about half being active golfers is a little fact I learned.
    
   
3. Kingston Heath - Great sandbelt course in Melbourne that was a great walk. Bunkers, bunkers and more bunkers. They are not uniform and collected the balls into the middle by not having sand on the faces. Needed caddies here to avoid the bunkers. Greens were large so lag putting was needed. It was a constant focus to avoid a bunker on what seemed like every shot.
    
   
4. Barnbougle Dunes - We played it in very high winds which contributed a ton to the difficulty. The par 3's were always into the wind it seems and fun offs on half the sides which made hitting them only for the most well struck shots. Several blind shots which would have liked to been afforded a second crack at this one. More exposed to the elements than the sister Lost Farm course. The par 5's were long and very playable. Wish they had more water views as you know it is right there.
    
   
5. Barnbougle Lost Farm - We played it in constant on and off rain twice in one day as we were gluttons for punishment. I really liked this course and almost put it above the Dunes. The par 3's here were stout and stood out with 2 playing around 200 yards into the wind this day. Keep in mind they have 2 alternate holes so if you play both of them as you should the round is 20 holes. Pretty flat except for a couple climbs to the par 3's. The long par 4's played down wind. More trees to frame the course than the Dunes, they also had at least 3 pins in unfair positions IMO like three paces from the edge. Great view of the ocean from the restaurant and rooms. You can't really get a better view of the ocean anywhere in the world IMO, just spectacular. BTW the shuttle to get between the two places takes forever.
    
   
6. New South Wales - I wanted this to be higher, but too many blind shots IMO and the fact that #6 wasn't open yet. It was also probably blowing 30 mph when we played and if you didn't strike it pure it would balloon one way or another. Generous fairways, but with the angles of the doglegs, it was pretty tough without a caddie to guide you.
    
   
7. Ocean Dunes - Views were great on many holes, but just too damn tight and if you didn't hit the fairway it was lost. We found 1 ball out of 32 in the tall stuff, have to play it as lateral. Didn't have a good time as it was just too penal for us. Nice property with plans to add oceanview cottages in future.
    
   
8. Cathedral Lodge - Except for 2 holes it was a very fair and wonderful test. Several shared fairways and generous greens. A Norman course which only has 120 members at this point I believe so they are very successful and accomplished. Great little halfway house with bar b que where the chef whipped up some great grub. They want to have a championship there in the future as it is only 3 years old. Very hilly property and would be a challenge to walk for sure. Greens were very pure.
    
   
9. Metropolitan - NO SAND in the bunkers, which really was an omission. Hardly any sand, with mud/clay there. Like hardpan everywhere. It is a shame too, because more than any other course their bunkers cut deep into the green complexes and the greens are cut right into the bunkers without collars. Nice parkland design, but hard to get over the poor bunker conditions. Played it in 100 degree heat and although not hilly took it's tool on our group.
    
   
10. The Lakes GC - Yes the back 9 has water on most holes and some very challenging forced layups like 17 where you can't hit anything more than 230, then have 250 plus into the green for a par 5. It was very windy this day and I played long all day to avoid getting rinsed constantly which led to it's own problems. Kind of tricked up with it's water hazards and not all right in front of you. Not a bad course by any means, but with the bench strength of the above you can see why it was my best golf trip ever.
    

Thumbs up for Australia. Victoria GC was closed for renovations and didn't get down to the National courses. Love to play in shoulder season when it cools down. Now that I have played it, the President's Cup in 2019 is going to have a great venue in RM. You need putters Tiger, good putters!

 

SEE PHOTOS BELOW

[Chanceman]

Heading to Barnbougle for a weekend next month. We will play both the Dunes and Lost Farm ie the Doak followed by the Coore and Crenshaw. BB is a beast but Lost Farm a real Lady!! I love them both. Having played at Bandon i would say they are comparable to Pacific Dunes and Trails (funnily enough Doak/C&C). Although Lost Farm does have plenty of seaside action. Remote though.

[benno_r]

I am glad I am not the only who could pick the glaring differences of the tracks on King Island. I really think they need to rework Ocean Dunes a bit to make it easier. It does have some great holes though - love 2 and 10 especially.

 

Also, I lot of people said I was crazy putting CW over RM - glad you agree.

 

Finally, you can get to King Island on commercial flights - check out REX airlines if you ever go back.

 

All in all sounds like you had a great time, congrats!

[rt_charger]

Glad you had a great time down under. Australian summer is brutal, almost too much for me sometimes. I've really got to play some more of our courses.

 

Find it interesting your comments about New South Wales. Yes it's a tricky course and the blind shots are quite something. I can say it was one of my favourite courses I've ever played because I got my first ace on 11, first time I played it.

[tiderider]

would be a nice june trip, and don't think i'd have to worry as much about the snakes ... pretty sure i'd avoid summer trips there for that reason alone, since some of them make the top ten lists in a bad way ...

[Schley]

New south Wales

[Schley]

The lakes club

[Schley]

Barnbougle

[Schley]

Barnbougle

[Schley]

Barnbougle

[Schley]

Cape Wickham

[Schley]

Ocean dunes

[Schley]

Flight to King island and Tasmania

[Schley]

Cathedral Lodge

[Schley]

Royal Melbourne

[Schley]

sorry about all the selfies I didn't take many without me in them...... have to slow down next time!

[golfskisleep]

And you just scratched the surface! Plenty more great courses from Queensland to South Australia to Western Australia waiting for your next trip ...