Australia Golf Scene

[PrincipalsNose]

Has anybody had any experience? How does Melbourne West compare to Kingston Heath?

 

Also Cape Wickham is fairly new. Ease of getting to the island/thoughts on the course? 
 

thanks 

[Chanceman]

Many people believe Victoria GC is a better course than either Kingston Heath or Royal Melbourne West. I volunteered at the Aus Open last year when KH and Vic shared rounds 1-3 with the final round at Vic. It was won by the european player Adrian Meronk. The three courses are all within 7km / 5mi of each other.

While here in Melbourne the ideal thing would be to fly to King Island, play Cape Wickham (beautiful and tough) and Ocean Dunes (ugly and tough), then go on to Tasmania and play Barnbougle (Doak) (Tough Tough)  and Lost Farm (C&C) (Easy tough)). You can easily get ready made tour packages for flights and courses. Can stay on course. Remote but doable though.

Remember though that there are a dozen other courses around here almost as good as those mentioned.

[Golferpaul]

I've been trying to get down there for quite some time, but airfares just keep going up.  I checked recently and business class from DFW to SYD is $16,000.   Ridiculous. 

[Chanceman]

9 hours ago, Golferpaul said:

I've been trying to get down there for quite some time, but airfares just keep going up.  I checked recently and business class from DFW to SYD is $16,000.   Ridiculous. 

Yeah well now you know how it feels for Australians who have to pay those fares to go to Europe or America. So when you do go, you have to pack in lots of golf.

[CDM]

We spent 2 weeks in the area / region this year at the end March/first of April. 

 

We played 10 rounds in 12 days once on the ground over there. 8 Days in AUS.   2 days were flights to TAS / NZL.    Played the following in AUS.

 

Barnbougle  (Both)

Metro

PK - North

Kinston Heath

Royal Melbourne - Composite  *Very lucky they let us as it is normally members only

 

We would have played more in the MEL area and King Island but went to NZL to play for 5 days and played 4 rounds there.

 

The golf is amazing there, 110% worth the trip for golf..!  Plus we meet some amazing people playing...!   

 

We were supposed to play the WEST but that weekend the club decided to make it a RM-Conposite weekend.  IT is only for members.  To our surprise they let us go out.  Composite it  is considered to be the best full 18 holes in the world with the design aspects and it was incredible!!!!!   Started off gentle with 3 pars and 1 bogey and then we stopped keeping score around hole 12-13  🤣

 

Barnbougle Dunes is soooo much  fun to play.   If you have a chance play it...!  Not what I would say is a typical Doak and well worth it.

 

Kinston Heath is incredible.  It is a perfect match play course hands down.  It was probably my favorite of the trip honestly.  KH was awarded the Presidents cup and it will be a PERFECT place for match play.

 

PK had the best conditions of all them and the entry as you drive in blows you away. 

 

As others have noted there is SOOOOO many good golf courses you can not go wrong.  The level of golf you can play will cone to personal opinion on what you like from a golf course..... IT IS THAT GOOD.

 

Edit:  we played 12 rounds on amazing courses and each person had a different favorite if that answers your question 😃

Edited October 1, 2023 by CDM

[act0fgod]

Great scene.  It seemed like the golf culture was a bit of a mix between the US private club model and the open to anyone model seen in the UK/Ireland.  Didn't make the trip to King Island but did get down to barnbougle. 

 

If you do you make the trip to Melbourne play both Kingston Health and Royal Melbourne.  Both are great.  I love my trips to Ireland/UK but when I lived in Hawaii the trips to Australia/New Zealand were amazing. 

[GoodyG777]

I'm from Sydney and went down to play in Melbourne back in June. 

 

Played at The Metropolitan, The Victoria GC and Royal Melbourne West.

 

Metro: Fantastic layout, fairway bunkers were very well placed and the greenside bunkers cutting into the greens was a highlight.

Victoria GC: Possibly the best golf experience I've had, fantastic layout, conditioning 10/10, bunkers challenging

Royal Melbourne West: Historic, course felt a bit 'short' off the tee. Amazing conditioning and routing. Range was under renovation at the time.

 

As Chanceman said, I rate Victoria GC better for a golf course over RMW, but would take the latter for the complete package.

 

Already planning my next trip down to include Metro and Victoria GC again, definitely adding on KH and PK as well.

[me05501]

These videos are fun to watch even if you can't make it down there to play.

 

 

[blufblufshuv]

On 9/28/2023 at 7:44 AM, PrincipalsNose said:

Has anybody had any experience? How does Melbourne West compare to Kingston Heath?

 

Also Cape Wickham is fairly new. Ease of getting to the island/thoughts on the course? 
 

thanks 

 

Cape Wickham is an unbelievable experience. Highly, highly recommended from a golfing perspective. The clubhouse is basically demountables, but the course itself is one of the best in the world. Cannot say enough good things about it. If you told me it was the best course on the planet I wouldn't really argue with you.

 

The nearby Ocean Dunes is a decent sister to CW, though it uses bent grass for its greens unlike the fescue used at CW and Barnbougle. It has some spectacular holes though.

 

If you are anywhere near King Island and love golf, you should try to play these courses.

 

The only downside of KI golf are the large number of Tiger snakes, once you hit a ball into rough, just forget about it. They are mostly not aggressive, being fat as can be from feeding on mutton birds, but that can change if you tread on one.