PORT FAIRY GOLF L I NKS
Situated at the end of the iconic Great Ocean Road, Port Fairy Golf Club o ers a true natural links experience unrivalled by any on the Australian mainland.
A little over three hours’ drive from Melbourne and only a five-minute drive from the awardwinning Port Fairy township, the golf course is nestled amongst rolling unspoilt sand dunes and boasts breathtaking views of the raging Southern Ocean. Often compared to the famed links courses of Scotland and Ireland, Port Fairy Golf Links o ers a unique golfing challenge without the 24-hour flight to indulge your passion.
Currently ranked at No.21 in Australia’s Top100 Public Access Courses and rated as No.1 in the country for green fees under $50 by Golf Australia magazine, Port Fairy Golf Links will not disappoint travelling golfers looking for a new destination to mark on their golfing calendar.
After a recent visit to Port Fairy Golf Links, World Renowned Course Architect Tom Doak Tweeted - “Michael Clayton has been telling me for 15+ years that I should make the drive West from Melbourne to see this place, and I fi nally made it today. Can’t think of a better golf course for $49 in this day and age.”
KINGSTON HEATH GC 391-metre, 16th hole
You’re faced with another blind tee shot here, so have a good look at what lies beyond the hill as you walk back to the tee from the 15th green. The subtle angle of the green, the bunker placement and the pin position of the day dictates the best placement for the drive. Find the right spot and you can hit straight up the green rather than over the edge of the bunkers.
KINGSTON HEATH GC 421-metre, 17th hole
There is little room to the right o the tee, but this is the best side from which to approach the green. The putting surface is high in the front and runs away with a slight tilt from back to front.
METROPOLITAN GC 430-metre, 1st hole
The hole turns a little from right-to-left around two deep fairway bunkers on the left side of the driving area. Another huge bunker guards the right edge of the green and when the flag is tucked close to this bunker a drive to the left side of the fairway is rewarded with a clear line of sight to the flag.
METROPOLITAN GC 418-metre, 10th hole
A dogleg to the left that perfectly suits a right-to-left shaped drive to a fairway that is seemingly wider in recent years after some scrub and trees were cleared out from the right side of the hole. The two-tiered green is quite large and the close-cut greenside bunkers can catch even slight mis-hits.
PENINSULA KINGSWOOD CGC – NORTH COURSE 445-metre, 10th hole
A testing brute where a fairway bunker lies in wait for the drive misfired to the right. The green is set slightly above the fairway and it demands a well-played long second to find the target. The deepest bunker on the course cuts into the left edge of the green and large but shallower bunker stretches along the right side of the green.
PENINSULA KINGSWOOD CGC – SOUTH COURSE 378-metre, 1st hole
The OCCM redesign altered the stream here and created a strategic golfing gem. From the tips, play short of the water into the wide fairway, where the ideal position is dependent on the position of the flag. If the flag is right, near the stream, the best line is from the left.
PORT FAIRY GL 408-metre, 14th hole
One of the highlights of any round at Port Fairy is playing the 14th hole. The fairway rises gradually in front of you to present a blind tee shot with the only real guide being the huge scrub covered sand dune to the right of the fairway, which is best avoided as its out-of-bounds. From the crest of the hill the view down to the bunkerless green, with the Southern Ocean backdrop, is simply beautiful.
ROYAL MELBOURNE GC – EAST COURSE 402-metre, 2nd hole
For a course that is renowned for its width, the
2nd is a narrow driving hole, where the right half of the dogleg is obscured from view as you stand on the tee, The uphill second shot is a steep one to a long and narrow two-tiered green. There are no fairway bunkers to contend with, but there are seven bunkers within earshot of the putting surface.
ROYAL MELBOURNE GC – EAST COURSE 395-metre, 18th hole
Not a brutally long hole but in some wind conditions, even big hitters will need a long approach. The green is surrounded by sand with some rough in front. A visually stunning green and surrounds: huge sweeping bunkers with clumps of tall native grasses ready to swallow balls forever. To even out the challenge, Alister MacKenzie gave us a huge green to aim at.
ROYAL MELBOURNE GC – WEST COURSE 391-metre, 6th hole
A great example of Alister MacKenzie’s doctrine of aording players of all levels an opportunity to enjoy golf. The better player may flirt with the fairway bunkers on the right that guard the shorter and easier angle of approach to the green, while average players can aim left of centre and make their way to the green in a leisurely – and stress-free – manner. The green is a puzzle that, like most puzzles, is best worked out with patience and caution, lest you lose your way altogether. One of the great holes in world golf.
ROYAL MELBOURNE GC – WEST COURSE 401-metre, 17th hole
The perfect dogleg left with the bunker guarding the inside corner of the dogleg and the green set on a diagonal guarded by a deep bunker on the right. The strategy is simple; but it is perfectly implemented on a perfect piece of land. This is the hole Ernie Els bogied in his first round 60 in the 2004 Heineken Classic.
ROYAL MELBOURNE GC – WEST COURSE 396-metre, 18th hole
What a strong closer. The tee shot is a blind one but the best driving line on this dogleg right is marked by the bunker carved out of the crest of the hill.
Longer hitters can fire over the sand; those hugging the line of rough down the right inevitably finish closer to green than those driving safely down the left. The fairway cambers hard from right-to-left, almost guaranteeing a lie above your feet (for right-handers) for the second shot.
SANCTUARY LAKES GC 414-metre, 18th hole
Unusually for a Greg Norman-Bob Harrison design, the closing hole is devoid of fairway bunkers and the only concern is a lake left. This allows you to have a rip at your drive and get as far down the fairway as possible, to set up your approach into the undulating island green.
ST ANDREWS BEACH 405-metre, 3rd hole
If you’re a shorter hitter, a drive to the left of the fairway will provide a view to the green. Longer hitters have the luxury of taking on the corner of the dogleg right. Whatever line
you take, the approach shot is a beauty with a narrow chute framed by native tea tree and fescue grasses opening up to a semipunchbowl green with generous run-o areas.
ST ANDREWS BEACH 404-metre, 18th hole
A fantastic closer from the creative mind of Tom Doak. The right of the fairway, beyond the large bunker scheme, will o er more roll on the drive and put a short iron in hand, while the left side presents an approach that works best with the contours of the green.
SORRENTO GC 414-metre, 8th hole
This right-to-left hole is all about the drive and answering the questions asked by the three staggered fairway bunkers on the inside of the dogleg. Drive as close as possible to them to leave the shortest shot into a receptive green.
THE DUNES GL 409-metre, 1st hole
It’s rare to be faced with the hardest hole of a round from the opening tee shot but that is what you’ll find at The Dunes. A driving line left of the cypress tree in the distance is recommended as this will give you a good look at the green. If you cut the corner of the right dogleg you had better be long to avoid the hidden bunkers. It’s a tough green too, with cavernous bunkers and a deep swale in front.
THE DUNES GL 431-metre, 15th hole
This is a beast of a hole from the tips as well as the shorter medal tees (392 metres). It covers brilliant rolling terrain wedged between high dunes, with the dune to the right home to a massive blowout bunker. If you are long enough you can ride the slopes and get to the bottom of the hill. The percentage approach shot is not aimed to the middle of the green but to the left bank, which will feed the ball back to the centre of the wide putting surface.
THE NATIONAL GC – GUNNAMATTA COURSE 405-metre, 4th hole
The bones of the 16th hole of the old Ocean Course form the basis of Tom Doak’s 4th hole creation. The fairway was widened slightly to the left just before it turns gradually right around a vast sandy wasteland area. The hole was lengthened with a new green being built among the natural contours near the old 17th tee.
THE NATIONAL GC – GUNNAMATTA COURSE 402-metre, 18th hole
In the Tom Doak redesign, this hole was shortened by nearly 40 metres while the fairway was widened to provide a better view for shorter hitters playing to the left half of the fairway. The green was also reshaped to give it more width and provide more pin positions.
THE NATIONAL GC – MOONAH COURSE 394-metre, 3rd hole
The drive, one of the most exhilarating at The National, is played from an elevated dune through a narrow opening in the Moonah trees to a plateau landing area, which is flanked by more dunes. The fairway falls to the right before riding a wave of undulations to the green.
THE NATIONAL GC – MOONAH COURSE 447-metre, 16th hole
A great driving hole, either from the tips or the slightly shorter blue tees. Four deep bunkers –
two left and two right – line the driving zone and are very much in play with any crosswind. Contours at the back of the green are favourable for shots played with longer clubs so take enough club to carry the journey.
THE NATIONAL GC – OLD COURSE 358-metre, 15th hole
The wind is usually into the face as you stand on the tee here. Drives short of the dogleg corner leave blind second shots to a green with two clearly defined terraces.
The task of club selection to find the correct level, is exacerbated by deep bunkers front and rear.
VICTORIA GC 398-metre, 5th hole
Beautifully rejuvenated by the OCCM design team in recent times, the avenue between tee and green has been widened with the removal of scrub and exposure of the sandy wasteland, which now lines both sides of the hole and creates a barrier between the short grass and the trees. A wonderful green complex awaits, with three bunkers cut well into the putting surface.
VICTORIA GC 370-metre, 11th hole
Like the 5th hole, the gradual uphill 11th has been shined up like a diamond from a lump of coal through the OCCM redesign. There’s plenty of sand to be found en route to the green, but the trickiest bunker recoveries are closer to the green.
VICTORIA GC 402-metre, 12th hole
Geo Ogilvy describes the tee shot at the 12th as the “most dramatic on the course”, where you play left of the recently exposed indigenous plants on the right because there is plenty of room there. The downhill second shot is ‘semi-blind’ for all players except those who have hit 300-metre plus drives.
WOODLANDS GC 400-metre, 10th hole
A good straight drive can reach the crest of a hill some 200 metres away. The approach must be accurate as there is thick woodland on both sides of the fairway, and heavy bunkering protecting this small green, which slopes away from left-to-right. Cross bunkers 40 metres in front of this green catch anything short.
YARRA YARRA GC 400-metre, 2nd hole
One of Yarra Yarra’s tougher two-shotters, a long tee shot is needed to set up a straightforward second shot to an elevated green. The dicult second shot, played from a downslope, will require a decision on whether to attempt to carry the bunkers 40 metres short of the green or to lay-up. In all, there are five bunkers left and short of the green, while another four can be found to the right.
YARRA YARRA GC 371-metre, 7th hole
The Renaissance Golf Design renovation added some width to the fairway here but longer hitters can be caught out by a scheme of bunkers that pinch into the fairway from the right. As is the case with all good strategic holes, the best angle into the green is from alongside the bunkers as the putting surface slopes from left to back right. The left greenside bunker is problematic with the flag on the left, while the back right bunker catches balls that feed naturally with the slope of green.