LOOKING AHEAD TO 2026
Tasmania’s newest world class wonder course, 7 Mile Beach will make its debut in this ranking in 2026 … you can put the house on it.
Just where the Mike Clayton and Mike DeVries (Clayton, DeVries & Pont – CDP) design will slip into the Top-100 is anyone’s guess, but if we can judge by the social media images showing off the layout at the start of its grow-in it will be pushing for a top-10 spot.
CDP will also team up with renowned architect Harley Kruse to apply their creative hand to Kew Golf Club in Melbourne’s green belt near the banks of the Yarra River.
Two of the best-known courses in the Melbourne Sandbelt will also return to this ranking. Commonwealth Golf Club has been extensively renovated by course architects Tom Doak and Brian Slawnik (Renaissance Golf Design), with several holes redesigned, green complexes and surrounds upgraded, and the irrigation replaced. At the time of writing, Commonwealth was due to have all new holes open for play by the end of this summer.
By the time we publish our 2026 ranking, Commonwealth will have had nearly two years of growth and sneak previews suggest it is likely to improve on its 2022 ranking at No.32 in the country.
Another powerhouse course design firm – Ogilvy, Cocking & Mead (OCM) – have just started work on implementing their masterplan for Huntingdale Golf
Club, just a few minutes’ drive to the north. The massive renovation comes on the back of the $120 million merger between Huntingdale and Cranbourne Golf Clubs. It is understood, the redesigned layout will be completed by the second half of 2025.
OCM has a busy 2024 ahead with renovations continuing at Perth’s Mt Lawley Golf Club as well as The National Golf Club’s Long Island Course at Frankston, which promises something really different with the design, creating three courses within the one layout.
The full 18 holes of the rebuilt Links
Kennedy Bay on Western Australia’s Golf Coast south of Perth will open in 2024. With only a few holes left largely untouched by the Graham Marsh redesign it will be interesting to see how it stacks up in the ranking.