Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Melbourne is Australia’s spiritual home of golf and a key destination for any serious golfer visiting the country–especially because it’s home to 36-hole Sandhurst Club.
Designed by Australian Peter Thomson, the five-time British Open champion, the North Course at Sandhurst pays homage to the great links of Scotland with generally wide fairways and large, sprawling greens. The course closely follows Thomson’s design philosophy that golf is mostly played along the ground, not in the air.
Dedicated to notable Australian champion golfers such as Greg Norman, Thomson and Craig Parry, the Champions Course features contoured fairways framed by substantial trees and greens that are open for run-up shots.
Due to its impressive golf facilities, the national headquarters of the PGA of Australia is located at Sandhurst.
The concept of club living at Sandhurst is all about creating a better lifestyle for its Members. The Clubhouse includes a restaurant and Members Bar, health club with a pool, aerobics room, and gymnasium and tennis courts.
Sandhurst is along the south-east corridor of Melbourne and only about 30 minutes from the central business district in the famed “sandbelt” region of Victoria.
In an innovative first for golf course architecture in this country, Thomson & Perrett designed the Champions Course in a dedication to past champions of the Professional Golfers’ Association of Australia.
Holes on the sandbelt styled course feature a plaque near each tee as a tribute to the relevant skills and attributes of the past champion, after whom each hole has been dedicated.
Some of the most notable features are the gentle sandbelt style fairway contours, coupled with the open fronts to greens and substantially tree lined fairways.
Holes: 18
Rank: 1
Emphasising strategic shot making and providing a test of golfers’ short game skills, the open styled North Course features large sprawling greens, where getting to the putting surface is just the start of the challenge!
Borrowing from the traditions of Scotland where Peter Thomson enjoyed his greatest success, the course has several distinct features such as the Wall surrounding the 3rd green and the Burn (reminiscent of St Andrews) which dissects the 9th fairway.
Utilising a Legend Couch on the fairways provides the North Course with superb conditioning and playing surfaces all year round.
Holes: 18
Rank: 2
By providing us your email address, you are consenting to receive electronic Network Golfer updates from Links2Golf.
