RECESSION BUSTERS
More Australians are playing golf today than at any other time in the past 20 years. But the economic reality, as we emerge from the darkest months of the COVID-19 pandemic, is many of us now need to make our hard-earned dollars stretch a little further. Over the following pages, we reveal the 18-hole layouts – and some standout nine-holers – offering Australian golfers the greatest value for money golfing experiences.
BELMONT GC
Belmont, NSW
Green fees: $40 (Sunday to Friday); $45 (Saturday).
The club has invested wisely on the layout in recent years, raising the level of presentation and adding interest to the layout with the redesign of several holes. The loss of what was the par-3 12th hole has since given rise to a new short beachside one-shotter that is a lot of fun. The course made its debut appearance at No.94 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Courses ranking in January this year
MURRAY DOWNS G&CC
Murray Downs, NSW
Green fee: $50.
The Ted and Geoff Parslow-designed layout has each fairway bordered by mature native trees, while several man-made lakes come into play on 10 holes. The impressive design is complemented by carpet-like Wintergreen couch fairways, while the Penncross bentgrass greens are widely regarded as the best to be found along the length of the Murray River.
It’s little wonder Murray Downs is entrenched in the Top-100 Courses ranking (No.87 in 2020).
PORT FAIRY GL
Port Fairy, Victoria
Green fee: $49.
Playing 18 holes at Port Fairy is the best value golf you can play in Australia.
Ranked No.31 in Australia’s Top-100 Courses ranking by Golf Australia magazine, Port Fairy sets the heart aflutter for purists of links golf as it has many of the attributes of the great Scottish courses. Set among rolling sand dunes, the Southern Ocean can be seen as you walk many of its holes while the sound of crashing waves on windy days rarely leaves you.
Renowned American course archtitect Tom Doak, having visited Port Fairy in recent times, agrees with us: “I can’t think of a better golf course for $49 in this day and age.”
WARRNAMBOOL GC
Warrnambool, Victoria
Green fee: $49.
Ranked No.85 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Courses in the nation in 2020, Warrnambool is set in and around the sand dune land so common on Victoria’s Shipwreck Coast.
The course, where PGA Tour player Marc Leishman learned the game, has been redesigned in recent times with some tea-tree cleared to expose sandy wasteland on some of its best holes, which can be found midway through the front nine. The holes near the clubhouse are good rather than great, but the stretch of par-4s from the 3rd to 6th – known as Shipwreck Bend – is worth the green fee alone.
ALBANY GC
Albany, Western Australia
Green fee: $35.
Albany covers beautiful undulating dunes on the shores of King George Sound and dates back to 1898 and remains the oldest layout in Western Australia still on its original site.
Thick woolly-bush and peppermint trees line most of the fairways, which run predominantly in a north-south direction parallel to Middleton Beach. It is not a hard course in sublime weather conditions, but it bares its teeth when the wind whips in across the Sound.
BALLARAT GC
Ballarat, Victoria
Green fees: $30 (weekdays); $40 (weekends).
It took nearly 110 years for Ballarat to establish itself as one of the country’s best public access courses. Within 18 months of an extensive redesign by Peter Thomson and Ross Perrett, the course debuted in Golf Australia’s Top-100 Public Access Courses ranking and has been there ever since. In 2019, the course was ranked at No.70, which is a far cry from the basic course first played in 1895.
BRIBIE ISLAND GC
Woorim, Queensland
Green fee: $50.
Bribie Island is regarded as one of the best draining courses in Queensland because of its deep sand base, which has also doubled as the ideal canvas for the creation of sandbelt-like bunkering and challenging sandy lies wide of each fairway.
CARNARVON GC
Lidcombe, NSW
Green fee: $30.
Lying in the heart of Sydney’s suburban sprawl, Carnarvon might seem like a surprise entry among the list of courses here.
There are some courses here that boast million dollar views and a few world class holes. Carnarvon cannot offer either, but what it does offer is an enjoyable round on a course that has hosted major amateur events as well as qualifying for the Australian Open.
COBRAM-BAROOGA GC
Barooga, NSW
Green fee: $39 (off-peak season); $45 (peak).
The 36-hole complex at Cobram-Barooga has been offering some of
