The Bellarine Peninsula was a very different place to play golf when I first visited there in 1998.
Back then, it was a far more rural landscape you encountered from the outskirts of Geelong in the west through to Queenscliff on its eastern tip. Once the last of Geelong’s suburbia had disappeared from your rear vision mirror, there were vast areas of native bush, grazing land, wineries, and occasional small villages connected by a network of narrow roads and lanes.
There were less golf courses, and of those layouts already in the ground there was only one that could boast a place in a Top-100 in Australia list.
Today, 25 years on, some of those small villages have seemingly doubled in size, the roads have improved, and the Bellarine’s golfing stocks put it among the best destinations in the country, with six courses ranked among the nation’s best.
The arrival and resounding success of the Vic Open has had a ripple effect on Bellarine golf. Since the event – with men’s and women’s championships played concurrently – moved to the beautiful Thirteenth Beach Links in 2013, it has grown significantly, and its unprecedented format copied on other tours elsewhere in the world.
With the championship attracting a world spotlight once a year, the spin-off has been greater attention being paid to the region and its other attractions, particularly its golf courses.
Just as it was in 1998, Barwon Heads Golf Club should be the cornerstone of every golfer’s trip to the Bellarine.
The layout, which measures a meagre 5,856 metres from the championship tees, continues to hold its own against the technological advances in golf equipment and remains as challenging today as it was when Royal Melbourne Golf Club professional Victor East laid out his creation and saw it open for play in 1922.
Many describe Barwon Heads as a links course, but the majority of the holes are more reminiscent of those found in the Melbourne Sandbelt. In truth it really is only the opening six holes that really fit the links course billing. These holes, across a narrow road from the historical clubhouse, are brilliant, while
