Victoria at the fore for golfing destinations

EVERY golfer knows the feeling — missing the cup by that much — just ask Ernie Els at the opening hole of last month’s Masters.

Cape Schanck golf course on the Mornington Peninsula.

EVERY golfer knows the feeling — missing the cup by that much — just ask Ernie Els at the opening hole of last month’s Masters.

But at least when Victoria loses out to Queensland by a few blades of grass in the latest polling on the nation’s preferred golfing destinations, it can console itself that falling short is not a sign of failure.

Far from it, in fact, with those two states along with New South Wales standing head and shoulders above the rest as the most appealing places for a weekend of hacking.

Roy Morgan Research reveals while Victoria is the state most preferred by the average Australian as a holiday destination within the next two years, with 44.2 per cent of respondents giving it the tick — it slips to second (49.2 per cent) behind Queensland (49.6 per cent) when the same question is asked of golfers.

NSW (47.9 per cent) also rates highly among the plus-fours crowd, with all three states drawing a more favourable response from golfers than the average Aussie.

Victoria, renowned for its world-class sandbelt courses, also appeals among survey respondents for its courses on the Mornington Peninsula and Great Ocean Road.

“Golfers are an important niche market for the travel industry,” Roy Morgan spokesman Norman Morris said.

“More than half of Aussies who play golf either regularly or occasionally belong to the affluent socio-economic quintiles of the population. (This) may go some of the way towards explaining why 65 per cent of Australian golfers took at least one domestic holiday in the past year, compared with the 53 per cent national average.”