Australia’s most spectacular golf courses

It’s no secret we live in a pretty incredible corner of the globe. And you're in luck if you happen to play golf. Golf fanatic Craig Tansley examines the six most spectacular — and most challenging — golf courses you can play in Australia.

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Australia lays claim to seven of the world’s top 100 courses, judged on design, great weather and location. These are the most spectacular.

It’s no secret we live in a pretty incredible corner of the globe. And you're in luck if you happen to play golf — Australia boasts six of the world’s best golf courses as well as many more in unique locations across the country.Here, golf fanatic Craig Tansley examines the six most spectacular — and most challenging — golf courses you can play in Australia. Bonus — these courses are mapped on the TAG Heuer Golf app so you can plan your play on your smartwatch or smartphone.

TANUNDA PINES GOLF CLUB, BAROSSA VALLEY, SA

The best thing about the Barossa isn’t necessarily their big Shiraz —  it’s actually Australia’s most underrated golf course, Tanunda Pines. Built right out of the bush in the middle of the wine area, you’ll have clear views of one of the region’s most famous vineyards, Jacob’s Creek, visible through the course’s elevated tree line. But it’s not the grapes that’ll distract you — it’s the 100-year-old gums which line every fairway and make this course an exercise in straight driving. There’s every type of Aussie creature out here too — from brown snakes to kangaroos, and everything in between. Despite its heritage (built in 1938) and the fact it has been listed in US golf magazine’s Top 100 Course compilations, this course still flies under the radar of most golf travellers.

PENINSULA KINGSWOOD COUNTRY GOLF CLUB, MELBOURNE, VIC

It would be remiss to ignore Melbourne’s world-famous sand-belt region. Some of the world’s best golfers have attempted to conquer Peninsula Kingswood Country’s three courses, and not everyone has come out victorious. With origins dated back to 1925, there are now three courses on this site. But if you’re going to choose one, opt for the North course — partly because it’s often overlooked — but also because it’s unconventional in an area that smacks of convention; there’s enough sand you’ll be questioning whether you’re at the beach and challenges players with lakes which feature in a third of the course’s holes. It’s a private club — so unless you know a member, or have reciprocal rights — you’ll need a corporate day to get on.

ELLERSTON, HUNTER VALLEY, NSW

Some say this private course located in the Upper Hunter Valley is even harder to access than Augusta (home of The Masters). The piece de resistance of Kerry Packer and designed by Greg Norman, Ellerston is ranked among the best on Earth, despite not being near a single centimetre of the ocean. If you’re lucky enough to get on, bring some long irons — there are monster par 4s and 5s, multi-tiered greens and winding creeks — though you do have an elevated tee or two (with stunning views across the Hunter) to help you out. Photography is banned on the course, adding to its ‘Shangri La of golf’ reputation. Built on Packer’s former sheep and cattle farm (and polo fields), Ellerston Golf Course is more than a golf course; it’s a peek inside a billionaire’s legacy.

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HAMILTON ISLAND GOLF CLUB, WHITSUNDAYS, QLD

Okay, okay, so first thing’s first, this might be arguably the world’s most spectacular golf course, and despite its name, it’s actually not even built on Hamilton Island. No, you’ll have to take a short boat ride to Dent Island – where nothing else exists but this revered golf course. In fact, Hamilton Island Golf Club is the only championship golf course built on its own island in Australia. This is not a course for the faint of heart – the 360-degree views across secluded coves and deserted beaches and back to the mainland are mesmerising – but you’ll find intimidating shots between ridges into steep valleys, where thick bush grows just off the fairway, threatening to destroy any wistful thoughts you had about the serenity. Rest assured, course designer Peter Thomson never intended this to be a scenic day out.

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BARNBOUGLE – THE DUNES, TAS

Barnbougle is still the only course in the world I’ve played where I couldn’t use a golf buggy at all because the wind kept blowing it over. Play this course on a calm day, and you’ll wonder why golfers tell horror stories about balls blowing backwards on gales straight off the Bass Strait. But it’s built on Tasmania’s north-eastern coastline, among dunes beside the Strait, so expect an excellent breeze… often. Now home to two courses on the site of an old potato farm, The Dunes is the original course. Built in 2004, it quickly became Australia’s number one public access course. Lost Farm, opened in 2010, is now number two, boasting more dramatic contours as it bends up and down cliffs. But The Dunes is a purist’s delight; a classic links course works its way through natural coastal saddles and between sand dunes, offering stunning views of the town of Bridport and the Bass Strait.img04

NEW SOUTH WALES GOLF CLUB, SYDNEY, NSW

You won’t get onto this Sydney treasure on the weekend unless you’re with a member, but there are limited weekday tee-offs. Built out alongside the seaside cliffs above Botany Bay and the Tasman Sea in La Perouse, NSW Golf Club, a links-style course, offers mouth-watering views of the water and the kind of tee shots made for TV golf. Its most famous hole is its signature par three sixth hole, where golfers access the tee box via a small bridge that takes you out to the peninsula of Cape Banks. Your tee off then has to carry the inlet, and somehow find a cliff-top green besieged with heavy bunkering. But that’s the nature of this course: It has challenged even the world’s best at countless Australian Opens, and mere mortals may struggle with its dramatic undulation, excessive bunkering and lightning-fast greens. And when the wind gets up – as it does, particularly in summer — well, good luck golfers!