Australia’s Top 100 Courses

(Editorial by Selwyn Berg – EDITOR, The 2009 Golf Course Guide)

Barnbougle Dunes once again tops our annual ranking of Australia’s Best Public Access courses, courtesy of a world class links designed by Tom Doak and Mike Clayton in a stunningly beautiful setting right on Tasmania’s northern coastline. Barnbougle easily ranked ahead of its rivals for both Design (which scores 40%) and Aesthetics (20%) Despite slipping a few notches down the Conditions (20%) table. Last year we mentioned the possibility of further courses for the magnificent dunescape that lies nearby, and now there are serious plans for a second links to be designed by renowned architects Coore and Crenshaw.

The Legends Course at Moonah Links has jumped into second spot with immaculate course grooming (Conditions topped only by its big brother, The Open Course next door) and a rise up the Design ladder as our panel of judges this year placed it just behind perennial favourite The Dunes (Third spot overall), Joondalup, Thirteenth Beach and Magenta Shores by the narrowest of design margins. The important design criteria here is playability and enjoyment for players of all standards, which explains why we place great courses such as Brookwater and Moonah Links Open course further down our list, as they can be brutally penal for all but the strongest golfers.

The closure (temporarily we hope) of The Golf Club Kennedy Bay (ranked No. 2 last year) is a sad loss for public access golf in this country. Equally sad is the closure of Kooralbyn Valley in the Gold Coast hinterland, the course that pioneered resort golf in this country.

Magenta Shores, a private club with access for resort guests only debuted at No. 9 last year and is now ranked at No. 5 as conditioning further improved and also as more of our judges have seen and endorsed Ross Watson’s stunning design featuring massive man-made dunes in a truly beautiful setting.

Traditional layouts Barwon Heads and Portsea improved their rankings slightly, as our judges reflected just how good these two timeless designs really are, and with great year-round conditions at both courses, particularly the green surfaces at Barwon Heads. Once again, as with all the top courses, a good score for aesthetics is also required.

Pacific Harbour, another new Ross Watson course on Bribie Island jumped from 14th to 9th, largely due to further improvement in its excellent playing surfaces. Its pristine beauty gives it a solid aesthetics ranking, an element that may be adversely affected in future as residential development makes its mark. We felt the same about The Cut, but so far so good as this breathtaking oceanside course in WA by James Wilcher moved up to No.6. Turtle Point at Laguna Whitsundays, long a top ranked course with exceptional playing surfaces dropped down the rankings largely as a result of deterioration in course conditioning. It is to be hoped that finances will permit this layout to return to its former glory and the proposed second and third courses to be completed at this tropical paradise.

Other noteworthy movers were Robina Woods, up from 42 to 26 as it entered the Top 50 for Design and improved its position on the Conditions table; Port Fairy also entered the Design Top 50 and with great Aesthetics moved from 49 to 30 overall; Sorrento moved from 45 to 31 as the judges awarded slightly better scores in all categories.

As in past years, scoring was extremely close, and a small change in points awarded under any of the three criteria resulted in a significant move on the ladder. Whilst Barnbougle held a clear lead over second-placed Legends, all top 10 courses scored over 92%, the top 20 over 89% and a score above 80% was required for the Top 100. Many other courses missed the lists by narrow margins, and several layouts are listed for the first time or returned after missing out in 2008.

How many of the Australia's Top 100 public access course have you played? To see the full list CLICK HERE!