Eight golf trips for eight kinds of summer, from the Mornington Peninsula to the outback and across the Tasman.
Every golf getaway has a personality. There’s the girls’ weekend with a spa booked for after the round, the bucket-list tick, the long lunch, the city break and the trip across the Tasman. And then there’s the one you’re still talking about next year because it was nothing like you expected. Here are eight, one for every kind of summer. Which one sounds like you?
The girls’ weekend:
Moonah Links, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
Why go: Two championship courses and a resort, less than 90 minutes’ drive from central Melbourne.
What to expect: The Open course, designed by Peter Thomson, hosted the Australian Open in 2003 and 2005 and plays like it, with rugged terrain and deep bunkers beside the fairways. The Legends course, designed by Ross Perrett, is shorter and a little easier and each hole pays tribute to an Australian golf legend.
Off-course: Stay at Peppers Moonah Links Resort, where each of the 65 rooms and suites has a private balcony or terrace overlooking the fairways or the central putting green. Peninsula Hot Springs is about five minutes away, with cellar doors and beaches within about 15 minutes’ drive.
Tip: If you’re newer to the game, start on the Legends.
The bucket-list tick:
Woodlands Golf Club, Mordialloc, Melbourne
Why go: A rare chance to play a Melbourne Sandbelt club, the sandy-soil region home to some of the country’s most celebrated courses, with interstate visitors welcome.
What to expect: Woodlands is a private members’ club that welcomes visitors through its Manager Introduced Guests program, with green-fee play by application. Expect firm, fast conditions, pure bentgrass greens and narrow fairways and every guest receives a briefing on the design of the course before heading out. Look out for the 19th hole, a genuine extra hole designed by Tom Doak to mark the club’s centenary in 2013.
Off-course: The traditional finish is the club’s Hunter’s Pie, a slow-braised beef dish named for founder George Hunter Rogers.
Tips: Visitor play is available on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and all day Tuesday and Friday, so apply well ahead via the club’s website.
The coastal escape:
Port Fairy Golf Links, Shipwreck Coast, VIC
Why go: A classic 18-hole natural links winding through unspoilt sand dunes, with Southern Ocean views, open to all and a little over three hours’ drive from Melbourne.
What to expect: A links is the seaside style of golf, where the ground is firm and the wind is part of the test. Port Fairy gives you sand dunes, ocean outlooks and a course that makes the most of its setting. Plan your tee-time around the forecast, because windy days play tougher.
Off-course: Port Fairy is one of Victoria’s prettiest villages, with bluestone cottages, Norfolk Island pines, galleries, cafés and pubs. Eat fish and chips by the water and walk out to the bluestone lighthouse on Griffiths Island, built in 1859, where short-tailed shearwaters nest from September to April.
Tips: On very hot days the club opens earlier tee-times and can close the course, so check the forecast and start early.
The long lunch:
Mollymook Golf Club, South Coast, NSW
Why go: Two courses, one beach town and a very good dinner reservation, two-and-a-half to three hours south of Sydney.
What to expect: The Hilltop course, known as “The Ultimate Challenge”, is 18 holes of bushland golf, set so you can hear the waves rolling in on Mollymook Beach. It measures 6,225 metres from the championship tees, with undulating greens and water in play from creeks and dams. The nine-hole Beachside course, upgraded in 2021, sits at the southern tip of Mollymook Beach and wanders around the Collers Beach inlet, a lovely warm-up or wind-down.
Off-course: Book a table at Rick Stein at Bannisters, perched on the headland or book into the hotel’s Spa by the Sea. Cupitt’s Estate in Ulladulla has a cellar door in a restored stone creamery and nearby Milton has cafés and small shops.
Tips: Visitors are welcome all year, but summer is busy, so lock in tee-times and restaurant bookings early.
The resort reset:
Noosa Springs Golf & Spa Resort, Sunshine Coast, QLD
Why go: Resort golf with a day spa on-site, about three kilometres from trendy Hastings St.
What to expect: Graham Papworth’s par-72 course measures 6,180 metres from the back tees, with shorter tees for everyone else. It winds through 53 hectares of tropical bushland between Noosa National Park and Lake Weyba, with spring-fed lakes and kangaroos and other wildlife for company. Many golfers remember the stretch from the par-3 fourth hole to the par-4 seventh.
Off-course: The award-winning day spa has a hydromassage pool and a flotation pool under a starlit ceiling.
Tips: Carts are included in the green fee.
The city break:
Glenelg Golf Club, Novar Gardens, Adelaide
Why go: A freshly renovated course approaching its centenary, in a city hosting the women’s Australian Open at nearby Royal Adelaide from March 11-14.
What to expect: Course architect Neil Crafter, working with Bob Tuohy and project manager Ryan Van Der Veen, spent six years re-routing parts of the layout and rebuilding most of the bunkers, cutting their number from 91 to 64. The fairways are now fast-running Santa Ana couch and the greens smooth-rolling bentgrass, with revetted bunkers and steep, wall-like faces, in the style of the great British links. The aim was a more open, links-like feel among the pines. Minjee Lee set the women’s course record, a 65, as an amateur in 2013.
Off-course: The club is about 15 minutes from the city centre and five minutes from both Adelaide Airport and the beachside suburb of Glenelg, so it fits easily into a city break.
Tips: Glenelg is a private club that welcomes visitors by booking, subject to availability, but not on Saturdays or Wednesdays (except at twilight), so enquire well ahead.
The outback Adventure:
Mount Isa Golf Club, Mt Isa, QLD
Why go: For golfers who want an unforgettable outback twist: red dust, hospitality and a very different kind of memory.
What to expect: Mount Isa’s 18-hole course is the only one in north-western Queensland with grass greens, in a town famous as the birthplace of Greg Norman. The club has hosted the Outback Queensland Masters in 2019, 2022 and 2023 and its well-kept course comes as a surprise in the outback. A friendly local membership makes for a social, relaxed round.
Off-course: At Mount Isa you can go underground on the Hard Times Mine tour, led by former miners, join a bush tucker tour with an Indigenous guide or visit the Riversleigh Fossil Centre.
Tips: Summers in the outback can be extreme, so schedule tee-times for first light or the late afternoon, hydrate, wear sun-protective clothing and check local weather alerts.
The trans-Tasman trip:
Pupuke Golf Club, Campbells Bay, Auckland, NZ
Why go: The club where Lydia Ko learned the game.
What to expect: Pupuke was founded in 1914 beside Lake Pupuke on Auckland’s North Shore, about 16 kilometres from the city centre. Ko first played here aged 5 and was made a life member at 18, leading the club to call itself “the course that creates champions”. The par-70 course measures about 5,450 metres from the back tees, with gum trees and views of the Hauraki Gulf and Rangitoto Island. Ko rates the 151-metre 17th as one of her favourite holes in New Zealand: “It’s short but it’s always been challenging.”
Off-course: The elevated clubhouse looks over the course and the Hauraki Gulf, with a lounge and bar for the post-round debrief. The club’s “She Loves Golf” program runs six-week learn-to-play courses for beginners and intermediates, Chip & Sip sessions and fast, fun, social “Summer 6s” for women new to the game or seeking a shorter format.
Tips: Book “She Loves Golf” sessions through the club’s website. The program welcomes women from beginners through to experienced golfers.
Whichever getaway suits your game, book early, check dress codes and visitor access and leave enough room in the itinerary for the part of the trip that doesn’t involve golf.
