Since its opening in March 1993, the golf course at Links Hope Island has regularly featured among the leading courses in Australia. As the 30th anniversary of its official opening approaches on March 6, new changes will provide even further intrigue for its members and the public alike.
The course opened to much fanfare in a region destined to become home to several outstanding layouts, the golf facility not only adding to the variety of Gold Coast layouts built in the 1980s 1990s but providing an important means of enhancing the adjacent residential estate at Hope Island.
The course’s reputation was already stablished when the venue was chosen for the 1997 Johnnie Walker Classic, a European Tour event that involved such luminaries as the winner, Ernie Els, plus Fred Couples, Sir Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie and others.
Set in the northern suburbs of the golf mecca that is the Gold Coast, Links Hope Island underwent change in 2021 when the par-4 ninth hole was replaced by an interesting, visually appealing and challenging par 3. The reasoning behind the change was to accommodate the introduction of an adjacent real estate precinct and to relocate the previous wet driving range. While those changes solved one problem, they created another.
Determined to retain its par of 72, which had been impacted by the new ninth, management at Links Hope Island considered a number of options before settling on extending the superb par 3 third hole into a near-driveable par 4 while retaining the original hole’s outstanding green complex.
The new hole set to open in the first half of 2023, will measure 320 metres and will certainly be driveable in certain conditions as tees of varying lengths will be utilised.
The change adds another hole of driveable length to the 16th at Links Hope Island and provides even further variety. It is sure to prove popular with all golfers playing at such an iconic Gold Coast facility.
THE DETAILS
Links Hope Island
Ranking in 2022: 50th
Prior rankings: 47th (2020), 43rd (2018), 37th (2016), 41st (2014), 35th (2012), 35th (2010), 31st (2008), 24th (2006), 24th (2004), 16th (2002), 13th (2000), 9th (1998), 11th (1996), 8th (1994)
Where: Hope Island Rd, Hope Island QLD 4212
Phone: (07) 5530 9000
