Melbourne, Victoria tick all boxes for great golf

We took a break for a day after Royal Melbourne’s East course to see more of the countryside, heading an hour south of Melbourne to the Mornington Peninsula and Cape Schanck. We spent a morning riding electric bikes along a narrow path that offered frequently stunning sea views and an afternoon at the ecotourist Moonlit Sanctuary getting friendly with koala bears, kangaroos and a tame python. Even with the bike tour – and thanks largely to the tiny motors that did much of the work instead of relying purely on pedal power – it was a chance to rest our golf legs before tackling two fantastic layouts on the peninsula.

Based on the incredibly hilly terrain of the peninsula around Cape Schanck, I couldn’t wait. On the drive down from Melbourne, I was slack-jawed looking at ground that careened up, down, around sand dunes, stretching to the coast like a miniature mountain range.

First up was St. Andrews Beach, initially intended to be a private club that fell on hard times. It has since been revived as a must-see daily-fee facility. Its layout by Tom Doak and Mike Clayton opened in 2006, and simply put, it’s familiar to the classic Sandbelt courses to its north as far as turf conditions go, but the facility’s irresistible vibe and design set it apart from other courses we played in Australia.

For comparison’s sake, St. Andrews Beach matches up well with several American layouts often favored by younger players looking for adventure. Think Sweetens Cove in Tennessee or Tobacco Road in North Carolina. The simple clubhouse at St. Andrews Beach is a temporary metal building (there are plans to build a new clubhouse), and the bathrooms are out back in a trailer – again with that Sweetens Cove comparison. There is zero pretentiousness, just golf. Not even a range, as players can warm up into a net next to the parking lot. The peak green fee is about $70 in U.S. dollars.

Gary Lisbon, an Australian golf photographer and writer of international acclaim who also helps direct golf tours, had joined us as a sherpa on much of this trip, and his drone frequently followed us around the humps and bumps and sometimes tumbling slopes of St. Andrews Beach. Kangaroos watched our threesome from adjoining fairways, with several larger specimens sauntering onto the sixth green as we played our approaches – no need for an ecotour…