The Courses

Portsea Golf Club - #49 Australian Golf Digest’s Top 100 in 2022

Club Origins date back to 1923 when approximately 90 acres were set aside by the Portsea Lands Company and design of a preliminary nine hole layout commenced. Club founder Arthur W. Relph identified that the natural undulating landscape and sandy soils provided the unique characteristics required for a golf course. Indeed, world renowned golf course architect Alister MacKenzie said that “The finest golf courses in existence are the natural ones”. The links first opened for play in December 1924. A tenth hole was added in 1926 and by the end of the 1920’s the course consisted of eleven holes, and Clubhouse construction was underway. A further two holes were added in 1930, another one in 1934, two in 1955 and in finally in 1965 the course was extended to eighteen holes.

A number of design improvements combined with strategic bunkering, undulating Santa Ana couch fairways and slick greens make Portsea an enjoyable challenge for golfers of all standards. Set amongst rolling sand dunes and coastal vegetation with spectacular views across Port Phillip Bay, the 18 hole layout has fast draining fairways and is kept in fantastic playing condition all year round. Portsea Golf Course consistently ranks within the top 50 Australia courses and is also ranked a Rolex World Top 1000 course.

Sorrento Golf Club - #61 Australian Golf Digest’s Top 100 in 2022

Sorrento is a private golf club. Global Golf has been able to secure a number of the limited tee times available to visitors and guests of members. Sorrento enjoys a special reputation as one of Australia’s premier private clubs only 90 minutes from Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula. The course is beautifully groomed year round with quality bent grass greens and couch fairways, providing plenty of challenges for golfers of all standards. Its generous fairways and roughs are surrounded by densely wooded plantations, and bent grass greens are moderately to heavily bunkered. When Melbourne's early stalwarts travelled to the Mornington Peninsula for their holidays, they took their golf along with them. The Sorrento Golf Club became the "Royal Melbourne of the South", a course built on classic lines, borrowed from the original, for the joy and pleasure of golfers good and bad - 18 holes, each with a character all its own, challenging you to a rematch, over and over again.

"Days of golf at Sorrento are high on the list of sporting pleasures. I would rather be there than at Carnoustie, Gleneagles, Pebble Beach or Pinehurst." - Peter Thomson

St Andrew's Beach Golf Course - #25 Australian Golf Digest’s Top 100 in 2022 

Located in ‘The Cups’ region of the Mornington Peninsula and metres from the thundering surf of Gunnamatta Beach, St Andrews Beach Golf Course originally opened as an exclusive members course and debuted as the 9th best course in Australia in 2006. It is built on a stunning piece of land that lends itself perfectly to the tradition of the famous links courses of Britain and Ireland and can be compared favourably with the courses in Melbourne’s famous sandbelt region. Internationally renowned golf course architect, Tom Doak is the designer of this classic 18 hole links style course and his aim was to create one of the best golf courses in the world.  Since opening for public access play in 2009, St Andrews Beach has maintained its position as one of Australia's premier courses with Golf Australia Magazine placing it number 4 in Australia in 2015 Public Access Top 100.

As was the case with his other Australian masterpiece – Barnbougle Dunes, Doak’s design philosophies and the nature of the land itself provide a unique golfing experience with generous fairways and truly spectacular greens. Whilst most links style courses conjure up thoughts of strong winds, the natural valleys and trees that make up the landscape of St Andrews Beach offer protection from the elements on many holes, and combined with the soil type of the area you have a great course that can be enjoyed by all players alike 12 months of the year.

The Dunes Golf Links - #23 Australian Golf Digest’s Top 100 in 2022

Set amidst more than 150 hectares of rolling coastal sand hills in 'The Cups' region of the Mornington Peninsula, The Dunes 18 hole championship course has been designed to exploit the natural beauty of the terrain, while providing a true test of skill and judgment for golfers of every level. The abundant charm of the par 72 layout is dramatically enhanced by the technical merit of the course. At 6,409 meters in length, the sloping fairways meander through undulating knolls and ridges, leading to expansive greens that are typically sheltered in a natural amphitheatre or exposed on elevated promontories to the full force of the elements.

The firmness of the greens is something to behold, with 30' and 40' putts definitely make able if you can read the line. Another glorious feature of the course, the trademark natural bunkering and prevalence of native grasses ensure every aspect of your game is relentlessly challenged, with the rough tormenting any player who ventures wide of the fairway. The constantly changing contours ensure that each hole is as individual as they are demanding, while the unpredictable weather of Bass Strait further accentuates the rich and varied character of The Dunes Golf Links.

Moonah Links (Open Course) - #47 Australian Golf Digest’s Top 100 in 2022

Designed by Peter Thomson in 2001, he comments "What we are creating here at Moonah Links is of great international significance to the golfing world. Nowhere else in the world has a golf complex been developed with the specific purpose of being the home course for the Country's Open Championship". Peter Thomson's design firm has laid out 2 courses at Moonah Links on the Mornington Peninsula - this large scale development takes advantage of the perfect rolling, links style dunescape known locally as "the Cups Region". Its neighbors are the relatively new developments at The National (54 holes), St Andrews Beach (36 holes by Tom Doak) and The Dunes as well as "traditional" links layouts at Portsea and Sorrento. 

The Open Course is probably Australia's first purpose built stadium style layout and was designed specifically to host the country's premier golf event - The Australian Open. At around 7,500 yards from the Black Tees it was dubbed the "Leviathan" by its chief designer. It IS a beast but, at its heart, it is a supremely strategic test with skill required to navigate though the minefields of bunkers.