Country Club Tasmania

Country Club Tasmania, nestled among 300 acres of parkland, lakes and rolling paddocks just ten minutes from Launceston's CBD, has long been one of Australia's most complete resort golf destinations. The original course, first opened in 1982, was crafted by Australian golf legend Peter Thomson and architect Michael Wolveridge, blending links and parkland styles with strategic water hazards and expansive greens. That original layout served the club well for over four decades, but what is now taking shape at Prospect Vale represents something altogether more ambitious.

The Championship Golf Course is undergoing a $20 million transformation, designed by renowned architect Robin Gibson, with the new 18-hole par 72 layout scheduled to open in Summer 2026/27. Designed through an immersive, on-the-ground process, the course has been shaped in harmony with its natural contours, mature trees, waterways and sweeping parkland environment. Every bunker, creek line and green complex has been placed with purpose, responding to the land rather than imposing on it. The result, as those lucky enough to have had a preview will attest, is absolutely stunning.

Six kilometres worth of creek winds its way throughout the layout, filling up two sizeable lakes, with all the water very much in play. The sand-capped fairways — built on Barnbougle sand — ensure reliable, firm and fast conditions all year round, and the greens have been doubled in size compared to the old layout, though don't let that fool you — they are rollicking with slopes, and there is no such thing as a straight putt on the championship course.

The bunkering is very much in the US resort style, with grass folding into the sand rather than presenting the golfer with steep faces and lips, making them aesthetically striking as well as fair. Fescue lines the outer reaches of many holes, lending the layout a hint of Barnbougle's rugged character despite the parkland setting.

Among the standout holes, the par five 13th offers the last look at the lakes — and quite a look it is, with water surrounding the fairway. The 10th, aptly named "Love Island" owing to its past as a wedding venue, is one of the most dramatic on the course, with the dam wall hiding much of the fairway and a litany of bunkers lying in wait.

Robin Gibson was given a brief that the course needed to be playable for all levels — possibly the hardest specification to fulfil in course design — and he has delivered admirably, with four tee positions on every hole. Cricket legend and proud Launceston local Ricky Ponting, who has been named as the course's official ambassador, summed it up perfectly after playing the first nine holes ahead of the full opening: "Playing the first nine holes for the very first time was just extraordinary. I can now visualise exactly what this magnificent facility is going to be."

Complementing the new course is The Range — a lively, multi-storey, all-weather driving range and entertainment precinct featuring Toptracer ball-tracking technology in every bay, a Golf Pro coaching service, an 18-hole mini golf course modelled on the championship layout, and The Clubhouse bar and dining experience alongside the bays. It is a destination within a destination, and together with the championship course, creates the most comprehensive golf environment in Tasmania.

Away from the course, Country Club Tasmania offers a resort experience that is hard to match anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere. There are 104 hotel rooms and suites alongside 78 self-contained villas, multiple restaurants and bars, an indoor heated pool, spa, gym, tennis and pickleball courts, and even horse riding — all set within those glorious 300 acres. The resort is just 15 minutes from Launceston Airport, making it an effortless destination for a golf trip, a conference, or simply a long weekend well spent.

A golfing trip to Tasmania is not complete without a visit to Barnbougle Dunes and Lost Farm on the island's rugged north coast, but Country Club Tasmania's new championship parkland layout now makes Launceston an essential stop too. This is Tasmania's first true parklands championship course — lush, strategic, beautifully framed and alive with movement — and it is unlike anything else the island has to offer.