Grange (West) - South Australia - Australia

The Grange Golf Club lies to the south of West Lakes, an area that was once an enormous sandy swamp prior to its reclamation and development as an Adelaide suburb. Golf is recorded as being played here as far back as 1910 when the McCoy family owned the “Pinery” estate and their house formed part of the original clubhouse.

A course was fashioned in 1927 and this consisted of only thirteen holes. It was not until further land was acquired after the Second World War that members were able to commission Vern Morcom to design a new 18-hole layout and this opened for play in 1956. It became known as the East course when the West course opened for play eleven years later.

Both are championship golf courses that have held a number of professional tournaments over the years, thanks in no small measure to the man responsible for most of the early conditioning of the courses at Grange – head greenkeeper Frank Neighbour, who was in the post for over twenty years.

Mike Clayton was brought in to remodel the layout before the Gents and Ladies World Amateur Team Championships – won by Scotland and Sweden, respectively – in 2008, and he replaced all the greens, removed a large number of trees and reshaped several fairways.

The West course measures 6,840 yards from the back markers and it plays to every inch of its length. It begins with a relatively easy par five and concludes with a closing stretch of four testing par four holes. In between, there are some delightful, tree-lined holes to be played over what is a lovely, traditional parkland track.