Moonah Links Resort (Open)

Moonah Links complex is a large, 600-acre, golf tourism development in Victoria which contains housing, tennis courts, swimming pool, spa and – at its centre – two fantastic golf courses.

Located an hour's drive south east of Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula near Sorrento, the Open and Legends 18-hole layouts are laid out over a tumbling coastal landscape ideally suited for constructing modern links courses and the naturally draining sandy soil means that golf can be played all year round.

Home to Golf Australia (formerly the AGU), the Open at Moonah Links is a championship course built and prepared for national competition and the Australian Open will be held here every few years on a rotational basis. It is a course that will really test the professionals from the back tees with lengthy par four holes, tight fairways and heavily contoured greens.

Completed in 2002, the Open course hosted the 2003 Australian Open which was won by Peter Lonard. Two years later, Robert Allenby claimed the title when the championship returned.

The Open course can be set up with five tee placements at each hole to play anything from a relatively genteel 5,912 yards to a mighty 7,461 yards. This flexibility allows the higher handicapped player to still play the same track as the professionals without getting too badly beaten up!

A feature hole on the front nine is the 184-yard, par three, 7th hole which is played from the highest point on the course where cross winds can present a severe obstacle to marking a three on the scorecard. The round ends with the mammoth 640-yard par five which has no fewer than eleven bunkers along its length in an attempt to keep the golfer on their toes right until the end of the round.