Royal Melbourne Golf Club (East)

Royal Melbourne’s East Course is often seen as the second act to the iconic West Coursebut don’t be fooled it’s a course that deserves every bit of your attention.

The recipe for outstanding golf?

The fact that the East is looked down on in comparison to its big brother in the West course, only speaks to the quality of the West, not any shortcomings of the East.

The East Course may be regarded as the lesser of the two courses at Royal Melbourne but make no mistake this is a tough challenge on what is a very good and interesting course.

A great golf course that's overshadowed by others on the Sandbelt.

Just driving into the course you know its something special, the place just oozes quality, from the welcome at the pro shop to the caddies etc all were excellent, Hard to fault the course in any way, everything is as you would expect of a sandbelt course, true fast greens, great bunkering and immaculate fairways, the only thing i would say , and this might be me is that a few days later i was struggling to remember many of the holes, There are no real wow holes here just well designed, like a good quality Grey or black suit, it doesn't shout at you but does the job.

When researching my trip, I found that RM East averaged at roughly the same ranking as Victoria, and even sniffs some world top 100s.

Royal Melbourne has an interesting history, starting with a split from the now Metropolitan club in the 1890s.

There are a handful of golf clubs in the world that are blessed with two courses that are so remarkable that you are not disappointed which course you play whether as a member or visitor.

Designed by Alex Russell with Mick Morcom again in charge of construction, The East Course traverses less undulating terrain than it's older sister, but has the same iconic green and bunker complexes.