Spring Valley Golf Club

The Spring Valley Golf Club was established in 1948 with thirty-three founding members, many of them from the Forest Hills club in nearby Dandenlong. It took almost three years to clear the scrub from the site chosen for the new course and it opened for play in 1951. Although the routing has remained intact for over half a century, Mike Clayton has modified all greens, tees and bunkers in recent times.

Situated in the centre of the Melbourne sandbelt, Spring Valley doesn’t quite have the same rolling topography of other, higher ranked courses in the area but it’s a fine layout nonetheless, demanding careful course management to score well.

Designed by Vern Morcom, son of Mick (the head greenkeeper at Royal Melbourne for thirty years) who constructed much of Alister MacKenzie’s work in Victoria’s state capital, Spring Valley is a traditional sandbelt course where the game plan consists of accuracy off the tee and precision of the approach to greens.

A modern clubhouse sits on ground slightly above the rest of the course, allowing for a gentle downhill opening hole and a testing, uphill, closing hole, played to a raised green. Tree-lined fairways and firm putting surfaces are impressively bunkered throughout and water even makes a mark on proceedings at the par four 13th hole.