Although not as well known internationally as Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath or Victoria, nearby Woodlands Golf Club is one of the great charms of the Sandbelt courses.
Overall rating
4.5
Although not as well known internationally as Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath or Victoria, nearby Woodlands Golf Club is one of the great charms of the Sandbelt courses.
Although not as well known internationally as Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath or Victoria, nearby Woodlands Golf Club is one of the great charms of the Sandbelt courses. It was completed in 1919 on open woodlands that had been used for grazing. The land was part of the estate of a Count Fonceca, a French nobleman, known as the “Mad Count” for his eccentric behaviour.
Although laid out on the same sand based soil as its peers, the atmosphere is distinctly different at Woodlands. The clubhouse is more comfortable than monumental, its design based on an extension of the classic Australian bungalow with overhanging eaves. The bent grass greens are smaller than most on the Sandbelt and prove to be most elusive targets on a bad day. Course modifications have toughened the test and this is not a golf course where the golfer is invited to slash away from the tee. Patience rather than power hitting will be rewarded.
The clubhouse sits at the southern extremity of the property and the first nine works its way through native bush in a general counter-clockwise direction, returning to the clubhouse by the 9th. The back nine then describes a general clockwise rotation commencing with the 10th.
Woodlands even gets omitted from some commentators’ accounts of the Sandbelt. This is unjustified. The course offers a subtle test of golf in beautiful conditions.
The above passage is a brief edited extract from The Finest Golf Courses of Asia and Australasia by James Spence. Reproduced with kind permission.
The latest ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World serves as the ultimate global golf bucket list. Most members of our World Top 100 Panel are seasoned golfers, each playing 20-30 of these courses annually while travelling extensively over decades to form their opinions on others. We recognise that opinions vary—even among our panel members. Rankings are subjective, and there are undoubtedly 50 or more courses in the UK and USA alone that could easily fit onto this list. Links Golf Pilgrimages The rankings
California, United States
New Jersey, United States
Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
New York, United States
New York, United States
