On Par – All about golf in Australia

Steve Keipert, Editor of Australian Golf Digest (definitely worth a read) was interviewed recently on “The Pro Shop”, a weekly locally produced golf show on OneHD (definitely worth a look). Steve was discussing the bi-annual ranking of the Top 100 Australian Golf Courses. The Top 100 ranking like any other ranking is always going to be subjective, but at the same time is a great comparison and snapshot of the world class courses throughout Australia, and is always a topic of discussion.

Steve didnt give away the number one spot which will be announced in the March 2010 issue of Australian Golf Digest, but did note that it wont be Royal Melbourne for the first time since they started ranking courses. This is likely to be a result of the course being ranked as two layouts (East and West) for the first time rather than as the Composite and courses like Kingston Heath and NSW getting additional work and conditioning due to hosting key tournaments.

I would put my money on Kingston Heath to take the Number one ranking, its a classic sandbelt layout requiring plenty of thought on all shots, exquisite bunkering and can be tamed but will also tame. Kingston Heath will have plenty of competition from New South Wales, host of the 2009 Australian Open and even Barnbougle Dunes, the Doak designed links layout in Northern Tasmania. Word is that the new Crenshaw design course, the Lost Farm at Barnbougle is due to open in October 2010 and when matured will be even better than the current layout and will also threaten the top spot!

It will also be interesting to see what happens to some of the other courses in the Top 100, Laguna Whitsundays was listed at 21 in 2008, but when I played there in January 2009 it was in very poor condition and whilst the layout is still superb it didnt rates as a Top 100 course.

The March Issue of Australian Golf Digest will be out in the next week or so.