Moonah Links Open Course

Moonah Links Open Course

Moonah Links is located just over an hour south of the Melbourne CBD on the Mornington Peninsula. There are two courses, the Open and The Legends. The whole property is now the Peppers Moonah Links Resort with accommodation, tennis courts, conference centre, pool and spa. The Open course opened in 2001 and The Legends Course opened in 2003.

The open course was designed by Peter Thompson with Mike Wolveridge and Ross Perret with the specific goal of hosting tournament golf, especially The Australian Open. It has in fact hosted two Australian Opens in 2003 and 2006. Thomson described he site as “some of the finest golfing land to be found in Australia.” Be sure to check out the sculpture of Thompson as you start your round

Ozziegolf has played The Open Course multiple times and most recently we had the opportunity of playing it twice in a month. The first round was played from the white markers at 5981 metres and the second round was from the Blue markers at 6291 metres. The Championship markers play 6783 metres and is a true test especially with any wind in play. At the most recent Championship played on the Open Course the winds blew hard for the final round and world class golfer Marc Leishman carded +4 76 and won the tournament.

So from the Blue tees the Open Course provides a very stern challenge. It is much more relaxed outing from the white tees and yet you still get a great sense of the architecture and challenges from the forward tees.

The opening tee shot gives you great taste of what lies ahead. Confronted by rolling dunes landscape and giant bunkers left and right of the fairway. If you navigate those it’s a relatively short pitch to an elevated green but there is danger left, right, front and back.

Bunkering is very much a feature of The Open Course. There are more than 80 spread over 17 holes (none on the 6th) and most of these are penal and definitely cost a shot if you fine one. The 18th is a classic example with pot bunkers scattered down the whole of the fairway.

The greens are like all those in the Mornington area – hard and pretty fast. It might reflect the quality of our approach shots but the joke in our group was that a pitch repair tool was redundant.

As with all courses in the Mornington area the wind can and usually does play a significant role. It is rare to get a day without some breeze and this can often escalate into 20-40km/h winds. This is when the course provides its greatest test.

The Open is a great course and it is easy to see why it is regularly ranked in the top 100 course in Australia. Moonah Links has top notch facilities including driving range, magnificent clubhouse and pro shop. There is a great café inside the clubhouse where you can grab a bite to eat and a cleansing beer for those post round post mortems. practice putting greens and chipping areas. It should be on everyone’s list of courses to play.

Website: https://www.moonahlinks.com.au/cms/

Bookings can be done online or by ringing the club.