A new neighbour for St Andrews Beach

[Scott Warren]

When the Doak/Clayton St Andrews Beach golf course opened on the Mornington Peninsula outside Melbourne, the plan was for a private club with 36 holes.

Of course the one course that got built is now run as a public course and the land that would have housed the second course was sold off separately.

The Doak/Clayton routing for course #2 has been shelved and Ross Perrett of Peter Thomson's firm will now be building a new golf course on that site. Construction to begin in January, according to the AGCSA (superintendents' assoc.)


Pic from AGCSA newsletter

From article linked below: "With a vision to establish a truly exclusive members-only golf club, [the owner] commissioned golf course architect Ross Perrett of Thomson Perrett, designers of the nearby Moonah Links and Ocean Course at The National Golf Club, to come up with a new routing that will be known as St Andrews Private Golf Club."

It is intended to have just 281 members, in honour of Thommo's 1955 Open winning score at TOC.

Thomson says (same source): "The area already has seven outstanding courses and the new course at St Andrews Beach could be the best yet."

Perrett says: “We are confident that we will produce a world class links course on a superb parcel of land reminiscent of the great links of Scotland and Ireland.”

More info here: "Unfinished business beckons"


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Further reading

A website for the new club is being developed at http://www.standrewsprivate.com.au/

News from when site was sold

Discussion of the commercial collapse that precipitated all of this

Kyle Henderson's tour of St Andrews Beach

[Kyle Henderson]

That's a shame. The "Fingal Course" routed by Doak and Clayton looked like it could be even better than the Gunnamatta course. Also, Perrett's work on a neighboring course was no where near the quality level of the Gunnamatta, IMHO.

[Connor Dougherty]

That's a shame. The "Fingal Course" routed by Doak and Clayton looked like it could be even better than the Gunnamatta course. Also, Perrett's work on a neighboring course was no where near the quality level of the Gunnamatta, IMHO.

I haven't seen any of Perrett's courses, but Tom's work on the Gunnamatta Course was magnificent. I only got a glimpse of the routing for the Fingal Course, but it looked like it was going to be very good, and based on what Kyle mentioned, I also have a hard time imagining the course living up to what Tom and Mike could've done.

[Mark Chaplin]

After the previous nightmare for investor members, will 281 golfers stump up considerable sums of cash and risk losing it with zero rights??

[Ben Lovett]

One of my biggest regrets of living in Melbourne was playing Moonah links over St Andrews Beach, I look back now and barely remeber a stand out hole! In an area already full of good golf courses it will have to be special to attract members considering the reason the first enterprise failed.
If I remember right the original layout also had the possibility of a composite course?

[David_Elvins]

After the previous nightmare for investor members, will 281 golfers stump up considerable sums of cash and risk losing it with zero rights??

I am struggling to see what this course can offer that can't be had a lot cheaper or better elsewhere.  Next door are two Thomson Perrett courses at Moonah Links.  One can get a membership there with no joining fee for $2,700 a year.  

Further up the road at The National one can play a Thomson Perrett course, a Norman course, and a Trent Jones course for a bit over $3000 a year once they buy an equity share which ranges in price but could be less than $10,000.

With only 281 members, I cannot see what this club is offering as a point of difference.  Unless the owner has a lot of friends wo want to hang out together, it will struggle, because membership of a club on the Mornington Peninsula isn't worth much on the open market.