Just finished up a trip to Australia/New Zealand-
There are so many different ways to set this trip up, and my point of posting this topic is to share my trip, and hopefully get some discussion, and help others in the future..
Melbourne-
As far as golf trips that are based around a city it seems like Melbourne is tough to beat. The city is phenomenal..
-clean
-great food/nightlife/young/active
-beautiful architecture
-clean parks that weave in and around the city
-Great sports scene
I arrived ahead of the official start of the trip via LAX arriving 9:00am local time and went straight to the Victoria Club. Got my bearings and played 27 that day, and stayed the night in the upstairs "dorm" rooms- screen less windows looking onto the putting green/18th/10th holes. No television and your own bathroom. Little room down the hall to do laundry and iron clothes- nice in house option while on a trip. Dinner in Black Rock; a small beachy town a mile from Royal Melbourne--2 Miles or so from Victoria. Woke up early for quick 18 holes and lunch.
Victoria has a great grill room--lots of food and drink- members paying cash as they go..love that. Victoria makes you feel literally at home by flying your native flag on their flag pole...a great "back in time" feel. I then headed into the city to meet up with a buddy to start the trip..
We stayed in East Melbourne- which is close to everything in town and used Uber to get out to Cheltenham..$25-40 US.
From there we went-
18-Metropolitan-
36-Kingston Heath-
18-Victoria-
36-Royal Melbourne-
After Royal we headed down to the Mornington Peninsula and stayed in Sorrento-
18- National-Moonah
18-Old Course
18- Sorrento after beers at Portsea Pub...this was a great surprise of the trip. I would play here ahead of playing at National...although the Moonah is a tremendous property with a fun course built across the land. The Old Course gets a ton of good reviews from local Aussie's...we played there with 2 members of Kingston Heath who absolutely love the course. I guess it makes sense because it's so different than the sandbelt courses...but the truth is it's mountain climbing golf..literally..with big unnecessary greens.
Sorrento and Portsea are summer resort towns for the city people of Melbourne, but at the same time maintain the camping, surfing, outdoor activity vibe...a great place to visit.
Courses of note we missed-
Woodlands
Yarra Yarra
Commenwealth
Huntingdale
Long Island
Missed on the "peninsula"
Barwon Heads
Portsea
St. Andrews Beach
King Island and Tasmania are easily accessible from a small airport in Cheltenham right in the Sandbelt. (Cape Wikham and Barnbougle Dunes)
For my buck and when I return, because I no doubt will..I will keep my focus centered on Melbourne.
Royal Melbourne is everything that it is supposed to be and then some...what a magnificent facility. Ben Crenshaw once called it is favorite course, and having played a lot of Coore/Crenshaw courses the inspiration is clear..obviously in the line up next trip..The holes speak for themselves, and I know there are a lot of threads, a great tour in Courses by Country, and numerous tournaments on youtube if you'd like to go through the architectural merits..
Metropolitan gets a lot of love amongst locals, and seems to hold a solid reputation in the Sandbelt. A sporty course with some really good holes, and excellent par 3s. I'm not sure this cracks the line up for me next trip...simply because I really want to see Yarra Yarra and Commenwealth.
Victoria--although not quite on the same scale as Royal Melbourne-- will get a spot every time...the course is fantastic, and posses the same sort of "natural" feel as Royal Melbourne.
Stand out holes- 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 14,15,16, 18. You will also feel most welcome here..
Kingston Heath has a more linksy and possibly London feel...beloved amongst locals for good reason, but I think I liked Victoria better? A smart, fun golf course that you will enjoy. How many courses have the ability to consistently alter the routing for tournaments, day to day play...what a great routing and course.
With the city of Melbourne being so great, and the golf courses of the Sandbelt so plenty, its tough to see an international visitor keen on Golf Architecture to put forth the effort and head down to the Peninsula. Although St. Andrews Beach, Barwon Heads, Portsea, Moonah and Sorrento all make for interesting and fun golf....that's what makes setting the line up for this trip so difficult.
After a rest in Brisbane and a visit to Stradbroke Island..we were off to New Zealand.
New Zealand-
Flew in to Auckland and drove up to Mangawhai where we stayed at a local farmhouse and played:
36- Tara Iti
18-Waipu
18-Titirangi
Tara Iti is a legit course. What a great job Tom Doak and his crew did with that land. A good test from the back, variety, great flow in the routing--11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 is some stretch. They are trying to do something at Tara Iti..I'm not sure they know what, but it will be interesting to see what becomes of Tara Iti.
We played 18 in the opening tournament at Waipu. Our friend is a member there, and we had a great day. Waipu is like Goat Hill on Shelter Island, NY, except 18 holes, and on Frankenstein Steriods. Incredible scenery, views the entire time, with great holes. No irrigation in the fairways--which we like--but unfortunately a lot of loose sand in the fairways...greens were perfect.
18 at Titirangi- Clyde Johnson is fighting the good fight there, and no doubt doing great work. A really cool course, and always nice to play a course with a lot of Mackenzie in there. We played with Clyde who is a super guy- thanks Clyde for playing with us if you're reading.
Mangawhai and the surrounding area is delightfully rural, and has that "trekker" feel. Mangawhai Heads has a small town with a few restaurants-- the best restaurant would be "The Dune" in Mangawhai. The scenery is has dramatic as the photographs, and the beaches are stunning. We did some nice body surfing on the beach just out front of Tara Iti (public access down a dirt road).
Finally we headed down to Wellington to play Paraparaumu Beach Golf Links which is an hour or so drive north of the city. Played 18- watched the Super Bowl inside, and played more after. A great links course that lived up to the years of reading and looking at pictures . Really cool holes where angles are premium--playing the holes backwards, so to speak. Links Golf for real where you make your target really simple- the fairway and the green. Shots that require landing 40 yards short...bathtub greens...holes and especially greens you just don't see built anymore, but why?
Re: the town--you're there to see Paraparaumu Beach Golf Links...
What a great trip to take in the North American winter...sun light in Melbourne until 8:45pm--weather was low humidity- 70s Fahrenheit.
Hope this helps those taking a trip in the near future.
Mike Sweeney