Magazine - Kingston Heath Ranked Australia's Top Golf Course!

By Editor in Golf on 18th Feb 2010 15:00

The crown has slipped. For the first time since national rankings started, Royal Melbourne is not the country's top golf course.
It has been replaced by another sandbelt gem, Kingston Heath, host of last year's Australian Masters, won by disgraced superstar Tiger Woods.

This is the first time since the authoratitive Australian Golf Digest's biennial ranking of the country's Top 100 courses began in 1986 that Royal Melbourne has not topped the list.

Kingston Heath heads the list from the New South Wales Golf Club, Royal Melbourne's West Course and Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania, a rapid mover. Royal Melbourne's East Course rates eighth.

The editor of Australian Golf Digest, Steve Keipert, said the main factors influencing the radical change were Royal Melbourne's poor conditioning, the fact it had been ranked as a composite course, which members cannot play - and Kingston Heath's succcessful Masters tournament.

"Kingston Heath was a consistent scorer across the board and was there for all to see when it successfully hosted the Australian Masters won by Tiger Woods," Keipert said.

"New South Wales also performed brilliantly in the spotlight this past summer and was a mere quarter of a point away from top spot itself.

"Royal Melbourne is a masterpiece but the club has been dealing with severe conditioning issues in recent years and our criteria now assesses the East and West courses there separately - not as a composite."


Barnbougle, designed by American Tom Doak and Victorian Mike Clayton. took fourth spot at the expense of the Packer family's private course Ellerston.

Greg Norman's Moonah course The National, moved up to sixth while Royal Adelaide slipped three spots to ninth.

Top 10 golf courses, as ranked by Australian Golf Digest:

1 Kingston Heath (Vic)
2 New South Wales (NSW)
3 Royal Melbourne (West) (Vic)
4 Barnbougle Dunes (Tas)
5 Ellerston (NSW)
6 The National (Moonah) (Vic)
7 Metropolitan (Vic)
8 Royal Melbourne (East) (Vic)
9 Royal Adelaide (SA)
10 Victoria (Vic).

Source & More: www.news.com.au

Read more articles in Golf, by Editor or from February 2010.