VICTOR HARBOR GOLF CLUB
VICTOR HARBOR, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
RANKING: Victor Harbor ranks 91st on Golf Australia’s Top-100 Public Access Courses list, and was a new entrant to the list in 2015. That position makes it the second-best public-access course in South Australia. THE DEAL: Green fees for non-members are $35 on weekdays and $48 on weekends. Several cool discounts are available, including a $30 green fee for rounds after 5pm (granted, that’s more useful to know in summer) and a $120 week-long fee for holidaymakers that begins from the day of issue. GOOD TO KNOW: Ambrose, every hacker’s favourite format, has its Australian origins at Victor Harbor. What Americans know as “Scramble” is called Ambrose here courtesy of Richard Ambrose, who planted the seed for the format while visiting Victor Harbor from Michigan with his wife in the 1960s. ANECDOTALLY: South Australia’s surveyor-general gave Victor Harbor its unique spelling – sans the ‘u’ – courtesy of a clerical error that has trickled and tricked through time. However, no such mistake was made in setting the opening scene at the town’s golf course. The tee shot from the 1st is one of the most famous in Australian golf, a 402-metre par-4 played from an elevated tee with a narrow, tree-lined fairway below and Encounter Bay beyond in a memorable opening salvo. Another gem comes at the 8th, a 381-metre par-4 that doglegs right around a lake. So how did the established 5,962-metre layout break into our Top-100 Public Access Courses ranking? Our judges felt improved course condition was the clincher.
CONTACT: (08) 8552 1713; www.victorharborgolf.com.au