Golfing in Bayside City Council
Few places pack in sandbelt golf like this 37-square-kilometre strip of Melbourne's bayside suburbs. The Royal Melbourne Golf Club, founded in 1891 and Australia's oldest continuously existing club, is a private 36-hole club whose West course, built on Alister MacKenzie's 1926 routing, has long been ranked number one in Australia, with bold, high-lipped bunkers and fast, contoured greens; Alex Russell's East course is ranked sixth. The Victoria Golf Club is another private sandbelt championship course, known for its quick greens. Public golfers do well too. Sandy Golf Links, a 2020 OCM design by Mike Cocking and Geoff Ogilvy, is short and strategic, with big, breaking greens and sculpted bunkers. Cheltenham's nine-hole course from 1936 adds firm sandbelt turf, and Brighton Golf Course offers tight holes and drivable par 4s.