Q Golf - Official online magazine for Golf Queensland Spring / Summer 2011 | Page 25

TRAVEL FEATURE

By Andrew Marshall

Melbourne is sophisticated, slick, cool and outdoorsy a multicultural city with a cosmopolitan attitude offering
superlative shopping, lavish dining, top-drawer theatre, great
nightlife, funky districts and the beautiful Yarra River that
snakes its way through the centre and provides a playground
and oasis for everyone. Melbourne is also known for its
resident’s high quality of life and the Economist Intelligence
Unit (EIU) voted it the world’s second most livable city in 2011
after Vancouver.
The capital of Victoria and ‘the city-bythe-bay’ also has special relevance to
golfers. Located just 30 minutes from the
city centre, is some of the best golfing
country not only in Australia, but also
on planet earth. This is the rich vein of
sandy loam subsoil famously known as
the Melbourne sandbelt. A collection
of golf course names trip off the tongue
more smoothly than sand being released
through a clenched fist: Yarra Yarra,
Metropolitan, Huntingdale, Kingston
Heath and Royal Melbourne.

just phenomenal. You never get a chance
to see bunkering like this in any other
place in the world.”

Over the years, these famous
layouts have hosted numerous great
championships such as The Australian
Open, The Australian Masters and The
Presidents Cup. When Tiger Woods
marked his first visit Down Under for
eleven years by winning the 2009
Australian Masters at Kingston Heath, he
said: “I’ve always been a huge fan of the
sandbelt golf courses. The bunkering is

Although the first ever Presidents Cup
was staged at the Robert Trent Jones
Golf Club in Virginia, USA in 1994 (when
the U.S. Team defeated the International
Team, 20-12), I have particularly fond
memories of the first time it was played
at Royal Melbourne over three days
in December 1998, as I’d been given a
complimentary ticket by a friend who
helped set up the event.

www.golfqueensland.org.au

The good news for golf fans worldwide,
is that The Presidents Cup - a biennial
event (held in non-Ryder Cup years and
originally developed to give the world’s
best non-European players the chance
to compete against a U.S team in a
match-play competition), will be played
for the second time at Royal Melbourne,
November 14-20, 2011.

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