Playing every golf course in Melbourne Australia Rd 11: Sanctuary Lakes Golf

Is this the best golf course in Melbourne? Well, it definitely has one of the nicest clubs houses anyway. This is Sanctuary Lakes, a Greg Norman designed course around thirty minutes west of the city centre. It’s undulating landscape and water features make this one of the most beautiful courses I have played to date. If you know a better course than this, tag them below and follow the page to see all Melbourne’s courses.
I am playing from the black tees today and Hole 1 is a Par 4 379m. I hit my drive straight down the middle, just coming up short of the bunkers. I hit a 7-iron towards the green and try to avoid the bunkers on the right, but it ends up in the bunker on the left. I get it up and out of the sand but it runs to the other side of the green. My chip back to the flag goes close, and I tap in a bogey to start.
Hole 2 is a Par 3 155m. I hit a 7-iron at the flag and it lands just to the right of the green. I chip it towards the hole and it comes up around 10-meters short. I hit a fast putt and it zips about 5 meters past the hole. My bogey putt comes up short and I take a double bogey on the Par 3.
Hole 3 is a Par 4 342m. I hit a good drive straight down the middle of the fairway. I hit my 9-iron 120m at the green and it catches the edge, to the right of the flag. I have a long 25-meter putt for birdie and the close the distance to around 10 meters for a par putt. It doesn’t fall and I tap in a bogey at Hole 3.
Hole 4 is a Par 5 500m. It’s 200m to clear the lake on the left. I clear it well and I have about 230 meters to the front of the green. Wind assisted I make the edge of the green and chip it towards the upper ledge of the green. It sticks about 5 meters from the hole and I putt for my first birdie of the day.
Hole 5 is a 393m Par 4. I hit a good drive that comes up just short of the bunker. I pull my 5-wood slight left, trying to avoid the bunkers on the right. My chip from 30 meters goes close enough so that I have a chance to save par. It takes an agonising wobble and leaves me with a bogey.
Hole 6 is a 156m Par 3. I hit a 6-iron at the flag, but it takes an unfortunate hop and rolls out to about 25 meters from the hole. I literally just whack it towards the flag and it leaves a 10-meter par putt. I don’t expect much from here but it comes relatively close and I take a bogey.
Hole 7 is a 367m Par 4. Again, my drive brings me down the middle of the fairway. I hit an 8-iron from around 130 meters and it lands me on the green. I have a putt for birdie. It just veers right and I tap in a par.
Hole 8 is a Par 5 510m. It’s about 200ish meters to clear the water. I bomb it over the water and try to curve a 3-wood around the sand bunker 200 meters away. Thankfully it comes up short and I hit a pitching wedge towards the green. It sticks to the green and give me another chance at birdie. And I am delighted about sinking a putt from over 10 meters.
Hole 9 is a Par 4 364m. The wind is in my face here and I pull my drive to the left of the fairway. I am 175m from the greens centre and I hit a 4-iron into the wind. It runs along and leaves me on the fringes. I chip it to within 5 meters and expect to sink this for a par but it takes a wobble and misses right leaving me with a bogey.
I was very happy with my front nine. In particular the birdies on the two Par 5’s were great to get. My drives were mostly hitting the fairway and I hit my irons relatively well from uneven underfoot conditions. If I can keep three putts to a minimum, I think I can score well like I did here. 42 shots on a Par 36 is 20 points for me on a 14 handicap.

[@todjo929]

Would love to see you come out and play at Ballarat golf club - it's a lovely park course, not too expensive, and not far from Ballarat train station

[@Golfer99]

Kooringal golf club is crazy

[@PeterOlm]

Cardinia Beaconhills is a beautiful course. Portarlington, Yering Meadows, The Sands Torquay, Strathallan, Eynesbury, Marysville and Gardiners Run can also be on the list! Enjoying your videos!

[@lifewithg7139]

Cheers Peter. A great list there to keep me busy 😊

[@markpennini3767]

Please try Waterford Valley! A hidden gem in the Eastern suburbs. Freeway Golf Course in Balwyn North is worth your time, too.

[@lifewithg7139]

Cheers Mark. I’ll have a look at theses one 😊

[@lifewithg7139]

Hole 10 is a Par 4 408m. I hit a good drive down the middle and had 150 meters, a 7-iron to the green for shot two. I hit the green and my putt just missed the hole to the right, running a meter past. I tapped in for a par. Hole 11 is a Par 3 169m. I don’t know why I hit a 5-wood here, but I did and it landed in the sand trap to the left of the green. I hit probably my best bunker shot ever and came out right beside the hole for a tap in par. Hole 12 is a Par 5 517m. I hit my drive straight down the fairway and decided to try and fade a 3-wood towards the green. It didn’t fade and went straight into the bushes. I worried about snakes so I didn’t even look for it. I just dropped a ball beside where it went in a took a 2-shot penalty. I duffed this shot and it came up short of the bunker. But I caught this on clean and it landed beside the hole for a chance to save double bogey. Hole 13 is a Par 4 405m. Again, my driver finds the fairway and I have 170 meters to the green. I hit my 5-wood well and it rolls onto the green and give me a chance at birdie. It just misses to the left and I tap in a par. Hole 14 is a Par 4 365m. I land it on the fair way with a decent shot at the green. I slightly push my 7-iron to the right and have to chip over a bunker. It goes well and lands about 6 meters from the hole. My putt goes close and I tap in a bogey. Hole 15 is a short Par 4 308m. I drive it to within 50 meters and have a sand wedge to the hole. It lands just behind the flag leaving me with a chance at birdie. Again, the space around the hole is wobbly and just veers left, leaving me with a tap in par. Hole 16 is a Par 5 520m. My drive hits the fairway just short of the bunkers. I tap a 5-wood forward, careful not to end up in the water hazards protecting the green. The boys in the buggy ahead of me were in the water looking for golf balls. My shot clears the hazard and lands on the fringes. I hit a little chip that sinks and give me another birdie on a par 5. Hole 17 is a 200m Par 3. I hit my 5-wood and it lands just to the right of the green on the fringes. My chip clears the first ledge but nearly rolls over the back and I have a long putt for par. It comes close and I just manage to rim in my bogey putt. Hole 18 is a Par 4 400m, my drive goes straight down the middle of the fairway. I go for the green with my 3-wood and it just clears the water hazards and lands on the fringes of the green. My chip goes a bit longer than I had hoped and leaves a tricky putt for par. It misses left and I tap in a bogey to finish. I shot 40 on the back nine which is four over par. That’s 21 points on a 14-handicap leaving me with 41 points over all, and 10 over par with 82 shots. I happy with this performance especially my drives which mostly landed on the fairway. It’s getting clearer each week that I need to practice my putting more, and that’s something that could take my game to the next level. Overall, I think Sanctuary Lakes is a great track. The setting is beautiful and course is very playable. The water and hillscape and undulating greens make it a tough course. And the lack of trees makes it a very favourite of mine. The day I was there was a bit overcast and it reminded me a lot of the Irish golf courses. I would love to come back on a sunny day and see what it looks like then. I was looking forward to putting up the drone and see the course from the sky but there’s a no-fly zone above it. If you know any other courses, I should play let me know in the comments, and if you made it this far give the channel a follow to see more golf courses in Melbourne.