Playing as a visitor: access, heat and etiquette

Australia has an unusual amount of very good golf open to visitors, including several courses that appear in world rankings. Playing one is mostly a matter of asking the right questions before you drive out there.

Find out what kind of club it is

Public and council-owned courses sell tee times to anybody. Most private clubs keep the weekend sheet for members and sell visitor times midweek, often to golfers with a GolfLink handicap. A small number require introduction by a member and say so on their websites.

Where the site is unclear, one call to the pro shop settles it.

Handicap and reciprocal rights

Many private clubs ask visitors for a GolfLink number and a current handicap, particularly on championship courses. If you belong to a club, ask your own pro shop about reciprocal arrangements before you travel; they are common between metropolitan clubs and often cut the green fee substantially.

Booking, and what the fee includes

Booking through the club’s own site usually gets the better times and makes changes easier. Tee-time platforms are useful for finding what is open nearby at short notice. Check what the green fee includes: carts, range balls and club hire are almost always separate, and twilight rates in summer can be half the morning price.

Dress code, in practice

A collared shirt, tailored shorts or trousers and soft spikes will get you onto essentially any Australian course. Football shorts, singlets and denim are what gets turned away. Private clubs are stricter than public courses, and the shop will tell you in a sentence.

Heat, and playing early

From November to March the sensible tee time is the first one. Take more water than you think you need, a hat and sunscreen, and expect the course to be firm and fast by mid-afternoon. Many clubs move to cart-path rules or restrict carts on hot, dry days.

Pace of play is what visitors are judged on

Nobody minds a high score. They mind waiting. Play ready golf, leave the buggy on the route to the next tee, and pick up when you are out of the hole in a social round. If the group behind is waiting on every shot and there is space ahead, wave them through.

Looking after the course

Replace divots or fill them from the bottle, repair your pitch mark and one more, and rake bunkers entering and leaving from the low side. On sandbelt courses the bunkering is the point of the architecture, and leaving it properly raked is noticed.

Where to play as a visitor

The Melbourne sandbelt is the obvious target: Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath and Victoria all take limited visitor play, generally midweek and through the pro shop. In Tasmania, Barnbougle Dunes and Cape Wickham are public-access resort courses that take direct bookings. Queensland plays all year, and New South Wales has a strong municipal network around Sydney and Newcastle.

Green fees vary by season and day, and the club’s own page is the only reliable source.

Before your first round somewhere new

• Call the pro shop: access, handicap requirements, dress code and what the fee includes.
• Arrive thirty minutes early, and earlier still in summer.
• Agree with your group how you will keep pace before you hit off.

Visitors are invited back for how they treat the course and the group behind, never for how they play.