According to Melbourne’s The Age newspaper. there has been uproar in the city over state Planning Minister Matthew Guy’s decision to approve the relocation of the 99-year old Eastern Golf Club. The decision will allow the club to move from its present land-locked home in Doncaster to a n

Planet Golf can report that work started earlier this month on the new St Andrews Private Golf Club down at St Andrews Beach on the Mornington Peninsula. Designed by Ross Perrett and Peter Thomson, St Andrews Private will be an invitation only club limited to just 281 people deemed, by the devel

That the Ipswich Golf Club finds itself in financial trouble will surprise few, especially those familiar with the club’s recently ‘upgraded’ Wayne Grady golf course. Golf clubs across southeast Queensland have been struggling in recent times due to the economic downturn in the sta

Golf Monthly Magazine in the United Kingdom has released its 2012 ranking of the Top 100 golf courses in the British Isles. The list follows hot on the heels of the Golf World debacle, where the unopened Trump International Scotland course was ranked 8th in the UK/Ireland and ahead of Royal Dornoch

In news that will hardly shock observers of the Asian golf industry, it was announced this week that organizers of the Asia Pacific Golf Summit will yet again honor Jack Nicklaus at their annual talkfest. This will be the fourth Summit in a row that has feted the Golden Bear, this time with the grea

Canada’s popular SCORE Golf Magazine released its latest Top 100 rankings this month, with few changes at the top but plenty of interest right through the list. For as long as we can remember, The National Golf Club of Canada has held the number 1 spot in the biennial rankings, and once again

We believe the organizing committee for Rio 2016 made an astute decision by engaging Gil Hanse and his team to design and build the new Olympic golf course in Brazil. What do you think, was Hanse the best candidate or should they have gone with somebody else? Vote now. Who should have won the 2016

Promising news from the New South Wales Hunter Valley last week, that Capital Corporation’s proposed new $150 million golf and recreation resort in Cessnock is still on the cards. As reported in local newspaper, ‘The Advertiser’, the new golf course will be designed by Jack Nicklau

One of the more hotly contested redesign jobs in Australia was awarded to the newly formed Ogilvy Clayton Design team last week, the company appointed by the Royal Canberra Golf Club to prepare a Masterplan for major course works, post the 2013 Aussie Women’s Open. Back in October the clubâ€

It was announced over the weekend by the organizing committee for the 2016 Olympic games that eight finalists had been selected for its golf course design contest. As readers will no doubt be aware, golf is returning to the Olympics in Brazil in five years after an absence of more than a century,

Observing from afar, the lashing dished out to Cog Hill and its redesign architect Rees Jones during the recent BMW Championship seemed astonishing. I’m not suggesting the criticism was unwarranted in any way, but I am surprised at the tone of some of the vitriol and, more importantly, the qua

Ever since Golf Australia announced changes to our local handicapping system, including the implementation of the United States slope rating system for golf courses, I have feared for what might happen to some of our great layouts once their slope numbers were computed and announced. It was during

In what is claimed to be an attempt to shake a stuffy image of golf as a game for your Dad and his retired friends (does it really even have that image?), the Australian PGA recently embarked on a bold, new marketing campaign to give the game a youthful, fresher appearance. The results can be seen h

As many will be aware, tens of thousands of Queenslanders have suffered through weeks of unprecedented flooding, with more than three-quarters of the state flooded to some degree. While nothing compares with the loss of a loved one, we should remember that across the state golf clubs and course supe

I’m continually bemused by reports of young PGA Tour stars, in the prime of their playing careers, being paid exorbitant sums of money to apparently collaborate on the design of a golf course. Across Asia this is a regular occurrence, with developers often trying to hoodwink us into believing

The World’s largest golf club’ Mission Hills in China, has announced plans to offer armchair architects the opportunity to design three holes on its forthcoming Icon Course, which will be built in 2011 at the incredible new 5-star Mission Hills Resort on Hainan Island. Lead architect

In this month’s Australian Golf Digest magazine we celebrated the 40th anniversary of our first issue, and compiled a ‘Fantasy 18′ Course of the best holes built during these past four decades. The rules were simple, only one hole per course was allowed and the order of holes didn&

News this week, that around two months after being passed in at auction the Tom Doak designed St Andrews Beach Golf Course has been sold to owners that will take over the course in September. At this stage little is known of the purchasers, with the consortium apparently made up of a passionate golf

Geoff Shackelford, on his ever-amusing Blog, reports from St Andrews that Prince Andrew talks technology during a protracted speech at the Association of Golf Writers Annual Dinner. (click here for link) The regal viewpoint was that, by and large, technology had been good for the game and that recen

News today that the well known Palm Meadows golf course on Queensland’s Gold Coast is closing its doors on August 1, due to a combination of financial factors. Designed by Graham Marsh and Ross Watson, Palm Meadows shot to fame in the 1980s when it hosted Skins games and a number of high profi