golfinmelbourne.com

Address: Anderson Road Kilmore
Holes:18
Carts: Yes
19th Hole: Yes
Costs: 18 — $21.00 weekend June 2008

One of the first things that strike you about Kilmore Golf Club is that is a country golf club in all the best ways. The staff are friendly & helpful & everyone you meet out on the course is also friendly & courteous. I love playing at courses like this, it is 100% better than playing at your inner city courses where you can get into a punch up for looking at someone the wrong way.

You have to take into account where this course is when you judge it. This course is in the Victorian country which when we first played here was in the middle of a 10 year draught. You can’t expect immaculate fairways & pristine greens. What you get are are greens that are quick & fairways that are good but patchy in places. The rough is pretty much non existent, just dirt, but the way the course is set up you dont want to get off the fairways. Nearly very fairway is tree lined so if you stray off line you are going to be in trouble even if there wasn’t a draught.

The clubhouse here at Kilmore is first class. It is on the opposite side of the road to the course which may cause some confusion the first time you come out. The 19th hole is set up beautifully with a BBQ on the balcony for a great after round function. 

To the course. I don’t know if it is the country air or what but every hole looks further than the metreage at the tee. On the front 9 you have back to back par 5’s. The 4th (426 metres) & the 5th (446 metres), neither of them overly long on paper but to look at them they are intimidating. There is only the one par 3 on the front & that is the 7th. The front 9 is a lot tougher than the back. The back 9 along with being easier to play is also easier on th eye. It starts with what is to me the best looking hole on the course, the par 3 10th. At only 155 metres from the back tees it is not an overly long hole but it looks spectacular. It is downhill with water behind & it is a gorgeous hole. Ther are a couple of holes where the first time player may get a little lost as to the direction that they are heading, no more so than the 16th. This holes bends around in behind the 13th tee but there is little help as to where the green is. I’m sure that once you have played here once that would not be an issue but for the golfing tourist a little more help would be appreciated : )

In summary, I think that Kilmore is a great country course. A friendly & competent pro shop staff & a friendly & very reasonably priced 19th hole should make this course a must make stop on your Victorian golfing weekend.

Check out the photos here

We headed out for an early morning tee off with the Epping RSL to the Growling Frog. It was a bit chilly at 7 in the morning & the breeze wasn’t helping much. The course was in magnificent condition. The fairways looked a little dry in places but were soft & lush under foot. The greens were spectacular. There are quite a few holes here that have very intimadating approach shots to the greens. With well placed bunkers & good sand it makes for a very intersting round. The group I played with all put our drives into the fairway bunker on the 18th. This is an amazing course which only seems to be getting better. The place was buzzing with a heap of people out there.

Here are some photos from previous vists. A lot of them need updating. I’ll have to remember that next time I’m out here.

A group of us headed out to Woodend on a gorgous Saturday morning. Neil & John hadn’t been out here before & the course couldn’t have been in better nick for their first outing. The fairways were in great shape & the greens were perfect. This really is a visually fantastic course. The views from the top of the hills is just stunning, the only problem is getting to the top of those hills 🙂 It’s hard work, espically the approach to the 16th green. We all had a great day, even after some knob tried to ruin it for us, John sorted him out. You can see photos from previous trips to Woodend here.

A group of took an extra long weekend & headed out to Whittlesea today. The course is in pretty good nick considering the lack of water they have had out there. The greens were in fantastic condtion & the fairways, even though there were a couple of bare patches were still pretty good. The course would have to be one of the best value for money going arong, $15.50 for 18 holes midweek, you can’t go wrong. They seem to be in the process of doing a few improvements around the course, most noteably the 9th. They have put a shit load of dirt down the left hand side of the fairway to pretty much level it out. It is still GUR at the moment & probably will be for a couple of months more.

Neil Dick & I went out to Keilor on another gorgeous Melbourne summer’s day. We started out early, 9:30, to avoid the worst of the afternoon heat. The course was the busiest that I have ever seen it. While we were in the clubhouse they sent away a bloke looking to play 9 holes because he didn’t have a booking. Neil called him back from the carpark to join us. Nice guy by the name of Josh. He made us all look like idiots on the first 2 holes, par the first & just missing his par putt on the second. As for the rest of us, we were all a little rusty. I shot an 8 on the first hole & I was lucky to get away with that 🙁 The condition of the course was pretty good. The greens were a little long which made judging the pace on the putts a little tough. Even with the extra people on the course, & the group two in front of us having 6 people in it, the round flowed pretty well. The prices have gone up at Keilor, but still it’s a very reasonable priced course.