Table of contents for Aug 2025 - Issue 435 in Golf Australia

Dark clouds unfurled over Oakmont Country Club on the Sunday afternoon of the 125th U.S Open, turning the backdrop of the tournament into something resembling a disaster movie. From the sixth hole, the skyline turned an ominous charcoal, with players and caddies glancing nervously at the heavens. The roars of the crowd were drowned out by distant thunderclaps, as the atmosphere shifted from tense to electric … literally. For all the precision and planning which went into the U.S Open, nothing reshuffled the leaderboard like this storm cell rolling in from the Allegheny foothills. By the time the final groups approached the 18th, the sky looked ready to swallow the course whole. Play was suspended and umbrellas popped like kernels. It reminded us of Bill Murray’s Carl Spackler, who caddied through…

The 2025–26 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia is shaping up to be one of the most exciting yet, with a packed early season schedule and a record $7 million in prizemoney up for grabs across 10 tournaments. Both of Australia’s biggest tournaments – the BMW Australian PGA Championship and the ISPS HANDA Australian Open – will dish out significantly bigger prize pools this year, further underlining their growing stature on the global stage. Cosanctioned by the DP World Tour, they’re drawing bigger fields, bigger crowds and now, bigger paydays. Prizemoney for the BMW Australian PGA at Royal Queensland Golf Club (November 27–30) jumps to $2.5 million, its richest purse in the event’s 121-year history. That’s a $500,000 bump from last year. One week later, the Australian Open heads to the…

The PGA of Australia has entered a new era with the first women appointed to the Vocational Members Council (VMC) at the 2025 Annual General Meeting. Anne-Marie Knight (West Beach Parks Golf Academy), Nicole James (Coolangatta-Tweed Heads Golf Club) and Nicole Martino (The Western Australian GC) were elected by their fellow PGA Professionals and will now join the nine-person VMC to provide representation and direction on behalf of Vocational Members to the PGA Board. The VMC has never had a woman Member in the 114-year history of the PGA of Australia and Geoff Stewart, General Manager – Membership, is excited about what their appointment represents. “The Vocational Members Council performs a critical function in representing PGA Members to the PGA Board and I have no doubt these three PGA Professionals…

1 TRADITION Every time The Open rolls around, it feels different to the other three majors. It is the oldest and harbours an abundance of tradition dating back to the late 19th Century. We will cover more specifics throughout this feature, but it’s the intricacies – such as the single-tee start (also seen at The Masters), the famous Silver Medal for the low amateur, the pot bunkers and the exclusive use of links courses – which make The Open unique. 2 THE ROTA As you likely read in regular columnist Geoff Ogilvy’s opinion piece earlier in this issue, the Open Rota is a unique aspect of the Championship (he ranked them from 10 to 1). What we love about the Rota is that, as fans, you’re always looking forward to what course…

Charley Hull, veteran of seven Solheim Cup matches, multiple winner on the Ladies European Tour, the LPGA Tour and three times a runner-up in women’s major championships, reckons this year’s AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl will be “the biggest-ever women’s sporting event in Wales”. Which is surely true, even if some clarification is required. No, Wales isn’t the biggest nation on Earth (population just over 3,000,000; area just short of 21,000 square kilometres). But the championship, recognised as a major since 2001, certainly has come a long way from its relatively humble beginnings almost half-a-century ago. The year was 1976. The venue was the Fulford Golf Club near York in northern England. Professionals were allowed to play for the first time and five competed for a prize fund of…

New South Wales MID-NORTH COAST: BONVILLE GOLF Just over five hours north of Sydney, Bonville Golf Resort winds through subtropical rainforest near Coffs Harbour. Often called “Australia’s Augusta”, it’s lush, scenic and full of surprises – a fun, challenging track where bold plays can pay off. A laid-back, unforgettable stop on any great Aussie golf road trip. Queensland SUNSHINE COAST: PELICAN WATERS GOLF CLUB The 490km journey from Coffs Harbour to Caloundra takes about six hours, following the A1 and M1 through scenic coastal towns, bypassing Brisbane, with plenty of great stops along the way. Pelican Waters is classic Sunshine Coast golf – relaxed, scenic and seriously playable. Designed by Greg Norman, Pelican Waters offers top facilities, a fun layout and something for every golfer, from short-game grinders to mini-golfers.…

One of the reasons I hit the ball a bit lower than most pros on tour is that I have a little more forward shaft lean at address. I grew up playing on quite a windy course in the UK (The Hallamshire in Sheffield), so that probably has something to do with it. The more the shaft leans forward, the more you deloft (or close) the clubface, so it stands to reason that the ball will launch lower. The easiest way to do this is to move the ball back in the stance, keeping your hands in line with your lead pocket. Bear in mind that you will be hitting the ball earlier in your swing arc, on more of an in-to-out path, so you’ll need to play for a…

Women’s professional golf is heading back to Adelaide, with the Australian Open locked in at Kooyonga Golf Club from March 12–15, 2026 – the first of at least three years in South Australia’s capital. The event will once again feature on both the WPGA Tour of Australasia and the Ladies European Tour (LET) calendars, marking a major boost for the local scene and reinforcing South Australia’s growing reputation as a destination for big-time sport. Kooyonga, just 15 minutes from Adelaide’s CBD, is no stranger to the spotlight. A regular host of top-tier events, including the Open back in 2018, it consistently ranks among the best courses in the country and promises a stellar setting for a standalone women’s major on the Aussie calendar. Major winners such as Jiyai Shin, Ash…

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Fifty years ago, Carnoustie delivered one of the great Open Championship finishes; a head-to-head duel between a young American making his Open debut and a gritty Aussie who wouldn’t back down. The year was 1975, the place was Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland. The 104th Open had it all – wind, rain, drama and eventually, a new champion in Tom Watson, who edged out Jack Newton by a single shot in an 18-hole playoff to win the first of his eight major titles. For three days, the conditions were unusually kind and the scores reflected it. South African Bobby Cole lit it up with consecutive 66s to lead after 54 holes. On Saturday, however, the wind turned up and the leaderboard turned inside out. Cole stumbled with a 76, Watson…

The Open Championship returns to Royal Portrush, where Ireland’s Shane Lowry captured an emotional win in 2019 on as big a stage as he could’ve asked for. Lowry put his arms out, fully extended in jubilation, responding to the challenge of his final approach on the 18th fairway and the crowd’s electric energy as they celebrated their own champion. Who will have their big moment at Portrush this time around? There are many contenders in good form, including some others who played the course well back in 2019. Of course, our Aussies will have a strong crop of players we’d expect to be in the hunt come Sunday afternoon. But before we dig into the players’ chances, it’s worth understanding the significance of The Open returning to Portrush. The Open Championship…

Spectacular is going to be a word overused throughout this feature. Overused, but accurate. There isn’t a term which describes playing golf at some of New Zealand’s finest – and globally ranked – layouts any better; what comes alongside the golf is even more of a representation of the adjective. Regardless of how often you are lucky enough to pack your bags and get ready for a golf trip, there is always that excitement when getting the clubs clean, organising the polos and watching the flyovers online of the courses you and your mates will combat over the coming days. Golf trips are fantastic regardless of how they look in the brochures. Within the role this writer calls “work”, I have been lucky enough to experience my fair share of…

MORNINGTON PENINSULA • VICTORIA One of the tricks of the golf course review game (a stretch to call it “work”) is to take notes on the way around using your phone’s voice recorder. Less finicky than notepad and pen, accessible from your pocket, you flick it out, press record, and trot out observations. It even transcribes them into words. After my first go-around St Andrews Beach, the Tom Doak and Mike Clayton collaboration on the glorious golfing dune lands on the southern coast of Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, the memo bank was full to bursting. Voice memo: “St Andrews Beach, eh? Heard a lot about you. Picturesque from the back tees on the first, you can see the pin in the distance and you best mark it because you won’t see…

A question I get asked a lot around this time of year is how would I rank the 10 links which make up the Open Championship rota? At least for me, part of the answer is straightforward and some of it not. All 10 are truly great courses, so it really comes down to a matter of opinion. I mean, they are all so different, which is a big part of what is so good about them. If we get right down to basics though, it’s the turf – my favourite thing about it and the best grass in the world from which to hit iron shots – and the bunkering which go a long way to separating an Open course from the rest. And the randomness. You never really…

One of the most commonly used phrases these days is “cost of living”. For many of us, that requires making our golfing dollar stretch a lot further than it did even five years ago. Australia has plenty of affordable, fun and testing golfing options, particularly if you know where to look. Last month we revealed the best-value metropolitan courses; now we spread our sights further afield to our regional courses where the green fee won’t break the bank, and you will love the experience. $75 to $61 CLUB CATALINA Batemans Bay, NSW Green fees: $65 (Sun to Fri); $75 (Sat) The 27-hole layout at Club Catalina has some of the finest playing surfaces in regional New South Wales, with its bentgrass greens being a highlight. Catalina’s signature hole is the…

Australian Minjee Lee’s full bag lineup from her third major win included the Elyte Driver, Chrome Tour X ball and Odyssey Ai-ONE putter. Minjee plays a Chrome Tour X Golf Ball, part of the Chrome Family which continues to excel in professional golf and in the market. Callaway’s Chrome Tour X is engineered for the best players who want outstanding distance, workability and spin so they can experience their best performance from tee-to-green. Lee’s victory at the Fields Ranch East course at PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas was the fourth major victory for the brand’s Chrome Tour Golf Ball lineup – Xander Schauffele earned two major wins in 2024 with a Chrome Tour, and Yuka Saso won the 2024 U.S Women’s Open with a Chrome Tour X. Lee’s driver is…