Kingston Heath Golf Club

Kingston Heath Golf Club
Club information
Coordinates	37°57′33.57″S145°05′16.27″E / 37.9593250°S 145.0878528°E
Location	Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia
Established	1909
Type	Private
Total holes	19
Events hosted	Australian Open (7); Women's Australian Open (1); World Cup of Golf (1) ; Australian Masters (2) ; Victorian Open (7) ; Australian Matchplay (7)
Greens	A1 Bent
Fairways	Santa Ana Couch
Website	www.kingstonheath.melbourne
Designed by	Dan Soutar
Par	72

Last updated April 05, 2024

Kingston Heath Golf Club is one of the premier golf clubs in Australia, located in Cheltenham, Victoria. The course is situated on the sandbelt region in the southeast suburbs of Melbourne famed for its golf courses, with Kingston Heath consistently ranked in the top 3 courses in Australia and top 20 courses in the world.

The club has hosted many major events, including 7 x Men's Australian Opens, 1 x Women's Australian Open, 7 x Victorian Opens, 2 x Australian Masters and the 2016 World Cup of Golf. The Men's Australian Open was scheduled to return to Kingston Heath in 2020 but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

Kingston Heath will host the Presidents Cup in 2028.^[2]

History

Elsternwick Park (1909–1925)

Kingston Heath was originally formed as the Elsternwick Golf Club in 1909, and was based at present day Elsternwick Park. In 1920, the committee discussed a relocation to the South-Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. This area would become world famous as the Melbourne Sandbelt.

Cheltenham (1925–present)

The club relocated to its present location in Cheltenham in 1925. This move included the complete dismantling, moving and re-assembling of the original clubhouse to the new site. The club officially opened in April 1925, and was renamed Kingston Heath 5 months later.

Course

The current course was designed by Dan Soutar and was constructed by M.A Morcom. Originally, it played as a par 82 and at the time was the longest course in Australia. Its founders were of the opinion that it was easier to shorten the course rather than to lengthen it. The original scorecard read as below:

Original Scorecard - 1925
Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	432	360	277	416	195	430	489	425	355	3,379	132	431	471	351	535	222	418	452	421	3,433	6,812
Par	5	5	4	5	3	5	5	5	4	41	3	5	5	4	5	4	5	5	5	41	82

Advice was sought from Alister MacKenzie during his visit to Australia in 1926, who provided a suitable bunkering strategy for the course. Although many link MacKenzie to the actual design of Kingston Heath, his only course routing input was to change the 15th hole. This was a short par 4 (222 yards) which played as a blind tee shot over a hill before descending to the green. MacKenzie's recommendation was to shorten the hole, bringing the green to the top of the rise and becoming a tricky, uphill par 3. Work commenced soon after, with the newly rated par 3 15th becoming one of the most recognisable holes in Australian golf, and Kingston Heath's signature hole.

Over the years, the par of the course has gradually dropped, now playing as a par 72 for Men and 74 for Women.

In 2002, the club constructed a 19th hole - a par 3 positioned between the 1st green and 2nd tee. This hole was designed to championship specifications, allowing the club to insert it into the course rotation during times of required maintenance of another hole. The 19th has since become a fixture in the club's "Tournament" course, often replacing the 10th hole in major events.

An interesting feature of the course is the adaptability in producing different layouts. Given it does not allow a traditional "9 out, 9 in" layout as many courses of its stature do, an alternative was required for the hosting of major events. The introduction of the 19th hole assisted in allowing the club to produce a more tournament friendly layout, known as the "Inner and Outer" course, routing players through the 9 inner most holes of the property as the front 9, returning them to the clubhouse after 9 holes. They then play the 9 outer most holes of the property as the back 9, allowing them to finish on the 18th hole.

Course records

Professional

(Men) Mark Brown: 62 (-10), during Round 2 of The Open IFQ, 2013

(Women) Karrie Webb & Jiyai Shin: 67 (-6), both recorded during the final round of the 2008 MFS Women's Australian Open

Amateur

(Men) Cruze Strange: 63 (-9), during the 2011 Port Phillip Amateur Championship

(Women) Stephanie Kyriacou: 66 (-8), during the 2017 Port Phillip Amateur Championship

Championships

Professional events

Australian Open: 7

Year	Winner	Country	Score					Winning margin	Runner-up
Year	Winner	Country	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Winning margin	Runner-up
1948	Ossie Pickworth	Australia	72	73	70	74	289 (+1)	Playoff	Jim Ferrier
1957	Frank Phillips	Australia	68	70	75	74	287 (−1)	1 shot	Gary Player Ossie Pickworth
1970	Gary Player	South Africa	71	65	70	74	280 (−8)	3 shots	Bruce Devlin
1983	Peter Fowler	Australia	72	76	68	69	285 (−3)	3 shots	Ian Baker-Finch
1989	Peter Senior	Australia	66	66	69	70	271 (−17)	6 shots	Peter Fowler
1995	Greg Norman	Australia	72	69	69	68	278 (−10)	2 shots	Peter McWhinney
2000	Aaron Baddeley	Australia	69	69	68	72	278 (−10)	2 shots	Robert Allenby

Women's Australian Open: 1

Year	Winner	Country	Score					Winning margin	Runner-up
Year	Winner	Country	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Winning margin	Runner-up
2008	Karrie Webb	Australia	72	72	73	67	284 (−8)	Playoff	Jiyai Shin

World Cup of Golf: 1

Year	Winners	Country	Score					Winning margin	Runner-up
Year	Winners	Country	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Winning margin	Runner-up
2016	Søren Kjeldsen Thorbjørn Olesen	Denmark	72	60	70	66	268 (−20)	4 shots	China (Wu Ashun & Li Haotong) France (Victor Dubuisson & Romain Langasque) United States (Rickie Fowler & Jimmy Walker)

Australian Masters: 2

Year	Winner	Country	Score					Winning margin	Runner-up
Year	Winner	Country	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Winning margin	Runner-up
2009	Tiger Woods	United States	66	68	72	68	274 (−14)	2 shots	Greg Chalmers
2012	Adam Scott	Australia	67	70	67	67	271 (−17)	4 shots	Ian Poulter

Victorian Open: 7

Year	Winner	Country	Score	Winning margin	Runner-up
1958	Peter Thomson	Australia	289 (−7)	3 shots	Barry West
1969	Kel Nagle	Australia	279 (−17)	3 shots	Bill Dunk Peter Thomson
1976	Guy Wolstenholme	England	281 (−7)	Playoff	Graham Marsh
1979	Rodger Davis	Australia	291 (+3)	Playoff	Geoff Parslow Gary Player
1987	Roger Mackay	Australia	277 (−11)	1 shot	Greg Norman
1988	Jim Benepe	United States	282 (−6)	3 shots	Ian Baker-Finch Peter McWhinney
1989	Mike Clayton	Australia	285 (−3)	2 shots	Ossie Moore

Australian Match Play Championship: 7

1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992

Year	Winner	Country	Winning margin	Runner-up
Robert Boyd Transport Australian Match Play Championship
1986	Peter Fowler	Australia	6 & 5	Bob Shearer
1987	Ian Baker-Finch	Australia	5 & 4	Ossie Moore
Mercedes-Benz Australian Match Play Championship
1988	Ronan Rafferty	Northern Ireland	1 up	Mike Clayton
1989	Ossie Moore	Australia	1 up	Peter Fowler
1990	David Smith	Australia	4 & 2	Peter Fowler
1991	Chris Patton	United States	5 & 3	Ken Dukes
1992	Mike Clayton	Australia	4 & 3	Peter McWhinney

The Open Championship International Final Qualifying

Kingston Heath was the preferred Australian venue of the R&A for the staging of International Final Qualifying for The Open Championship, which was held each January from 2004 to 2013.

Amateur events

Australian Men's Amateur Championship: 1 (1963)
Australian Women's Amateur Championship: 2 (1952, 1996)

Course ranking

The course is consistently ranked within the top 3 courses in Australia. It also regularly features in publications such as Golf Digest and Golf Magazine in their "World's Top 100 Golf Courses" lists, which has seen Kingston Heath hold a position in the top-20 for a number of years.

Year	Source	Ranking
Australia's Top 100 Courses
2020	Australian Golf Digest	#3
2018	Australian Golf Digest	#2
2016	Australian Golf Digest	#2
2014	Australian Golf Digest	#2
2012	Australian Golf Digest	#2
2010	Australian Golf Digest	#1 Golf Course in Australia
World's Top 100 Courses
2020	Planet Golf	#17
2018	Golf Digest	#16
2016	Golf Digest	#18
2014	Golf Digest	#20

Related Research Articles

Royal Troon Golf Club is a links golf course in Scotland, located in Troon, South Ayrshire.

The Royal Liverpool Golf Club is a golf club in Wirral in Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1869 on what was then the racecourse of the Liverpool Hunt Club. It received the "Royal" designation in 1871 due to the patronage of Prince Arthur the Duke of Connaught, one of Queen Victoria's younger sons. Robert Chambers and George Morris were commissioned to lay out the original course, which was extended to 18 holes in 1871. Harry Colt, one of the world's leading golf course architects, redesigned the course early in the 20th century, and it has since been tweaked periodically, mainly as a response to advances in equipment.

Hazeltine National Golf Club is a golf club located in Chaska, Minnesota, a suburb southwest of Minneapolis, United States. It is a private club and therefore closed to guests not accompanied by a member. The golf course was designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened in 1962.

The Olympic Club is an athletic club and private social club in San Francisco, California.

The Baltusrol Golf Club is a private 36-hole golf club in the eastern United States, located in Springfield, New Jersey, about twenty miles (30 km) west of New York City. It was founded 129 years ago in 1895 by Louis Keller.

Oakland Hills Country Club is a private golf club in the central United States, located in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit. It consists of two 18-hole courses designed by Donald Ross: the South Course (1918) and the North Course (1923).

Atlanta Athletic Club (AAC), founded in 1898, is a private country club in Johns Creek, Georgia, a suburb 23 miles north of Atlanta. The original home of the club was a 10-story building located on Carnegie Way, and in 1904 a golf course was built on Atlanta's East Lake property. In 1908, John Heisman was hired as the AAC athletic director.

Royal Melbourne Golf Club is a 36-hole golf club in Australia, located in Black Rock, Victoria, a suburb in southeastern Melbourne. Its West and East courses are respectively ranked number 1 and 6 in Australia. The West course is ranked in the top-five courses in the world. Founded 133 years ago in 1891, it is Australia's oldest extant and continually existing golf club. Unlike many metropolitan golf venues, The Royal Melbourne Golf Club has a capacity for 15,000 spectators.

The Lambton Golf and Country Club is a private golf and tennis club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The golf club was established by Albert William Austin in 1902. The golf club is presently members with Golf Canada, and the United States Golf Association., and has hosted a number of competitions including the Canadian Open, and the Canadian Amateur Championship.

The Women's Australian Open is a women's professional golf tournament played in Australia, operated by Golf Australia and the WPGA Tour of Australasia, long co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET). Beginning with the 2012 event, it is also co-sanctioned by the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. In 2008, it was the second-richest women's golf tournament on the ALPG Tour, with a prize fund of A$500,000, and was raised to A$600,000 in 2010. With the co-sanctioning by the LPGA, the total purse was nearly doubled, and was also fixed in U.S. dollars. The purse was US$1.1 million in 2012, and increased again to its current level of US$1.2 million for 2013. Since 2011, the tournament's name has been the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open.

East Lake Golf Club is a private golf club 5 miles east of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1904, it is the oldest golf course in the city. East Lake was the home course of golfer Bobby Jones and much of its clubhouse serves as a tribute to his accomplishments.

The Australian Golf Club is a golf club located in Rosebery, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Although it survived numerous course location changes, it is arguably the oldest golf club in Australia. To date the course has held 20 Australian Open events and most recently in 2017 the event was won by Australian Cameron Davis. The course has been rated the 9th best in the country.

Cataraqui Golf and Country Club is a private golf and curling club located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1917.

Walton Heath Golf Club is a golf club in England, near Walton-on-the-Hill in Surrey, southwest of London. Founded in 1903, the club comprises two 18-hole golf courses, both of which are well known for having heather covering many of the areas of rough.

Portmarnock Golf Club is a links golf club in Portmarnock, County Dublin, Ireland, located close to Dublin Airport.

Lake Karrinyup Country Club is a private golf club located in Karrinyup, Western Australia. The golf club consists of an 18-hole championship golf course, and a 9-hole "short course". The championship layout at Lake Karrinyup was founded in 1928, designed by Alex Russell who was the Australian partner of the famed golf course architect, Alister MacKenzie.

The Metropolitan Golf Club is one of the renowned sandbelt courses of Melbourne and is widely recognised as one of the finest championship courses in Australia. It is located in Oakleigh South, in the city's south-eastern suburbs, approximately twenty minutes' drive from the CBD.

The Melbourne Sandbelt is a region in southeastern Melbourne, Australia, known for its sandy soil. Several significant golf courses are located in the region.

Burnham & Berrow Golf Club is a 27-hole members golf club in Somerset, England which has hosted many of the leading amateur golf tournaments in Britain, including the Brabazon Trophy and English Amateur.

Notts Golf Club, more commonly referred to simply as Hollinwell, is an 18-hole members golf club in Nottinghamshire, England which has hosted a number of leading amateur and professional competitions. The course has widely been reviewed as one of the top 50 courses in England and the British Isles.

References

↑ Ward, Roy (16 October 2020). "Golf Australia cancels Australian Opens, Australian PGA due to COVID-19". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
↑ "Australia's Kingston Heath to host 2028 Presidents Cup". ESPN. Associated Press. 26 June 2023.

External links

37°34′24″S145°03′06″E / 37.573357°S 145.051627°E / -37.573357; 145.051627

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Ward, Roy (16 October 2020). "Golf Australia cancels Australian Opens, Australian PGA due to COVID-19". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 October 2020.

[2] "Australia's Kingston Heath to host 2028 Presidents Cup". ESPN. Associated Press. 26 June 2023.

[1]

[2]