Overview: Royal Melbourne Golf Club

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Royal Melbourne Golf Club:
The oldest golf club in Australia, the Royal Melbourne was founded in 1891, and moved to its current location in 1901, becoming the anchor of what is now known as the Sandbelt.

Royal Melbourne Golf Club's clubhouse (Photo: Royal Melbourne Golf Club official website)

The gem of Australian golf, the Royal Melbourne has two courses -- the East Course and the West Course -- both ranked in the World's Top 100, an extremely rare distinction that no other facility outside the United States can equal.

The West course, designed by the legendary Alister MacKenzie, widely considered the greatest architect in golf history, is ranked 14th, the only Top 20 course outside of the United States, Scotland and Ireland. More importantly to the golf traveler, it is the seventh-best course on earth that the public, or non-members, can play, a pilgrimage destination for any serious golf fan.

In 1959, in order to host the first of many international tournaments, 12 holes of the West Course and 6 from the East Course were combined to create what is known as the Composite Course, which is ranked as one of the top 10 courses in the world. The Royal Melbourne's Composite Course has hosted many important tournaments, including the 1998 Presidents Cup, the first time this was held outside the United States.

In 2011, The Presidents Cup will return to the Composite Course at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, making it the first golf club to host the overseas event twice. (launch hole-by-hole tour)

CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE COURSE MAP (PDF)

Golfers Welcome:
In the United States, it is standard for many of the highest ranked courses to be extremely private and completely closed to outside play except for guests of members. While most of the top Melbourne area courses are private clubs, they all welcome international golfers, with very few restrictions besides an occasional handicap or home club requirement. To make it even easier for visiting golfers to arrange tee times, Presidents Cup Travel has partnered with specialized tour operators and the clubs, including the Royal Melbourne and the Sandbelt's "seven sisters", to make a personalized golf outing the perfect addition to your 2011 Presidents Cup travel package. (note: the Royal Melbourne will be closed to visiting golfers during the 2011 Presidents Cup, but tee times may be available pre and post the tournament)

Non-Golfers Welcome:
Many of the world's top "pilgrimage" courses, such as Royal Dornoch, Royal County Down, Bandon Dunes and Machrihanish are in settings that have limited appeal to non-golfing spouses or partners. Attracting millions of enthusiastic tourists annually, Melbourne is at the opposite end of the spectrum, the perfect place for companions to enjoy themselves while golfers tackle the finest assortment of urban courses ever built. Throw in day trips to the Yarra Valley wine country, the Great Ocean Road and the famed penguins of Phillip Island, and it may be the golfer who becomes jealous on your vacation to the 2011 Presidents Cup.