KING ISLAND, Tasmania — The tiny propeller airplane is revving up, Melbourne is waking up and 50 minutes or so of flight time awaits before touchdown on King Island, a dot on the map between the mainland of Australia and Tasmania farther to the south.
Upon emerging from the haze, you capture a glimpse of the land first visited by Europeans in the 18th century. Named for Philip Gidley King, the Colonial Governor of New South Wales, the island’s tragic history of shipwrecks is well documented, with nearly 100 vessels and more than 1,000 lives claimed by the treacherous seas over the decades.
Seeing the rocky shoreline and crashing waves below, you understand why so many lost the battle. But these days, the island – roughly one-third the size of Long Island and belonging to the Australian state of Tasmania – has a much brighter welcome sign.
With its sweeping, windswept pastures, the island produces a bounty of dairy and beef – 125,000 head of cattle graze the land. Lobster, abalone and king crab are treasures of the sea, and the local wildlife includes wallabies and seals, which bask in the sun along the shore.
While there are few signs the ancient game of golf is a presence in these parts, a couple of relatively youthful destinations are changing that: Cape Wickham Links and Ocean Dunes.
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The exquisite masterpieces carved out of land by the sea have yet to turn six years old. Despite their youth, however, the courses have built up serious stature. They deserve consideration on your bucket list, for they are as challenging and enjoyable as they are stunning, each incorporating the craggy shoreline and the ocean with the rolling landscape to create dramatic, lasting golf memories.
But before you crack open a sleeve of Bridgestones, a local guide happily delivers a tour of the island that is home to roughly 1,800 residents. This is a place where you step back in time. There isn’t a single stop light to be found. A traffic jam occurs only when a group of cygnets (baby swans) waddle down the road or wallabies hop across the two lanes of pavement.
Coin-operated telephones still exist – and work. The largest towns are Currie (population 770), Grassy (150) and Naracoopa (70). The nearest thing to a fast-food restaurant is Elle’s Beer and Reef Café, which cooks up delicious fish and chips, burgers and multiple egg offerings, and there’s King Island Bakehouse, where pies are the specialty – softball-sized delights stuffed with various meats and seafood.
Kathleen Hunter is the one-woman band who operates the King Island Courier, the weekly newspaper that has printed since 1902. Artist Caroline Kininmonth rebuilt an old boatshed after a fire. Now it’s known as the Boathouse, a small restaurant featuring her fabulous art. But there’s a twist to this eatery – there is no food. Instead, you bring your own sustenance and drink and have a merry ole time.
So let’s just say it’s the 1960s with broadband, and there’s a lot to be said about the unhurried pace of the island, a constant cadence that calms the soul.
And then, at the end of a long gravel road, your heart starts pounding. Welcome to Cape Wickham Links.
Perched on the northwestern tip of the island, the namesake and icon for the course is the imposing Cape Wickham Lighthouse, one of three on the island. Built in 1861 to guide ships through the dangerous western entrance to the Bass Strait, at 157 feet, it is the tallest lighthouse in the southern hemisphere. And it looms over every hole.
Opened in 2015, Cape Wickham immediately hit most every golf publication’s top 100 courses world lists. You’d get no argument to the deserved nods.
The course, designed by golf writer Darius Oliver and architect Mike DeVries, rolls through massive sand dunes right up to the rocky coastline, no more so than on the par-4 finishing hole, which bends around Victoria Cove and its stretch of beach, both hazards in play.
While the 18th is the ultimate crescendo, the course knocks your golf socks off from the get-go, the first a modest par 4 played alongside the ocean. In all, the ocean and its rocky reefs are in play on eight holes, and you can taste the salt in the air at each.
But the inland holes aren’t chopped liver, either. The sixth, eighth, ninth, 13th, 14th and 15th are bold stretches that call on every club and shot in your bag. From the first through the 18th, a mixture of blind shots, uneven lies, slight bends and elevation changes lead you to superb greens that putt true.
“We know we have something special here,” said Cape Wickham general manager John Geary, a 40-year veteran of the turf-management industry who’s been fortunate to have worked on some of Australia’s finest courses. “The way they’ve routed the golf course is probably the key. It takes you to every part of the property, not just the eight holes on the ocean, and the inland holes are just as strong. The ninth, the par 5, is probably my favorite hole on the course.
“I don’t think there is a weak hole out here. And it’s visually as spectacular as anything I’ve ever seen.”
Adding to the challenge is the location. The island is on the 40-degree latitude south line, which gives way to the nickname of the Roaring ’40s. The nearest landform to the west of Cape Wickham is South America some 7,000 miles away.
“When it blows, it blows,” Geary said. “We have a lot of people come here who are used to playing target golf. Well, that’s the wrong game here. You have to use the wind to your advantage and you have to use the ground game.”
The layout offers generous fairways to do just that. Still, if you decide to take on the par-72 layout from the tipped-out distance of 6,725 yards, good luck.
Ricky Dean Munday is the golf operations manager at Cape Wickham and has had a blast caddying for visitors from time to time. He remembers the grazing land for cattle and the bales of hay that used to cover the area. Munday saw the course as it was built and was one of the first to play it.
“I just went wow,” he said. “How did they do this? How did they do that? It’s such a well-designed golf course. You see the Cape Wickham Lighthouse on every hole. And you see the ocean on every hole. How they jelled all that in was amazing.
“There are no weak holes here. And I remember one bloke from the U.S., a great guy. Big guy, about 6-feet-6. Built like a brickhouse. We were on 16 and he says, ‘This place is Pebble Beach on steroids.’
“So many people come here and say, ‘Well, this is better than this course, it’s better than that course.’ And they’re talking about iconic golf courses. Well, they can’t all be wrong. It’s breathtaking, it’s embracing, it’s exhilarating.”
The property is home to villas offering 16 ocean-view rooms and a small clubhouse that is a stunning setting for 19th-hole conversations. An application for a larger clubhouse and more villas has been submitted and there is land for another golf course. For now, however, Cape Wickham stands alone and is spectacular.
Ocean Dunes isn’t too shabby, either.
Like Cape Wickham, Ocean Dunes is on the west coast of the island and is a true links. And like Cape Wickham, Ocean Dunes has a long gravel road leading to the first tee. That is, if you don’t miss the road. A sign the size of a stop sign greets you off the main road.
But it’s well worth the search. Designed by Graeme Grant, the former superintendent of Victoria’s Kingston Heath, and opened in 2016, the course couples large, rolling dunes and the coastline to form a thrilling 18-hole ride.
The par-5 first bends to the right and takes you out to the ocean, the first of six holes that bring the water and seashore into play.
The two most magnificent, visually striking holes that bring the surging water, land and golfer together are the par-3 fourth and par-3 10th, each calling on courage and accuracy.
The shortish fourth plays across an inlet and gets sprayed from time to time by the ocean. There also are rocky hazards in front, to the right and in back of the green.
The uphill 10th requires a long iron or metal wood from a tee just yards from the waves slapping the rocks. Across the small bay is the green and well-placed bunkers that test all your talents.
“People say the fourth hole is the signature hole, but I think we have 18 signature holes,” said David Egerton, golf operations manager of Ocean Dunes. “We have a lot of cracking holes.”
The routing takes you between and over large sand dunes in addition to bringing you close to the ocean. Wide fairways and large greens are a mainstay, as are blind shots and elevation changes.
The 125-yard 14th is a splendid par 3 with no place to hide. With the tee well above the green, a little prayer goes a long way on the approach, especially in high winds.
It is the bold golfer who plays from the back tees, which stretch the par-72 course to 6,945 yards. And at the end of the stretch is a small clubhouse that rests high above the course and tees up some of the island’s best views of the ocean.
“The first time I saw it, it blew me away,” Egerton said. “It’s a test of pure links golf. It’s a hard course. It’s a true test. Local knowledge is so important here. I think that’s true for most golf courses, but here, it makes such a difference.
“You just don’t get something like this in many places.”
Well, you get something like Ocean Dunes up the road at Cape Wickham. And the island’s third course, the King Island Golf & Bowling Club that was built by locals nearly 90 years ago, rests amidst coastal dunes.
There is land everywhere you look on this island that would make for a great golf setting. Talks have been held for two or three more golf builds by the sea, but nothing has been finalized.
As is, King Island is already a golf destination worthy of your travels. It’s not an easy journey, but the gentle nature of the people and tempo of island life make it worth the trip.
“This is a special, special island,” Munday said. “It would make for a great trip for any golfer in the world.” Gwk
Green Fees
At Cape Wickham Links, the best weather for golf is between October and March. The season begins Sept. 1 and runs until June 30. Various stay-and-play packages are available. For international guests, the green fee for a standard round is 230 Australian dollars (about $155 USD). The all-day rate is $175 USD.
The Ocean Dunes Golf Course is open year round with offseason rates in July and August. Stay-and-play packages are available throughout the year. For international guests, a round of 18 holes costs about $155 USD. The all-day rate is $175.
Visitors can play a round at King Island Golf and Bowling Club for about $27 USD. Gwk
This story originally appeared in Issue 1 – 2020 of Golfweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.