Barwon Heads Rd,
Barwon Heads, Victoria 3227
Office
+61 (0)3 5254 2922Pro shop
+61 (0)3 5254 2922Fax
+61 (0)3 5254 1097Website
Visit websiteGolf pro
Scott Smith and Garry Attrill (AAA PGA Golf Professionals)Academy
Smith Attrill Golf AcademyThe Course:
18 holes. Links-style. Relatively flat terrain - easy to walk.
Surroundings:
Duneland and rural countryside..
Designer:
Tony Cashmore
18-hole par-72 Creek course (6401 metres)
-38.266843
144.456117
90 km SW of Melbourne
From Geelong South, leave the Princes Highway (Settlement Rd) and travel south-east on Barwon Heads Road, direction Barwon Heads. After approx 17 km (3 km before Barwon Heads) golf entrance is on your right. (NOTE : Alternative route from Melbourne via the Mornington Peninsula, using the Sorrento-Queenscliff car ferry).
Thirteenth Beach (Beach)
Thirteenth Beach Golf Links (Beach course): Although called Beach course, that's one thing you won't be seeing from the course, and no views of the sea either. However, of the two championship layouts here, the Beach course provides the sterner test and the more absorbing layout.
The second half of the front-nine, and first half of the back-nine on the Beach course are classic links golf holes. Sand dunes create rolling terrain, with towering bunkering cut in jig-saw shapes, with one bunker seemingly on top of another. There's also deep rough if you miss the generously proportioned fairways and first cut.
The pot bunkering is never more dangerous than at the ultra-short par-3 16th; course management is never more at a premium than at the very awkward par-5 6th.
When not in amongst the dunes, the course occupies a flatter environment with a variety of box-shaped dwellings beginning to be established beside the course. The Murtnagurt Lagoon provides an attractive feature (and water hazard) on the front-nine.
Stay&Play at 13th Beach: onsite accommodation available, see Where2Stay section below.
Visitors welcome on weekdays and weekends.
Must book in advance.
Non-metal spike facility. Walking permitted at all times. Golf carts available for hire.
Good
Back in the 1920s the land now occupied by the 13th Beach golf courses was bought by the Australian Jam Co. and an asparagus farm was established. Pumping gear from this period can still be seen beside the 5th tee on the Beach course.
Asparagus farming finished in the 1970s and beef ranching took over, until the late 1990s, when plans were developed to convert the land into a premium golf and residential location.
Australia's best courses (Australian Golf Digest, 2022/23):
Thirteenth Beach's Beach course ranked 32nd best; Creek course ranked 71st best.
Barwon Heads Road, Barwon Heads, Victoria 3227
+61 (0)3 5254 1777
Visit websiteContemporary golf retreat offering suites with balconies or terraces, plus full-service restaurant and an outdoor pool.
13th Beach (Beach & Creek courses)
Barwon Heads
No
3 Geelong Road, Barwon Heads, Victoria 3227
+61 (0)3 5254 1066
Visit websiteNo
13th Beach (Beach & Creek courses); Barwon Heads.
No
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Stay&Play at Prince's: excellent onsite Lodge accommodation available
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