Blog 279 – Edenhope

Nomadic_golfer : January 2024 – Edenhope Golf Club, Vic review

Par 71, 5837m slope 121 $30

4 par3s 134-182m, 11 par4s 327-404m, 3 par5s 440-450m

Edenhope provides a lovely rural vibe and a real bush-set charm which builds early and carries throughout the 18 holes. Fairways and tees are less defined than some with larger budgets, but this does not detract from the experience. Trees line every hole but they generally don’t encroach onto intended lines, with towering trees low in number and the majority more of a medium height. It has a number of sporty doglegs and was boasting some lovely red flowering gums to throw into the colour palette on my January visit.

This pretty, Aussie bush-set golf course starts off next to a residential road, turns right after the 2nd and heads into the bush where the course comes alive in a beautiful setting, on a light-grey sandy base. Lots of trees – a few pines and many gums and they line all the holes.

While it is not perfectly manicured, and fairways/ tees aren’t defined in detail, this adds to the natural, bush feel, which is Edenhope’s appeal. It is generally not overly narrow for a country course (there are a couple of exceptions), but it is quite penal in places, with bracken-fern and other natural ‘bush’ out wide. Condition of the course (some kikuyu, some naturally occurring local grass on fairways that were quite firm, standard country small to medium sized greens) was fine. Greens had good cover, a little soft and slow.

Hazards are predominantly in the air with those trees but there are a handful of ‘typically unkempt’ bunkers. The scrub, as ground cover provides hazards on the ground. The hole structure and design is pretty good, and there are quite a few decisions to make from the tee – due to a mixture of: the no. of short-medium 4’s; the penal nature of the rough on some holes; and a number of tight fairways.

Holes that appealed to me: the short-medium par4s on the front in 6 (328m slight right to left & into the prevailing breeze with thicker trees on that inside corner and a gentle reverse camber on a fairway that narrows the further you get – lots of options off the tee here); and 8 (340m left to right with options off the tee – play to the corner and have 140-160m in or cut one around the corner to a pretty green, sloping away from you with a red flowering gum behind and gums bordering the pinched-in fairway ~40m out from the green).

I really liked the par5 11th, it reminds me a little of the 1st at Mt Gambier – heading west with a row of large pines bordering the left side and OB the other side of the pines. It is not overly tight but with scrub all the way down the right side, it is a simple & brutally honest hole. The green complex here is a beauty too – a bit of back to front tilt, bunker left and bush background taking over where the row of pines ends. The 360m 17th also appealed – virtually a straight-away hole with a semi blind tee shot over a crest, with gums protecting the left side, before a downhill 2nd to a wide but shallow green set in front of a row of a dozen pines.

Overall, the bush setting and Aussie feel create an ideal vibe for golf on decent surfaces. The layout is good & interesting, ensures you don’t automatically reach for the driver on the 4s and 5s, and will bite you if you get too comfortable.