Blog 332 – Chillagoe

Nomadic_golfer : July 2026 – Chillagoe, Qld, review

Par 64 4146m Slope? $Donation

5 par3s 106-210m, 3 par4s 245-312m, 1 par5s 387m

Up in hot and sticky Far North Qld, a couple of hours inland from Cairns is the quirky & wonderful township of Chillagoe. Most famous for it’s natural geographical features (predominantly caves), mining and smelter operations, and a legendary, private collection/ museum of old Fords. Not quite so famous for its golf course. And this course falls into the very rare category of ‘no longer formally open for golf, but maintained by the local council for recreational/ park purposes’.

They mow the fairways and keep the tees and sandscrape greens in playable condition. My first piece of advice before playing here would be to bring a bucket of balls, as straw coloured rough 1 ft – 1 metre high surrounds every playing corridor, and these targets are between 8 and 13m wide!! Even the 170m first has an entrance of only 12m wide. And some of the greens are surrounded by that rough (see the photo of the 245m 7th below).

There are some fantastic views of the neighbouring scrub and Savannah landscape, close-up views of the Dome Rock section of the Chillagoe-Mungana Caves National Park, and some cool doglegs around rock formations, large and small.

Putting is on pure-sand greens (no oil), and natural grasses/ weeds make-up the fairways, that also see the odd rock protruding through the surface. The firm/ fast fairways in the middle of winter (dry season) make it even harder to find these skeletal targets.

Among the quirky and almost unique features here, one in particular appealed to me. The 210m par3 9th, which is the only hole with any margin for error, with a wide-open left side, has a cricket pitch running straight down the middle of the fairway, about half-way down the hole. I believe it fits the description of ‘abandoned cricket pitch’.

Its golf at its most rudimentary level, but if it were serious, it would be the hardest par 64 4000m course in the world – hit every shot within a 12m ‘road’ or lose your ball. One impressive feature is the marble-like rocks that border every tee ground, locally sourced of course. Every hole gets your attention but most memorable for me, aside from the cricket pitch, are: the 170m 1st that initially looks innocent as the width of the fairway off the tee and even at 2/3 of the way down, is still quite generous. But it narrows right up near the green and represents a very small target for your first shot of the day with a mid-long iron; the 298m par4 4th, with a near right-angle dogleg left around some rather large rock formations, complete with rock protruding through the playing surface at the inside corner of the dogleg, all played within the most generous par4 fairway width on the course, at ~13m!; and the aforementioned 7th, a short 4 at only 245m but with a fairway at 8m wide for its entire length. To top it off there’s a 20m tall gum immediately short & left of the green which extends across beyond the middle of the green. The long grass is almost to the edge of the green on left, right and long misses too.

Don’t go out of your way to play here, but if you are driving through, go and have a look. It is one of a kind.