Aussie course no.3 for 2026. Global 471st: Elliston, SA
View of the par5 1st green from the corner of Seventh & Kapara
Nomadic_golfer : February 2026 – Elliston, SA, review
Par 72 5629m Slope 115 $5 – 9 hole course
4 par3s 120-181m, 10 par4s 294-335m, 4 par5s 467-471m
This is an exposed 9 hole scrapes track with dry, dead grass in the middle of summer. The clubhouse and first tee are located at the top of a hill overlooking Waterloo Bay. The first 4 holes are routed around the sea-side of the clubhouse, with the first steeply downhill and other 3 making their way back up, but you don’t get closer than a few hundred metres from the beach. The final 5 holes form a loop behind the clubhouse. This stretch has some excellent elevation changes, though not as steep as the first, and a couple of real quirks.
With the firm running surfaces, soft scrapes and short yardages, there is a real opportunity to make some low scores around here. At the same time, there is some thick bush and OB in play, so there is also the opportunity to rack up some big scores if the radar is off.
Highlights are: 1 (470m downhill par5 that goes straight downhill for the first 220m then turns left with OB right at the bottom of the hill and cambers towards the OB. A massive range of scores would be carded on this opener); 2 (a tough 180m par3, uphill into the prevailing southerly with normal fairway width, then dead both sides and immediately behind); 4 (315m uphill sharp dogleg right around thick but relatively low-lying scrub. There is a large bail-out area left but lots of scope to cut this corner off and give the best & shortest approach in. Go too far right though, and its lost ball); 6 (my favourite hole and real risk/ reward here. 305m slightly uphill, dogleg right, with the prevailing Southerly. Its a chance to get the driver up near the green here, but its a very tight line if you are up within 50m of the green, with the ability to lose a ball easily on both-side misses; 7 (294m straightaway par4 with 2 different angles from the 2 different tees for 7 & 16, tee shot over shrubs then clears out to a wide fairway, dips down at about 200, then climbs back up and narrows as approach a punchbowl green. Massive quirk on 7 with a power (stoby) pole about 30m in front of the tee and just to the right, you could actually draw one around it). 8 is the other quirk, with a climb to a large peak about 250-260m off the tee, before dropping down symmetrically on the other side. It is strange as it would be very rare that anyone could reach the top of the hill from the tee, to take advantage of the downhill run. Most would be clearing all that with their 2nds, and the short-hitters would get the fun of the extra downhill yardage.
Overall, its pretty rough and ready but there is lots of risk/ reward, lots of scoring opportunities and lots of trouble on this up-country track. A touch of bland, a touch of ‘wtf’ and a touch of really cool quirk. I’m glad I visited!
