Aussie course 18 for 2026, all-time #486. Halliday Bay
Need a postcard? The stunning back half of the par4 4th
Nomadic_golfer : July 2026 – Halliday Bay Resort, Qld, review
Par 64 3611m Slope? $30
4 par3s 97-176m, 5 par4s 245-345m, 0 par5s
Holiday golf at Halliday Bay. A whimsical 9-hole track just north of Mackay that exists as part of a 2-star resort. Sitting right on the picture-perfect, crescent shaped, Halliday Bay Beach, on rolling turf adorned with palms, the idyllic setting belies the lack of fanfare. But things haven’t quite gone as planned with the golf side of things over the 30-odd year journey and we are where we are!
The short, par 64 course was designed by well known Aussie architect Ross Watson in the 90’s and it looks like there was some significant investment in construction; the large number of varied size bunkers of imaginative shape and appropriate placement; multiple man-made water hazards, with retaining walls and other large-scale constructs; sizeable undulations that appear much larger than those on surrounding properties; and excellent green complexes incorporating dramatic contours and mounds.
Initial marketing coined the phrase ‘relaxed’ when describing the style of golf here. And although the kikuyu/ broad-leafed based fairways were in ok condition, they appear to have lost the greens and allowed natural grasses and the kikuyu to take-over. It is now ‘very relaxed’.
General Resort staff look to have taken over management of the course and it appears to be just a case of keep it green and cut. Having said all that, there are some holes with high entertainment value out there, some real adrenaline- pumpers, particularly within the set of 5 par4s.
The 1st is 290m with a 90 degree dogleg around water, probably a 250 metre carry across the water (complete with part-time resident croc) to a very well protected green, if you have the firepower. The 4th is a similar length and points straight at the Bay, presenting a beautiful outlook infused with a rolling fairway, large mounds down both sides, palm trees dotting the length of the hole, all the while with the sea as the back drop. It finishes with a funky green that shares 3 greenside bunkers with the neighbouring 7th green. 9 is the crazy uncle of the course. The longest at 340m, requires a tee shot through a narrow chute (thick tropical stuff left, and 4 or 5 massive trees down the right), to a funnel-shaped fairway that bends hard right to a rumpled green protected by 4 bunkers and a steep tilt down to the right where that croc’s pond meets the front right of the green. If the surface was quick, everything would feed down to that pond and that first high left bunker would catch all the squibs.
We landed here as we wandered our way back down the coast and saw a campsite at the golf club. $50 per night gets you unlimited golf and a powered camp site, at what is (without bona-fide green surfaces) probably best described as ‘holiday golf’. But there is definitely enough interesting stuff to provide some solid entertainment and justify that overnight stay.
