Palm Meadows Golf Course

Overview: Palm Meadows is an 18-hole public course at Carrara on the Gold Coast, close to Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach. The championship tees measure 6,319 metres at par 72, and the course spreads across a large, all-weather property with water in play on 14 holes and 82 sand bunkers. Graham Marsh and Ross Watson’s design uses the Gold Coast resort landscape boldly: the fairways are generous enough to tempt an attack, while lakes, the Bamboo Curtain and the famous closing hole punish careless decisions.

History: Palm Meadows was part of the Gold Coast’s late-1980s resort-course boom and opened in 1987. The design was created by the Marsh/Watson team, whose work helped establish a distinct Australian resort-golf language rather than copying an American parkland template. After a difficult period and closure in 2010, the course returned under new management and has again become one of the Gold Coast’s most popular public rounds.

Did You Know? The 18th is a 523-metre par five that was once rated among the world’s top 500 golf holes by Golf Digest. Its dogleg asks players to decide how much of the corner to challenge, making the final tee shot a genuine risk-and-reward decision rather than a ceremonial finish.