The National Golf Club (Old Course)

Overview: The Old Course is the original private routing at The National Golf Club, laid through the high, windswept dunes of Cape Schanck on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. Robert Trent Jones Jr worked with the existing three-dimensional land rather than forcing it into a regular pattern. Fairways weave between large sand dunes and native coastal vegetation, and their apparent width can be deceptive because the best side for the approach is not always the most obvious one. The greens are varied and strongly contoured, while bunkers sit naturally within the dune forms and become more influential when the wind rises. Long views, exposed ridges, and intimate stretches among the tea tree give the 18-hole, par-72 course a changing rhythm that remains strategic from tee to green.

History: The National Golf Club was established at Cape Schanck in 1984, after the purchase of land that included the former Cape Country Club course. Robert Trent Jones Jr was then contracted to build two 18-hole routings. The club's official history distinguishes the 1986 opening of the public Cape Schanck course from the private course now known as The Old. The National course opened on 12 March 1988, when a full field played for the inaugural Captain's Trophy. The club records that opening routing as par 72 and 6,318 metres, giving the current Old Course a clear date and identity separate from the earlier public course.

Did You Know? Moonah trees on the Old Course's first fairway and fifteenth green are estimated by the club to be more than 300 years old. They are part of the landscape that existed before the routing was built, and they help explain why the course feels discovered within the dunes rather than imposed upon them. The seventh hole also looks across a dramatic coastal drop toward the sea.