Touching Bass Strait in numerous instances, Graeme Grant’s Ocean Dunes layout ducks in and away from the coastline as it meanders along King Island’s west coast. A revealing arrangement of green complexes is a feature of a course where the location alone guarantees attention. Yet not content to merely place a good course on a great site, Grant set about giving golfers a cerebral examination amid potentially volatile surroundings. Several greens make for vastly different playing strategies based on pin position alone; throw in the varying Roaring Forties winds and the plan might change all together. Holes like the short par-4 second, where the green is completely hidden from few from only a few paces back down the fairway, the multi-segmented eighth green and the genius low-the-high 14th green are scintillating targets to firstly approach and then conquer once the putter is in hand.
Adding to the visual feast are the blind shots that, depending on your position, number as many as nine spanning tee shots and approaches. Yet it’s a fitting design trait given the exhilarating nature of the course and location. To better Ocean Dunes, golfers need to show courage and commitment but also the willingness to allow the fate of their shots to be dictated by the land and weather. The blind shots scattered throughout the course test a golfer’s ability to judge from afar with little certainty about what lies ahead.
THE DETAILS
Ocean Dunes
Where: Currie, King Island TAS 7256
Phone: (03) 6462 1633
