9 hole Golf Courses on the Gold Coast

The Gold Coast in sunny Queensland has some amazing resort and club courses that are well publicised, renowned throughout Australia and to many international tourists. However, I am setting myself a target to play and assess all of the lesser known and lower cost 9 hole venues in this region. I might stretch the Gold Coast area to include others within a reasonable driving distance from the Coast. (note: I have now added Tamborine Mountain and Chinderah).

Why 9 holes is important in the big picture. We all know that people are time poor these days. 18 holes on a major track can easily consume 5 hours on course plus 30 minutes before and more if you stay afterwards for a bite or a drink.

Compare this to a quick 90 minutes on the course with some add-on time for the other stuff. This may better suit the lifestyle of the non-9-5 brigade. Next it is usually quite a bit cheaper, is not so congested and can be less demanding in terms of your current golfing skill set.

Bear in mind that so far I have found that these courses are no push-over. They may be shorter in length than their big brothers, but they often have ponds, small undulating greens and other difficulties such as trees and narrow fairways.

My object here is to survey these courses considering some subjective ideas such as value for money, course condition, aesthetics, terrain types ( is it a boot-camp trek or leisurely stroll) along with my star rating. It’s only my opinion so please don’t take offence if it doesn’t fit yours. I am a single figure player but will try to consider how it would be for the higher handicapper or social player.

I remember playing one of the big courses on the Coast with my Dad many years ago. He played off 17 on a shortish Public course back in Ireland. He was severely challenged by the length and the water here. Water is not a common feature on Irish golf courses (except coming vertically downward from the almost ever present clouds!!). He had lost 12 balls by the end of the first nine, and without hitting it all that badly I might add. So with this experience I will be looking for fairness in design for all skill levels and will rate the courses accordingly so that readers may find the course that matches their ability.

Of course I will add some imagery as I go along. Hopefully the weather will be kind.

The last hole at KDV