Hamilton Island Golf Course: The Experience, The Challenge, The Highlights, My Verdict

Words: Andrew Crockett

For me, it was a nostalgic experience to play the Peter Thomson and Ross Perrett-designed Hamilton Island golf course during the Open Championship week, when Ryan Fox won at Royal Birkdale in July. Years ago, while the island course was under construction, I would regularly get phone calls from the architect behind the design, telling me how challenging it was. With perfect clear skies and a stiff 30 knot trade wind, my mind immediately thought of Thomson’s historic victories in the windswept UK and his two victories at Birkdale… watching the sublime conditions in Southport England and the golf ball rolling out for the players in the 2026 Open Championship from the comfort of my hotel room, I started to imagine that perhaps I could channel some of the Thomson magic.  As I boarded the ferry over to Dent Island for my first look at the golf course, I was full of optimism and hope, yet, about two hours later, I was fossicking in my golf bag wondering where all my golf balls had gone. 

I rang Ross Perrett (a dear friend) after the round of golf and heaped praise on his design. Truly, it would take a creative genius like him even to contemplate putting a golf course in such a location. I’m not sure if it was the holiday mood, or the sort of Willy Wonka type of experience that you have somehow punched a ticket on the ferry and are ‘allowed’ to be there, but there is a unique feeling I was experiencing on the day that is difficult to put into words. Perhaps it is that collective holiday mood of the other golfers visiting the island, as they are not weighed down with the usual pressures of life, work and the hustle? Or perhaps it was the fact it was Open week and I was about to experience a course that has the tick of approval of 5-time Open champion Peter Thomson. In any case, my mood was high.

For anyone who knows Ross, the guy is a genius with art, vegetation and working with nature. He describes the process of designing a golf course as like painting on the ‘largest canvas known to man.’ I was describing Ross Perrett to a friend recently that he is a bit like Steve Irwin crossed with Salvador Dali, and while that might go close for some, Perrett is a force of nature all to himself and golf is lucky to have him, albeit in a handicapped version (now) after a stroke in 2018. Chatting to him via his mumbled speech, he said he would love to paint Hamilton Island (using his left hand, as his right is no longer functional) and auction it off for charity. Of course I agreed; what a splendid idea. See Stroke 4 Stroke for more on this topic.

I find both Hamilton Island and The Legends Course at Moonah Links Golf Club in Victoria (also a Perrett design) seem to have something in common and that is the feeling the course gives you, especially for the opening holes. Many of Ross Perrett’s designs share this appealing trait. While Hamilton Island is more of an ‘experience’ golf course and Moonah Links fits Links tradition, you stand on the 1st tee at both courses and the hole is welcoming, inviting and gentle. Knowing the prevailing wind is south-east, Perrett’s design has the 1st hole at Hamilton Island being downwind, wide open, downhill and short enough that I hit a wedge into the green after a reasonable tee shot.  

Since the ferry ride over and while loading up your golf cart and getting shod, the general aspect is looking west towards the steep tropical mountain ridge, palm trees and North Queensland scrub. Yet after the ease of the 1st hole and feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, the course takes a longish buggy trek up the steep hill to the 2nd tee where the 360-degree panoramic views over the Whitsunday Islands really do knock your socks off, if the wind hasn’t blown your hat away. It is tough to focus with all that aquatic beauty on the horizon. 

After making birdie on the second hole and nearly knocking it on the green on the short par 4 3rd, I thought ‘this might be my day ’. That feeling lasted approximately 7 minutes, where I found myself knee deep in long fescue grass by the 4th green, and tripping over all manner of lost tourist golf balls, but I could not find my own. The 4th hole is a postcard, just stunning! But, as the course continued its turn into the strong wind, it felt a bit like I was an intruder in forbidden territory and the landlord had released the hounds. Ego wounds ensued. 

Almost on cue, the drinks cart attendant arrived and enquired if we needed more golf balls, or a drink... in that order… I can’t think of another golf course where someone has been on-course offering to sell me golf balls, aside from in Indonesia, Fiji and some parts of Asia.

The closing holes at Hamilton Island offer postcard-photo moments one after the other that leave you almost exhausted from the visual splendour that truly stirs the emotions of adventure. 

As you finish the 17th, you scratch your head bewildered as to where the final tee box might be, but again, a stroke of genius from Perrett gifts you a beautifully long buggy ride with further stunning views and time to contemplate where your game ebbed and where it flowed, only to gift you the plume de la plume of the signature hole from an elevated tee back to the clubhouse. Like the first hole, a driver and a wedge and it was job done and akin to many fine pieces of art, the beginning mirrors the end. 

In summary, golf was the winner, if not my tummy after a delicious lunch in the well-appointed clubhouse restaurant. 

There is a sense of adventure when golfing at Hamilton Island, from the ocean ferry ride to the almost labyrinth-like layout; for a first timer, you almost feel like you should have packed a compass and rudimentary bird-watching gear, binoculars and perhaps a geology compendium, for nature is on full display. 

After considering how to describe the course and in sheer amazement that it exists in the first place, I thought it best to let the man himself describe the construction process, as I am sure there is not a golf course on the planet that required such ingenuity. Read on…

Hamilton Island Design Notes Courtesy of the Golf Course Architect Ross Perrett.

Hamilton Island’s course is situated on Dent Island, approximately one kilometre from the established tourist resort of Hamilton Island, which has its own airport. Dent Island is approximately 2,500 acres in area and has been unoccupied since 1987, the year the lighthouse ceased to be staffed. Unlike Hamilton Island, which boasts several stunning beaches, Dent Island is a rugged, rocky monolith. And, due to the extreme slopes of the land, initially it did not seem naturally conducive to playing golf.

Becoming better acquainted with the property, preferably on foot with the help of accurate contour information and up-to-date aerial photography, is the starting point for any project. The more time spent on site, the better the design response will be. Further, the architect must gain an understanding of all the other constraints that will affect the design, including wind patterns, the site’s geology, soils, vegetation, seasonal rainfall and temperatures.

The major design constraint with the Dent Island site was the lack of flat land suitable for fairways and, in particular, to accommodate par-5s. This dictated the use of elevated tees with large carries and the concentration of holes on ridges and in valleys. Side slopes were avoided as the slopes were too severe. The resulting routing plan responds well to the contours and creates two nines of contrasting character. The front nine is more conventional, with holes concentrated in a series of valleys, while the back nine runs generally along the island’s central ridge.

Having settled on a workable routing plan, the next challenge was to gain planning permission to build the course. This proved to be an expensive and drawn-out process that required patiently working through a raft of issues and solving myriad problems – most of which were not strictly related to golf. A series of environmental management plans were developed and worked through studiously with the appropriate planning authorities, and a full-time environmental consultant was required to monitor and report on construction.

The construction phase proved to be even more challenging than the planning and design phase. Being a rocky island surrounded by a coral reef, the logistics required to build this course were exceptional. All heavy equipment and materials required to build the course had to be barged in at high tides to avoid damaging the reef. The equipment included bulldozers, excavators, trucks, tractors, site vehicles, crushing plants, concrete batching plants, fuel tanks and, eventually, golf maintenance equipment.

Labour was another major constraint as Hamilton Island could not accommodate the workforce that, at times, approached eighty personnel. Initially, the workforce was ferried to Hamilton Island from Airlie Beach on the mainland and then transferred by smaller craft to Dent Island. This proved to be highly inefficient, so a worker’s camp was established on Dent Island. At its peak, the camp accommodated sixty-five personnel and proved to be invaluable and critical to delivering the project in a realistic timeframe.

If you are lucky enough to have the opportunity to play at Hamilton Island, spare a thought for what has gone before you. Hopefully, it will make your golfing experience even more special.

 
To read more of Andrews golf travel adventures, please visit www.beyondthegreen.org/

To discover more about Hamilton Island Golf Club and to reserve a tee time, click here.

And to peruse the variety of accommodation options on Hamilton Island, see here.

And check out this luxe ‘Stay and Play’ golf getaway at Qualia. It’s a Women’s Golf magazine fav!