Hamilton Island

The opening tee shot. While the fairway and greenside bunkers are both down the right, there's an interesting "pick your poison" situation where a drive over the sand finds flat ground, while a safe shot to the left will mean a hanging lie towards the greenside bunkers. The green sets the tone by having more movement than it appears

The 5th is a short par five with some well-placed cross bunkers in the lay-up zone and the green tucked in to the left, a bunker defending it from the layup area but leaving it open to the bold player who goes for it over the scrub

The enormous routing compromise that created the cart ride that sees you double back after playing the 15th is almost worth the value of this gorgeous par four played down a spit of land with 270 degree views of the coral-laced waters. As with the 1st, the bunkering makes more sense in practice than it appears to on a graphic, the green feeding from short left, a hill on the left 100m short making the right the favoured side from which to attack, while the fairway has ample width both short and long of the fairway bunker

The par three 16th drops downhill to a green that tilts steeply back towards the tee

For sheer design, the 17th might be my favourite hole on the course. The drive asks you to hug the LHS bunkers for a clear path to, and slight view of, the dell green, with a running approach a definite option. A drive down the right creates an uncomfortable second that must either carry a lot of scrub to an entirely blind target, or be cut in

Course name: Hamilton Island
Location: Dent Island, Queensland (next to Hamilton Island)
Four Word Course Review: Compromised routing maximises views

Hamilton Island and other Whitsunday islands have long been a popular holiday destination, but the region has always been short on golf, with only the basic nine-holer on Lindeman Island and Laguna Quays on the mainland, so the arrival of HIGC was eagerly awaited.

The course has been routed to take advantage of what are some sensational views - as good as anything I've seen anywhere on the planet - but the pursuit of views created some awkwardness with the routing, which is unwalkable, largely for the long distances between holes: driving back the length of the par four 15th after playing it to get to the 16th, a long uphill journey from the 10th to the 11th, driving past the 14th green on the way to the tee and a 5min drive through bush between the 17th and 18th holes.

That said, the moments that are created through some of those compromises are wonderful, though the length of the drive to the 18th robbed me of any desire to play the hole, I just felt done for some reason.

Perhaps surprisingly for a resort course that many are likely to only play once or twice, there are quite a few blind shots - most coupled with generous width, which is necessary due to the fact anything even a foot off the cut surface is likely to be lost.

Like Riverside Oaks (on Sydney's outskirts), the course handles some extreme elevation changes by climbing significant hills on the approaches, with greens set into the hill, the putting surface not visible from the driving zone.

There is some bunkering that feels like perhaps it was placed more to maximise aesthetics rather than create options, but there's some really nice shapes short of the greens to allow the creative player to bounce a ball in and avoid the sand. The fairways are also highly contoured - lots of big shapes rather than over-the-top micro undulations - I'd say in large part to manage the massive rainfall during the summer wet season.

The greens themselves have more action in them than they appear to in many instances - enough movement to make putting interesting, but sedate enough that they would remain playable in high winds.

All in all, this isn't classic golf, but it certainly isn't trying to be, so I am hesitant to criticise it for not being so. For holiday golf, it hits a lot of high notes and still presents a bunch of really interesting shots, and were you lucky enough to live in the area and play it a lot, I think there is a lot to be learned from repeat play, especially on the more reachable three-shotters.

For someone in the area for some R&R, it is worth playing ($150 inc. cart and ferry transfer).