WITH a new clubhouse set to welcome golfers, it’s all systems go for St Andrews Beach Golf Course.
The Tom Doak designed St Andrews Beach layout, regarded by some as the best track on the Mornington Peninsula, is complemented by the new addition.
It’s been a long waiting game for St Andrews to build the new clubhouse, however the team of Phil Redley (owners’ representative), Matt Drysdale (designer) and Russell Joseph (construction manager) have done a fine job on the newly completed clubhouse.
In October 2009, the property was on the market and GSM (Golf Services Management) procured the contract to re-open the golf course as a public facility.
St Andrews Beach Country Club Golf Course Pty Ltd, purchased the freehold to the Fingal property in October 2010.
GSM, owned by well known PGA member Ian Denny, delivers a hands-on approach to golf course management and continues to manage the golf course.
The new clubhouse is open for business at the St Andrews Beach course on the Mornington Peninsula.
The building is not over the top and has been designed with the emphasis on functionality. The clubhouse and adjoining cart shed had an all up cost of $3.3m and is tucked behind a dune, just a short walk from the first tee.
It replaces the outdated facility perched further up the hill overlooking farmland and rugged dunes, the new clubhouse providing a snug indoor area where golfers can relax without having to continue to brave the elements on an outdoor deck.
“People come here for the golf course, and keep coming back,” Redley says. “In all the years we’ve been here, there have been very few complaints about the clubhouse.”
Be that as it may, the new facility looks very smart.
“The Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has been very supportive,” Redley said.
Still, the clubhouse plans did become bogged down in the VCAT (the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) for two years.
Soon to be added at St Andrews Beach – well hopefully the end of 2028 if that is considered ‘soon’ – is the already approved St Andrews Beach Hot Springs.
There are also permits in place for accommodation with the masterplan being to develop the 170-hectare site into a resort style facility.
“But the centrepiece will always be the golf course and the hot springs,” Redley says.
St Andrews Beach is a ‘fun course’ often made tricky by the wind. Even so, the public facility, is a bucket list destination layout.
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