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Kangaroo Island is about to get a lot more interesting for anyone who owns a pitching wedge. After a near-12-year journey and a very deliberate game of hide-and-seek, The Cliffs Kangaroo Island golf course has swung open its gates.
Here’s how low-key it’s been: there were only around 60 social media posts about the course over five years, and right now there isn’t a single sign pointing the way. “We’re earning our stripes, doing it our way,” CEO Sam Atkins told Golf Australia.
Designed by Darius Oliver, who planned Tasmania’s Cape Wickham Links, the 18-hole layout sits on clifftops above the Southern Ocean, about 20 minutes from Penneshaw – the main arrival point for the Sealink Kangaroo Island ferry from Cape Jervis on the mainland. Five holes run right along the cliff edge, and the par-three eighth sends your tee shot out over a sheer drop to the water below.
The holes are deliberately out of sight from each other, so you’ll often have no idea where the next group is. Several holes offer up to six different tee boxes. There’s even a “wedding tee” on the third, making a green you can’t see driveable, named for plans for a wedding venue in the scrub nearby.
Did we mention there’s an ‘unofficial’ driving range where you can hit old golf balls at (old) wooden sailboats? We’ll let that sink in.
True to the island’s name, kangaroos roam the course in numbers, and one of them even inspired the logo, which now adorns everything from flagsticks to merch in the pro shop.
Sustainability is top of mind. Around 6,000 trees have been planted so far, with another to go in for every green fee played, which could mean about 15,000 a year. There’s a full-time sustainability team, a four-megalitre dam and wildlife corridors designed to help golfers and animals share the space.
The Cliffs officially opened on Monday, November 16, with the clubhouse still in progress.
So, to recap: cliff-edge tee shots, kangaroo spectators, and a driving range that targets sailboats. Honestly, the golf might be the only part you need to bring your A-game for.