Five reasons why golfing in the Whitsundays is perfect for non-golfers

I’d like to say I’m an avid golfer with a single digit handicap. Truth be told, I play half a dozen times a year and I’d hit from the 1st tee with a triple digit head start if the handicap rating people (I assume such people exist?) let the numbers go that high.
 
There’s five reasons why none of that mattered when I played an 18-hole round at Hamilton Island’s world renowned, Peter Thomson designed course.
 

1) There was a free boat cruise!

Alright I’ll admit it, calling it a boat cruise may be a bit of an embellishment. But there is a boat, and I did cruise on it. It’s a quick 5-minute trip from Hamilton Island’s picturesque marina on Island Links over to Dent Island where the Hamilton Island Golf Club is located. That’s right, this golf course sits on its very own island!
 

2) The Practice Green

The practice green you say… What could be so impressive about that? It’s not the green itself that’s the reason it’s made it onto this list. It was the view from it once I was there, and the sense I was getting. It’s the sense that’d been building inside of me since I stepped onto the boat at Hamilton Island Marina, the sense that I was about to spend the next few hours doing something very, very special. My vocabulary is also a tad handicapped, but that’s irrelevant as I know there are no words in the English language to properly describe how beautiful this course is.
 

3) The Golf Folk

In true Hamilton Island style, I was made to feel like someone that was truly important and deserved, an invited professional about to take part in a PGA event perhaps? That feeling started when the staff (I prefer the term ‘golf folk’, it felt quaintly paradoxical given the setting I was in) were there to greet me at the arrival ferry wharf on Dent Island. It continued as they explained the course to me before my GPS-equipped golf buggy arrived with a set of quality rental clubs in the back and it followed me all the way back to the golf Clubhouse at the end of my round.
 

4) The 19th Hole

After a solid round of smacking divots down the fairway and golf balls into the scrub, one deserves a cleansing ale and a fine feed. Hamilton Island Golf Club offered up an amazingly fresh, seasonal menu, best enjoyed on the balcony. And you guessed it, the balcony offered 180-degree views of the Whitsunday Islands that even eclipsed those from the practice green.
 

5) My Significant Other

If my imaginary handicap is 100, her’s must surely be sitting closer to a leap year. For her first game of golf though, she did alright. At worst she helped remind me that not everyone needs to be able to play like Adam Scott or Tiger Woods to get the most out of this course. I assure you, she had an absolute blast!
 
If you’re going to Hamilton Island you really would be doing yourself a disservice by not paying a visit to the Hamilton Island Golf Club. Whether you’ve never played or play often, whether you’re with family and friends or on a boys (or girls!) weekend away, you really will never ever have so much fun losing golf balls again.