Moonah Links opened on the Mornington Peninsula in October 2001 as the Australian Golf Union’s flagship championship venue — the first purpose-built Australian Open host. The Peter Thomson and Ross Perrett design on the Open course runs to 6,898 metres (7,544 yards) at full length and uses the existing coastal dune system on the Cape Schanck side of the Mornington Peninsula as both visual frame and physical hazard.
The AGU commissioned the project in 1998 with a clear brief: build a venue that could rotate the Australian Open out of the historic metropolitan-Melbourne and Sydney member clubs while retaining championship-grade conditioning. Peter Thomson, then in his late sixties, took the design lead with Ross Perrett managing the on-site work. The pair had previously collaborated on the Capital Golf Club at Heatherton (1998) and the Aurora Resort in Adelaide.
The Open course hosted the 2003 and 2005 Australian Opens. Peter Lonard won the 2003 edition with a 274 total at -14, four shots clear of Robert Allenby. The 2005 edition went to Allenby himself, who shot a final-round 65 for a winning total of 271 at -17. Both editions drew criticism from sections of the touring professional ranks for the wind exposure on the back nine — particularly the par-3 12th, a 432-yard par-4 with a blind tee shot over a coastal dune ridge.
The Australian Open has since cycled through metropolitan Sydney and Melbourne sandbelt venues. Moonah Links remains on the AGU’s championship-eligible list and hosts the Victorian PGA Championship in alternating years. The most recent Vic PGA at the venue was won by Brad Kennedy in 2023.
The Legends course, the resort’s second 18 designed solo by Peter Thomson and opened in 2003, is the more playable of the two and the more-popular member round. It is Peter Thomson’s only Australian solo design at a championship resort. Both courses are available to resort guests and pay-per-round visitors; member rates are limited.
The Moonah Links 39-room lodge accommodation, restored in 2022, sits between the two courses and is the principal point of entry for visiting golfers. The resort is a 90-minute drive from the Melbourne CBD.