World’s longest golf course opens in Australia

October 23, 6:02 PMBoston Golf ExaminerEmily Kay

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Nullarbor Links promises the world's longest golf course and maybe a kangaroo or two
(Photo: stock.xchng)

Move over, The International. With the official opening of Nullarbor Links in Australia on October 22, the private golf club in Bolton, MA, is officially out as the world’s longest golf course.

Yep,  pack up your clubs, stuff a suitcase, stop the mail, and gas up your rental car:  Nullarbor Links -- all 850 miles of it --  is open for play, and you’ll need about four days to finish your round.

On the 18-hole, par-72 course, you’ll play one hole in each participating town or roadhouse along the Eyre Highway. Each hole includes a green and tee amid the outback’s (nope, not the restaurant) rugged natural terrain. So don’t be surprise if a wallaby or kangaroo hops across your fairway. You won’t see that on your average Boston golf course -- not even at The International.

Tourist season. The Eyre Highway Operators Association (EHOA), sort of an Australian version of the Chamber of Commerce, came up with the Nullarbor Links idea to boost tourism along the highway. The concept, according to the Nullarbor Web site, is to spotlight the region as a travel destination and golfing mecca. Since it will take most hackers four days to play the course, the hope is that visitors will spend more time -- and drop more money -- in the region.

With some tees 50 miles from each other, you’re certainly in for a far different golfing experience than anything you’ve encountered. And because the environment is too dry to grow grass, don’t expect The International-like greens. They’re “artificial and sand,” according to ABC News, with “grit and gravel” making up the rest of the course.

PR stunt? Graeme Archer, managing director of England’s The Australia Travel Co., for one, is skeptical. “It's the most god-awful piece of dirt in the world," Archer tells ABC News. "As a publicity stunt [the course] is brilliant, but the reality is that much of the highway is flat as a pancake, straight as an arrow, and boring as hell."

Still, you can’t beat the price. Click here to be one of the first 1,000 golfers to register and you can join Nullarbor Links for the low annual fee of about $184.

Don’t want to commit beyond one round? That’ll be about $46. Not bad for four days of golf -- and all the grit and gravel you can scrape out of the grooves of your brand new TaylorMades.

Back in the U.S., LPGA star Morgan Pressel is doing all she can to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. Read about Pressel’s traveling mammography van.