The Melbourne Sandbelt is a region in southeastern

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia, known for its sandy soil. Several significant

golf courses A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

are located in the region.

Location

The Melbourne Sandbelt is a rough triangle extending from

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

south along the coast of

Port Phillip Bay Port Phillip (Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is completel ...

to Frankston and to the east as far as Heatherton, Clayton and Oakleigh.

Geology

Much of Melbourne's eastern suburbs are covered by heavy clay subsoil. Around 20 million years ago, lower lying areas were flooded, which deposited sandstone material, now known as the Brighton Group. The Sandbelt suburbs are built on remnant sand dunes from this time. The sand can reach a depth of 80 metres in some places. Further east and north, the clay remains, and this region is sometimes referred to as the Clay Belt by contrast to the Sandbelt.

Flora of the Sandbelt

The surface soils across the Sandbelt today are the result of the geology, topography, marine currents, climate and vegetation. The present-day coastal dune systems were formed in the last 6000 years by wave action depositing sand and silts from the bay onto its beaches. The most prominent dune systems are between

Mordialloc Mordialloc is a beachside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Mordialloc recorded a population of 8,886 at the . ...

and Frankston. This formed a coastal barrier, behind which occurs the

Carrum Carrum Swamp The Carrum Carrum Swamp was a historic coastal wetland encompassing with a catchment area of that . It had four drainage outlets into the Port Phillip Bay, including the modern-day Kananook Creek/Eel Race Drain, Patterson River and Mordialloc ...

in a section of the Port-Phillip sunkland. Currently, the Sandbelt region has been impacted by extensive suburb growth, and there are few locations where the remnant vegetation has been preserved. Revegetation efforts by local councils are ongoing, and seek to return the land back to the remnant vegetation (prior to European settlement). To help achieve this, various vegetation communities have been identified. The following table presents the different vegetation communities of the Sandbelt, along with a list of associated species.

Sand mining

Sand mining Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit (or sand pit) but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds. Sand is often used in manufacturing, for example as an abrasive or in concret ...

has been conducted in the Sandbelt region since the 1880s. Several former sand mining sites have been used for

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

waste disposal once mining ceased.

Golf courses

Sandy soil is particularly suitable for golf courses. It is easy to place

bunkers A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

wherever a course designer chooses, without the need to carry in sand from another location, and it is easy to ensure appropriate drainage. A feature of several Melbourne Sandbelt courses is that bunkers are cut right on the edge of a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

, which is not possible in other courses with different soil types. There are several major championship courses in the Melbourne Sandbelt which are regularly listed among the world's best. Notable courses include

Royal Melbourne Golf Club Royal Melbourne Golf Club is a 36-hole golf club in Australia, located in Black Rock, Victoria, a suburb southeast of Melbourne. Its West and East courses are respectively ranked number 1 and 6 in Australia. The West course is ranked in the to ...

Victoria Golf Club The Victoria Golf Club is a golf course located in the city of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Canada, which is part of metropolitan Victoria. It was established in 1893, and is now the oldest golf club in Canada still located on its original site; a r ...

Kingston Heath Golf Club Kingston Heath Golf Club is one of the premier golf clubs in Australia, located in Cheltenham, Victoria. The course is situated on the sandbelt region in the southeast suburbs of Melbourne famed for its golf courses, with Kingston Heath consis ...

Huntingdale Golf Club Huntingdale Golf Club is a golf club located in Oakleigh South, Melbourne, Australia. The origins of what would become Huntingdale Golf Club began in 1924, when a Committee leased some property in Doncaster Road, Doncaster and laid out an 18-h ...

, and

Metropolitan Golf Club The Metropolitan Golf Club is one of the renowned sandbelt courses of Melbourne and is widely recognised as one of the finest championship courses in Australia. It is located in Oakleigh South, in the city's south-eastern suburbs, approximately ...

. Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath both feature in the

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competiti ...

top 20 courses in the world.

Major championship courses

Commonwealth Golf Club The Commonwealth Golf Club is a golf club in Oakleigh South, Victoria, Australia. It has hosted many events over the years, notably the Australian Open, Women's Australian Open and Victorian Open. Winners at Commonwealth *1961 Victorian Open � ...

, Oakleigh South *

, Oakleigh South * Kingston Heath, Heatherton *

, Oakleigh South *

, Black Rock *

, Cheltenham * Yarra Yarra Golf Club,

Bentleigh East Bentleigh East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Bentleigh East recorded a population of 30,159 at the 2021 census ...

Private courses

Capital Golf Club
Heatherton
Cheltenham Golf Club
Cheltenham
Keysborough Golf Club

Keysborough Keysborough is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 27 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Greater Dandenong local government area. Keysborough recorded a population of 30,018 at the . ...

Long Island Country Club

Frankston North Frankston North (originally the Pines Forest Estate, also known as "The Pines") is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 38 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local govern ...

Patterson River Golf Club
Bonbeach
Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club
Frankston
Rossdale Golf Club
Aspendale
Sandhurst Club

Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated b ...

Southern Golf Club
Keysborough
Spring Valley Golf Club

Clayton South Clayton South is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 20 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston Local Government Areas of Victoria, loc ...

Woodlands Golf Club

Public courses

Amstel Park
Cranbourne
Brighton Golf Course

Brighton, Victoria Brighton is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Bayside local government area. Brighton recorded a population of 23,252 at the 2021 census. ...

Centenary Park
Frankston
Chelsea Public Golf Course

Edithvale Edithvale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 28 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Edithvale recorded a population of 6,276 at the . History ...

Sandringham Golf Course
Cheltenham and Black Rock
Spring Park Golf Course
Dingley Village

References

External links

* ttp://www.sandbeltgolf.com/ The Melbourne Sandbelt - Classic Golf- an association of major courses
Interview with Paul Daley and David Scaletti
authors o
The Sandbelt – Melbourne’s Golfing Heaven
{{ISBN, 095802250X. *Musician

Lloyd Cole Lloyd Cole (born 31 January 1961) is an English singer and songwriter. He was lead singer of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989 and subsequently worked solo. Early life Cole was born in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. He grew up in ne ...

'
account
of playing the Sandbelt courses, which won the Australian Golf Writer's Best Feature of the Year Award in 2009. Geography of Melbourne Geology of Victoria (Australia)