Mirage Country Club
Review of the Mirage Country Club Golf Course, Port Douglas, Australia
My mum and I are in far north Queensland for a wedding and thought we'd take a couple extra days to play the courses around Port Douglas. First stop - Mirage Country Club. What a welcome we received.
Far North Queensland
Important to note the crazy weather this region of Australia has received over the past few months with two cyclones, and the road between Cairns and Port Douglas closed for over six weeks. The weather was overcast, a balmy 29 degrees and humid with little wind to alleviate the heat!
Designed by Peter Thomson and Mark Wolveridge, the course comprises 6200 meters of 6X par 3s, 6X par 4s and 6X par 5s, tennis courts and a swimming pool, and an interesting driving range into water.
The Review
The Stats
Condition 12.5/20
Course has been in better condition, understandably given the torrential weather over the past few months. Even so, we were still allowed to use buggies given the length and humidity.
Biodiversity 18.5/20
The best part - playing in a tropical Queensland rainforest surrounded by incredible foliage and birdcall, each hole was an adventure and a pleasure to play. The shrubs, plants and flowerbeds were really well maintained, as were the gardens of the houses looking onto the course.
Vistas 14/20
As per above - the course is beautiful internally, and you can hear the ocean just behind the trees on a number of the front nine holes. The abandoned buildings at the Sheraton were a bit sad to see though, signs of what once was.
Unfortunately the day was overcast which doesn’t lend itself to great photography but we imagine on a clear day it would be even better!)
View from our Hotel in Port Douglas, Queensland.
Organisation 16.5/20
What a welcome - from members and staff. Couldn’t do more to make our experience enjoyable. The people in Port Douglas are so warm and friendly with a great sense of humor and a love of golf! Very cool practice facilities - the driving range hits into a lake. Not many on the course so we felt comfortable with pace of play and even had a cold bevvy at the Oasis bar with the locals afterwards!
Design 15/20
Without a doubt the course is built into its natural environment. We did find it rather on the "easy" side - it didn’t present many challenges, and the one time my wayward drive bounced into the jungle off the fairway - and I thought it was lost - I later discovered it on the fairway! No complaints though.
Hazards and Highlights
One surprise: the welcome from the staff and members was truly memorable. Also they told us that they go Melbourne's annual rainfall in one night recently (500ml+), and the road between Cairns and Port Douglas was cut off for six weeks after the cyclone.
One birdie: third hole, chip onto the green for birdie!
Biggest challenge: it wasn’t really challenging at all. Probably getting out of bunkers was a challenge because they were very wet and the sand was hard.
Suggestions and strategy
Something the course taught you: it presented a good opportunity to practice our wedge (60 degree), as the grass around the greens was too thick to chip out of. Also not much run on green so had the opportunity to really aim for the pin.
Some advice: wear waterproof shoes! And check out the change rooms near Oasis bar - old school…
Favourite hole: hole 3, birdie.
Mental approach: taking a deep breath whilst contemplating each shot, and then fully committing to the ball.
Overall rating
Our overall golf course rating for this course on this specific day, we gave this course a rating of:
