For a decent 9 hile course and the same with 18, how many acres’s of space do they need?

I think Bunbury is on about 40 acres for it’s 6000m length.

I think Bunbury is on about 40 acres for it’s 6000m length.

I live on 18 hectares (46 acres) and there’s no way you’d fit a decent length 18-hole golf course onto my place!

Using the ruler tool on Google Earth, Bunbury GC is 1400 metres east to west and 550 metres north to south, that’s 770,000 square metres, or 77 ha (193 acres).

The tightest golf course I’ve ever played is Royal Perth, with a 6000-metre course on 30 ha (76 acres). Some holes are dangerously close to other fairways, boundary fences and roads. My own course is 5300 metres on 38 ha (96 acres) and even that’s tight in places.

I’d guess a minimum of about 60 ha (150 acres) for a good, new 18 hole course if you want to take safety and plenty of inter-fairway space as a requirement. A lot of new 18-hole courses are built on 80 ha (200 acres) plus.

I’d imagine a 9-hole course would need more pro-rata, because some infrastructure (clubhouse, carpark, practice, maintenance sheds) would be needed, regardless of how many holes you had.