Courses & Hotels

The original home of The Bottles Open. Nestled in the Yarra Ranges, Warburton is a scenic mountain course where the 18th hole delivers one of golf's great drives — a tee shot launched out over a mountain, watching the ball drop metres below to the fairway. Played in 1976, 1978–79 and again in 1988 for a nostalgic return.

Course rating 69, slope 122. One of the gentler tests in the tournament's history on paper — but the mountain terrain and elevation changes ensured the numbers never told the full story. Among the most forgiving slopes The Bottles has played, which suited the freewheeling spirit of those early years perfectly.

A public seaside course at Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula. The tournament's home from 1980 to 1993, becoming the longest-running single venue in Bottles history. Accommodation was at the Rosebud Hotel and Dromana Hotel. A flat, forgiving layout that produced some of the most spirited — if not the most technically demanding — golf in the tournament's history.

Course rating 67, slope 112. The most forgiving course in the tournament's history by both measures — a flat, open layout with little in the way of punishment for wayward play. Scores were high, spirits were higher, and the bar tab reflected both.

The more prestigious of the Rosebud options, the Country Club provided a step up in course quality for three years (1994–1996) before the tournament headed inland to Ballarat. A well-presented parkland layout alongside the bay.

Course rating 70, slope 119. A step up from Carrington Park in both quality and difficulty, though still among the more manageable venues in the tournament's catalogue. Players who had struggled at the more challenging inland courses found Rosebud Country Club a welcome reprieve.

A challenging inland course set among the goldfields country of Ballarat. Midlands brought a different character to the tournament — cooler, windier, and demanding a more tactical game. Home to The Bottles from 1997 to 1999 (1998 was washed out — the only year in the tournament's history with no result). Pictured: one of the wooden-faced bunkers found at Midlands.

Course rating 72, slope 131. A significant step up from the Peninsula-era courses, Midlands announced The Bottles' arrival in serious golfing country. The slope of 131 placed it among the stiffer tests the tournament had faced at that point, and the cold Ballarat conditions added an unofficial handicap of their own.

Situated on the slopes of Mount Buninyong near Ballarat, this picturesque course offered sweeping views across the Central Highlands. Buninyong served as the tournament's home from 2000 to 2010 (excluding 2004 at Creswick) — a decade that saw some of the most competitive fields in Bottles history.

Course rating 70, slope 124. Comfortably in the middle of the pack among Bottles venues — tougher than the Peninsula courses, gentler than Midlands. The slope rating reflects the undulating terrain without crossing into genuinely punishing territory, making it one of the more balanced tests the tournament has seen.

The Bottles visited Creswick just once, in 2004. The course played that day was the original layout — a rough-edged regional track shaped by the goldfields landscape rather than by modern course design. The greens were firm and fast, the rough thick, and the bunkering sparse but strategic. Water appeared where it naturally belonged, not where a designer thought it would look good. It was a challenging, character-filled course that left a lasting impression on all who played it.

Creswick was significantly remodelled in 2006, with the back nine completely redesigned. Today's course — now part of RACV Goldfields Resort — is an entirely different proposition to what was played in 2004. All published ratings and statistics reflect the current post-2006 layout, not the original course. Still, for those who played that day, it is remembered as one of the toughest courses The Bottles has ever faced.

A friendly club etched into the Big Hill ranges south of Bendigo. With contoured fairways, grass greens and sweeping views from the signature Par 3 11th, Belvoir Park was the tournament's home from 2011 to 2024 — the longest continuous run at any single venue in The Bottles' history.

Course rating 68, slope 118. One of the more accessible venues in the tournament's history, Belvoir Park sits near the bottom of the difficulty range across all Bottles courses. The contoured terrain adds character without cruelty — a course that invites good golf rather than punishing bad.