Two new golf courses open for play today on King Island, Australia.

The front nine of the Graeme Grant-designed Ocean Dunes course has opened for play, as has the 18-hole Cape Wickham course on the island’s northern tip, which has been designed by Mike DeVries.

Both courses were covered extensively in the April 2015 edition of Golf Course Architecture.

It is hoped that the emergence of King Island as a golfing destination will have a positive effect on the entire Australian golf scene.

“I think they will be absolutely must-play destinations and I think that’s important in terms of golf tourism,” said Golf Australia CEO Stephen Pitt. “I think it offers benefits for the whole of the country. Often those top-end courses are the hook that gets people over but they play a whole range of courses while they’re here.”

Graeme Grant has compared to potential of the Ocean Dunes and Cape Wickham pairing to that of Cypress Point and Pebble Beach in California, US.

Grant said: “With such spectacular links land and the opportunity to play so close to the coast, we have something reminiscent of what I’ve seen and played on over there.”

He added: “Maybe it won’t happen in my lifetime, but this has got to open up and become some sort of a mecca for links golf in this country. As people come down here and see the dunes, they’ve got to be encouraged to do something with them.”

The back nine at Ocean Dunes is expected to open early next year.