Playing 18 Holes At The World's Longest Golf Course Requires A Road Trip

It's not every day that you get to play a golf course that exists in two different states and three different time zones, but the Australian Outback has the real estate and space to make that dream a reality. In an age where the typical construct of a golf day is parking your car in a concrete lot, walking or riding 18 holes of green grass, and then driving home, one destination is rethinking what it means to play a round of golf — and how long it can take.

Situated along the Eyre Highway connecting Western Australia to Southern Australia are the Nullarbor Links. A round here is anything but ordinary, seeing as Nullarbor is the single longest golf course in the world, spanning over 800 miles from start to finish. This round of golf is a full-on road trip of its own, and a journey that takes you on a tour of Australia's legendary natural beauty while facing some unique golf challenges across the Australian Outback.

It took the diligent work of local government and community organizations banding together to make the Nullarbor Links a reality about two decades ago. The idea behind the project was to showcase the beauty of this highway and stretch of the outback and enhance tourism for the local towns along the way. The links have turned drive-by moments into pullover opportunities for always prepared traveling golfers and adventurers alike to embrace different towns.

A Nullarbor Links round begins at Ceduna Golf Club, where you'll play the opening Par 5 next to localized oyster beds and a Par 4 known as "Denial Bay." From there, you'll hop in your vehicle of choice and drive down the highway to Penong Golf Course to play hole 3. The round takes you to a total of 16 different "courses" most of which are directly off the highway in towns or adjacent to roadhouses. Most of the hole layouts feature a simple green, tee, and fairway of the natural outback terrain. While the greens are sometimes brown or green and course maintenance is limited, every 6-8 weeks the owners visit every part of the course clearing debris for future golfers.

Along the more than 800-mile journey from the first tee at Ceduna to the 18th green at Kalgoorlie Golf Club, you'll get a history lesson of the land you're swinging on with your scorecard, and hopefully have some notable Australian wildlife sightings along the way. The highway that Nullarbor Links is built along has wildlife parks to visit, as well as sightings on the golf holes themselves. Players report regular appearances of Kangaroo, lizards, and even the occasional camel at different stops along the way.

It's clear that as the journey to complete this course unfolds (which can take days), it becomes less about the score on your scorecard and more about the experience of the round. The Nullarbor Links has even hosted an annual "Chasing the Sun" tournament for the last 11 years running, in case you're looking to test yourself on the World's Longest Golf Course against the best and most adventurous golfers in the region. No matter how you choose to play at Nullarbor Links, it will be a round of golf you'll never forget.