The East Course starts and finishes on the main site and is highlighted by seven ‘home paddock’ holes. The bunkering is superb while the greens, though smaller than the West’s, are as beautifully constructed and sloped.It incorporates some of the most dramatic undulation on the course, the short four, long four, and mid four start is brilliant with clear risk and reward options from the tee and birdie to double bogey possibilities. The closing stretch starts with the short par 4 15th and the heavily bunkered 16th, which is the flattest ‘home paddock’ hole of either course but one of the best and most underrated par 3s in Melbourne. The final two holes are famously used on the world-renowned Composite Course.
Royal Melbourne’s East Course was rated No. 7 in Australia and No. 55 in the World by Golf Digest in 2016.
Former Australian Open champion Alex Russell and greenskeeper Mick Morcom built the West Course to Alister MacKenzie’s plans, then added the East in 1931. The bunkering and green contours are very similar to the West. (Mackenzie had routed a nine-hole East Course that was never built, and so Russell incorporated a few of those holes.)