Of all the golf destinations the H&B Expeditionary Forces have yet to explore in large numbers, Australia is unquestionably the most alluring. Those who make the journey Down Under are rewarded with a superb combination of golf at its finest and life at its best. Australia, for example, offers the best combination of outstanding golf and exceptional wine anywhere.

In sports terms, Golf in Australia is blessed with both an excellent starting lineup and a deep bench. Golf Digest ranks six of its courses in the top 40 in the world which is more than any other country except the USA. And eight are ranked in the worldwide top 100: Royal Melbourne West & East, Barnbougle Dunes & Lost Farm, Kingston Heath, New South Wales, Victoria and Royal Adelaide. As for the bench, there are another dozen Australian courses good enough to join the Elite Eight as members of the prestigious Great Golf Courses of Australia. Commonwealth was once ranked amongst the top 100 and another—Metropolitan—sits today just below the cut line.

Even better, all of the Elite Eight and nearly all of the other courses are concentrated in four locations in the southeastern portion of Australia with good air connections which feature flights of little more than an hour from one stop to another. While the country of Australia may be roughly the same size as America’s Continental 48 States, the best of Golf in Australia is found in a region roughly the size of Baltimore to Miami to New Orleans. This concentration means that the hurried traveler who is a fit and aggressive golfer could play all eight of the world ranked courses in as few as eight days in country.

But such a compressed and hurried schedule leaves little time to enjoy the good life which Australia offers in abundance. Think you know Australian wine because it’s all over the shelves of your local supermarket? Think again. Like the Irish who keep all the best Guinness for themselves, the Australians ship very little of their best wines to the States. Less than an hour’s drive from any of the Elite Eight courses is a winery with a tasting room guaranteed to impress. During my short stay in Tasmania, I sampled a dozen different local Pinot Noirs which ranged in quality from quite good to the best Pinot I’ve ever had anywhere anytime.

Then there are the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney and Melbourne. The former is the world’s largest coral reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world and the only living thing on the planet that you can see from space. The latter are two of the most interesting and attractive cities in the world.

Here’s our best advice for building an H&B travel plan to Australia. Allow at least two weeks total travel time as it’s not worth making the 13-14 hour flight from the west coast for less time in country. Play all of the Elite Eight world ranked courses and a few of the other good ones nearby. Save plenty of time to enjoy the Aussie good life in abundance