Big Red Smash tees off

For those who enjoy driving off the first tee as much as down long Outback highways, Australia’s most remote amateur golf series, the Outback Queensland Masters kicked off in Roma over the week-end (June 18-19).

The annual event which began in 2019 will see more than 2000 golfing enthusiasts from around Australia travel to some of Queensland’s most remote and unique golf courses through June and July.

The 2641 kilometre long adventure across Outback Queensland stops off at golf courses in Roma, Tambo, Barcaldine, Winton, and Mount Isa, before finishing with a round at Australia's newest Outback golfing challenge, the Birdsville Dunes Golf Club.

“We’ve always had the idea of building a golf course here in Birdsville and it’s taken decades of planning and hard work from the small community," explained Birdsville local and President of the Birdsville Dunes Golf Club, Nell Brook.

“Designed as a championship course, it meanders through three sand hills, presenting a stiff challenge to good players looking to score well but provides plenty of width and forgiveness for beginners.

“We preserved the native vegetation as much as possible and, in places, it creates an extra layer of strategy as players must decide if they will challenge strips of shrubs in the fairway or take a longer route around.

As well as taking on the ‘dunes, sand, dust and scrapes’ challenge, participants also have the chance to win big with a Million Dollar Hole-In-One competition, while the winners of each leg are awarded the coveted 'orange jacket'.

There's also Dinner Under the Stars live entertainment, with 2022 Golden Guitar Winner, Adam Harvey, the Hillbilly Goats and the daughter of Slim Dusty, Anne Kirkpatrick, set to perform throughout the series.

Like the Big Red Bash, this year's 'Big Red Smash' was sold out ahead of time, but you can head to the Outback Queensland Masters website to get in early for next year's event...

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