Designed by Peter Thomson in 2001, he comments "What we are creating here at Moonah Links is of great international significance to the golfing world. Nowhere else in the world has a golf complex been developed with the specific purpose of being the home course for the Country's Open Championship". Peter Thomson's design firm has laid out 2 courses at Moonah Links on the Mornington Peninsula - this large scale development takes advantage of the perfect rolling, links style dunescape known locally as "the Cups Region". Its neighbors are the relatively new developments at The National (54 holes), St Andrews Beach (36 holes by Tom Doak) and The Dunes as well as "traditional" links layouts at Portsea and Sorrento. 

The Open Course is probably Australia 's first purpose built stadium style layout and was designed specifically to host the country's premier golf event - The Australian Open. At around 7,500 yards from the Black Tees it was dubbed the "Leviathan" by its chief designer. It IS a beast but, at its heart, it is a supremely strategic test with skill required to navigate though the minefields of bunkers.