{"id":45115,"date":"2026-02-13T12:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T01:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/luxuryescapes.com\/inspiration\/?p=45115"},"modified":"2026-02-13T12:29:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T01:29:19","slug":"festival-of-golf-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/luxuryescapes.com\/inspiration\/festival-of-golf-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Well Above Par: The Ultimate Queensland Golf Festival in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Festival of Golf is a bold reimagining of a golfing tournament with fun, food and fashion added to the top flight line up of Australian women\u2019s golfers. And it\u2019s held at Sanctuary Cove Resort & Golf one of Australia\u2019s most storied courses.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanctuary Cove is set to put the party into Australian women\u2019s golf. The Festival of Golf<\/a> will be held at Sanctuary Cove Golf & Country Club on the Gold Coast in March 2026, in conjunction with the 2026 Australian WPGA Championship, to be held on Sanctuary Cove\u2019s Palms Course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four-day festival will coincide with the women\u2019s golf championship at a time when Australian women\u2019s golf has never looked so promising. In November 2025, Australian Grace Kim claimed her first major championship at the Amundi Evian Championships in France in a play-off with three-time major champion, Australian Minjee Lee. It was the first time in history two different Australian women have won back-to-back women\u2019s major championships (Lee won the major before Kim). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Festival of Golf is set to redefine what women\u2019s golf can be; in fact, it\u2019s a bold reimagining of what the game of golf really is \u2013 men\u2019s or women\u2019s: with a lot of fun, food, fashion, live music and drinks thrown into the mix. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Held at Sanctuary Cove\u2019s picturesque Marine Village precinct in conjunction with the women\u2019s tournament, you don\u2019t even have to be a golf fan<\/a> to join in. And it suits every member of the family. There\u2019s a dedicated kids\u2019 zone and there\u2019s lots of interactive golf participation zones to be involved in \u2013 where you can compete for great prizes in the longest drive, closest to the pin and putting and chipping events. There\u2019s also an extensive golf exhibition, with unbeatable deals on the latest, greatest golf and lifestyle brands\u2019 golf gear, equipment and travel.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to up the fun content \u2013 each day there will be live bands and pop-up bars with a beach party to be held at Sanctuary Cove\u2019s Lagoon Beach Club, amongst a one-acre saltwater lagoon lined with Gold Coast beach sand.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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 A country club experience <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sanctuary Cove Resort & Golf threw a heck of a party to open its resort and its two world-class championship courses in 1988. Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston came across the Pacific to perform, but any golfer was much more interested in the performers set to battle it out for the first Sanctuary Cove Classic.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Golf superstars Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer came to play the only Arnold Palmer-designed course in Australia. American star, Curtis Strange, flew away with the prize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirty-odd years later, Sanctuary Cove Resort & Golf\u2019s two golf courses remain amongst the 100 best courses in Australia, part of a super-slick resort and country club experience which marked the arrival of Australia\u2019s first international golf resort.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s two golf courses spread across the property\u2019s 474 hectares on the northern Gold Coast. Arnie Palmer\u2019s Pines Course is private, but it\u2019s available to guests of the property\u2019s InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort<\/a>. Built amongst 101 hectares of pine forest and native bushland, it\u2019s as a big a test of golf as there is in Australia, with 14 holes contoured around six man-made lakes. You\u2019ve got to drive straight\u2026 or there\u2019s trouble on both sides. And its long par-four 18th<\/sup> (with no bail-out off the tee) is one of the great closing holes in world golf. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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