Tour the spectacular Ocean Dunes Golf Course on Tasmania's King Island

KING ISLAND, Tasmania - Second place isn't so bad after all.

While it's tough living in the shadow of the spectacular Cape Wickham, Ocean Dunes has earned the love and admiration of every golfer who visits King Island, a tiny outpost in the Bass Strait halfway between Tasmania and Australia.

Ocean Dunes, designed by Graeme Grant, opened in 2016, a year after Cape Wickham. The two oceanfront courses can thank one another for their special, symbiotic relationship. One likely couldn't survive without the other. Cape Wickham's reputation, world ranking and ability to host golfers overnight supplies Ocean Dunes with golfers, but having a second world-class course on the island as good as Ocean Dunes is equally important for Cape Wickham.

Considered among the top 10 courses in all of Australia, Ocean Dunes is arguably just as compelling as its more famous neighbor. The 6,435-meter course (7,037 yards) might boast the most dramatic four-hole start in golf. Once golfers turn right on the par-5 first hole, they're greeted with ocean views for an extended run. After two par 4s that ride the coastline, the gorgeous par-3 fourth will take your breath away. The 131-meter tee shot flies over a coastal chasm of jagged black rocks and pounding surf.

In fact, only two holes on the entire routing don't deliver striking ocean views. The two par 3s on the back nine - the uphill 10th and downhill 14th - are as beautiful as any par 3s anywhere.

Ocean Dunes is just five minutes from the island's tiny airport and within minutes of Currie, the island's capital. It's a 45-minute drive to Cape Wickham. Green fees are 185-250 Australian dollars for international golfers, plus 55 more for a cart.

A temporary clubhouse does offer limited food service, but a press release on the course's website from February 2022 indicates that the club's new Melbourne-based owners plan to develop a permanent clubhouse and accommodations. Should that come to fruition, the stature of Ocean Dunes could rise even higher.