With cost-of-living pressures being what they are at the moment, you don’t need to avoid the golf course to save your pennies.
Here, we reveal the best golf you can play throughout regional Australia – including cities with a population under 200,000 – where the green fee presents a real bargain.
To qualify for the list, a course’s most expensive green fee was not to exceed $50. From there, we poured through notes and observations made by Golf Australia editors and Top-100 ranking judges to come up with the courses we believe present great, enjoyable golf at a price that won’t break the bank for an afternoon of fun.
The green fees listed are the rack rate for visitors and we prioritised the courses in order of their lowest green fee available across the week.
$50-$46
ALBANY GC
Albany, Western Australia
Green fee: $50 (seven days).
Albany is not only the oldest town in Western Australia; its golf club was one of the first formed in the state. From nine-hole beginnings in 1898, Albany did not become an 18-hole layout for more than 50 years and today is one of only a few true links courses found outside Britain and Ireland with such a long history. Thick woolly-bush and peppermint trees line most of the naturally undulating fairways, which run predominantly in a north-south direction parallel to Middleton Beach, about three kilometres from the town centre.
It is not a hard course in sublime weather conditions, but it bares its teeth when the wind whips in across King George Sound. Once you've played Albany you'll understand why Tour pro Craig Parry rates it as one of his favourites in Australia and is widely regarded as one of the best valued golf experiences in the country.
BRIBIE ISLAND GC
Woorim, Queensland
Green fee: $50 (seven days).
Bribie Island is one of the biggest sand islands of Brisbane’s Moreton Bay and this sandy base has given rise to a wonderful course that is ranked in the Top-100 Public Access Courses in Australia.
This is evident from the 1st hole with Melbourne Sandbelt-style bunkering lining the edge of the fairway.
Bribie Island has some memorable holes with the 172-metre par-3 16th being one of the best. Played across the edge of a lake and a sandy wasteland, the only place to miss this green and still save par is from the front right of the putting surface.
BUSSELTON GC
Busselton, Western Australia
Green fee: $50 (seven days).
Busselton Golf Club dates back to 1907 so it’s not surprising the course winds between beautiful redgums and peppermint trees.
Extensively redesigned in 1979 by Murray Dawson, Busselton is widely regarded for having some of the best playing surfaces in regional WA.
A feature of many holes is Dawson’s green complexes, where the putting surface is protected by sand and is angled to your approach. One of the best examples of this is on the 169-metre par-3 6th hole where the green, sitting beyond two bunkers, lies at almost a 45-degree angle to your tee shot. The right-hander who can fade the ball has a distinct advantage here but it’s still a precise shot to leave yourself a putt for birdie.
CLUB CATALINA
Batemans Bay, New South Wales
Green fee: $50 (seven days).
Natural water hazards, well-placed bunkers and tree-lined fairways offer an enjoyable challenge at this 27-hole layout. Club Catalina is an established course with some of the finest playing surfaces in regional New South Wales, where the scenic views of Batemans Bay and its surroundings add to the round.
In recent years, the club commissioned acclaimed course architect Harley Kruse to develop a 27-hole masterplan, which has already yielded improvements with the redesign of several holes and the implementation of a tree clearing program.
COFFS HARBOUR GC
Coffs Harbour, New South Wales
Green fee: $50 (seven days).
Coffs Harbour is one of the most challenging and best-maintained layouts in regional NSW.
Heavily tree-lined fairways, punctuated by clever fairway bunkering or one of the many water hazards scattered throughout, cover a good mix of undulating and easier-walking flat areas.
Last year, the club enlisted former PGA Tour player and course designer, Craig Parry, to create a masterplan that will elevate the course further over the next decade.
www.coffsharbourgolfclub.com.au
HORSHAM GC
Horsham, Victoria
Green fee: $50 (seven days).
No course in this country has undergone as much unplanned change in the past dozen years.
But the bounce back after the devastating Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 has been enormous. More than 90 percent of the mature trees on the course were destroyed and as a result what was a narrow, tree-lined layout has now become sparser. But the layout is no less challenging or enjoyable thanks to a masterplan prepared by course designers Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford.
The sand base is one of the key aspects to be incorporated into the redesign with ‘new’ bunkers being a feature of the work.
MURRAY DOWNS G&CC
Murray Downs, New South Wales
Green fee: $50 (seven days).
Set in the heart of the historic Murray Downs sheep station on the NSW side of the Murray River, the Geoff and Ted Parslow-designed course opened for play in 1989 and has been ranked one of Australia’s Top-100 Courses ever since.
Man-made lakes were included to help with irrigation and drainage, and a mass of mature native gums now line all fairways. Throw in some strategic, well-sculpted bunkering – featuring its spectacular ochre red sand – and water hazards on many holes and it is no wonder Murray Downs has been so highly acclaimed.
TURA BEACH CC
Tura Beach, New South Wales
Green fee: $50 (seven days).
Elevation changes and a stunning, oceanside setting are hallmarks of this early Peter Thomson-Mike Wolveridge design on the Sapphire Coast of NSW.
Regarded by many as the pick of the region’s courses, Tura Beach uses its sloping, fragmented piece of land to full effect and delivers 18 holes that provide a serious test for golfers of all standards.
The early holes move onto the flatter terrain closest to the beach and include the very good par-5 4th hole, which features staggered fairway bunkers in the driving zone forcing players to make a strategic decision on the tee. Having successfully found the fairway of the 474-metre hole, players then need to avoid another trap in the middle of the fairway, in the typical lay-up area, en route to the bunkerless green.
www.turabeachcountryclub.com.au
YAMBA G&CC
Yamba, New South Wales
Green fee: $50 (seven days).
Yamba is one of the great hidden gems among the courses showcased here.
The course lies close to the centre of town, with two loops of nine holes stretching out from the clubhouse and several holes lying within earshot of the breaking waves on nearby Pippi Beach.
Yamba is an easy-walking journey but there are few flat lies to be experienced with most of the fairways featuring a natural ripple above the sand base below. A lot of work has been carried out in the past decade or so with more than half the greens re-built to create large, undulating putting surfaces surrounded by quality bunkering. The changes have been superb.
The holes nearest the adjoining bushland – the 4th, 5th and 6th holes on the front, as
well as the 15th, 16th and 17th holes on the inward nine – offer a sense of isolation from the rest of the course and are a real highlight of the round.
HALF MOON BAY GC
Yorkeys Knob, Queensland
Green fee: $49 (seven days).
Great views and challenging holes are the memorabe aspects you can take away from a round at Half Moon Bay.
It’s not a long layout but there is plenty of trouble to be found wide of the tree-lined fairways with water hazards and out-of-bounds (OOB) coming into play on several holes.
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