Australia’s largest city is blessed with some of the nation’s most famous attractions. After you’re done with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, here are the dozen highest-ranked courses to be found, all within a 45-minute drive of Sydney’s GPO.
1 NEW SOUTH WALES GOLF CLUB
There’s no question New South Wales Golf Club occupies some of the best land for golf in the country.
Dr Alister MacKenzie plotted the La Perouse course in 1926 before Dan Soutar, who had provided the original plan, reworked many of the holes a decade later. Since then there have been many tweaks to the design but what hasn’t changed is the thrill visitors get from the stunning views and tactical challenges, created by natural undulations and enhanced by the ever-present coastal winds.
There aren’t many weak holes at NSW – so identifying standout holes should be rather challenging. But it’s not. There are two holes that instantly spring to mind for anyone who has ever visited: The par-5 5th and the par-3 6th.
The former offers panoramic views of the course and its surrounds from its peak, while the latter is probably the most photographed one-shotter in Australian golf, playing from tee markers situated on a headland.
The iconic hole measures 177 metres from the tips, but club selection is usually determined by the strength and direction of the wind; par is always a good score here.
NSW was ranked No.9 in Australia’s Top-100 Courses for 2018 and has always been entrenched inside the nation’s top 10.
Green fees: Upon application. Limited tee times are available for members of a golf club
2 THE LAKES GOLF CLUB
The Lakes has become one of the best advertisements for the quality of golf on offer in the Harbour City.
Founded in 1928, the club first welcomed the Australian Open in 1964 – which was won by Jack Nicklaus after a play-off against Bruce Devlin, who later became a member of the club and worked alongside course designer Robert Von Hagge when the course had to be rebuilt in the later ‘60s due to the construction of the city to airport freeway.
The entire layout was extensively redesigned in 2009 by the design team of Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Clayton, Mike Cocking and Ashley Mead (OCCM).
The Lakes relies heavily on the wind and it’s challenging green complexes to defend itself, which ultimately led to Peter Senior’s winning score of four-under-par when the course last hosted the Aussie Open in 2012.
Greg Chalmers won the title when the club threw its gates open for the national championship in 2011. And Ogilvy won there in 2010. All three of the aforementioned are tactical players, who have each built careers from their controlled ball flight and deep understanding of the game.
The Lakes will once again play host to our national open this November. Players can expect a thorough strategic challenge, well-maintained playing surfaces and exposed sandy waste areas – all of which, when combined, saw the course finish 14th in Australia’s Top-100 Courses for 2018.
Green fees: $250 for members of an Australian golf club.
3 BONNIE DOON GOLF CLUB
Originally designed by Lance Giddings and Eric Apperly in 1937, influenced by Prosper Ellis (1951) and Ross Watson (1995-2003) – and currently in the hands of Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Clayton, Mike Cocking and Ashley Mead (OCCM), Bonnie Doon has become one of the most architecturally notable courses in Sydney.
Ranked No.34 in Australia’s Top-100 Courses for 2018 (up four spots from 2016), ‘The Doon’ is currently in the fourth and final stage of its OCCM rebuild.
The design firm is attempting – and in the eyes of many, succeeding – to: “Mimic the work of nature, with a mixture of irregular undulations, wispy roughs and rugged bunker lips that appear to have been formed from years of wind and rain.”
Since OCCM took the reins in 2011, members have enjoyed a golf course that better encapsulates the strategic challenge of the game.
The course is relatively short – at 5,947 metres – so the greens have become its defence against the modern power player. Each of the green complexes are varied and have been improved (reshaped, reworked or rebuilt) to favour an approach from a specific part of the fairway – which in turn asks players to better position themselves off the tee.
Work is currently being completed on the 1st, 2nd and 17th holes. But despite the lengthy rebuild, the course has managed to reach new heights in its conditioning.
It would be an exciting time to be a member at Bonnie Doon Golf Club, with the course expected to continue its rise up the national ranking.
Green fees: Upon application.
4 THE AUSTRALIAN GOLF CLUB
Established in 1882, The Australian Golf Club is one of this country’s most historic and renowned golfing venues, having hosted the Australian Open on 20 occasions, including the very first in 1904 and most recently the 2017 edition.
Located just six kilometres from the CBD, The Australian underwent a complete redesign by Jack Nicklaus in 1977, which the 18-time major champion updated and refined in 2013. The most recent changes, which included modifying all 18 greens, have now well and truly settled in with the playing surfaces at the Kensington course consistently among the best in the country.
The redesign has opened up more short game options to players, while the course’s difficulty was increased through changes to the bunkering, which is now more visually intimidating. Water has also been brought into play on numerous holes, while some holes were lengthened to stretch the par-72 to 6,619 metres from the tips.
Nicklaus makes good use of the elevation changes in his design, which favours players who employ his own preferred fade shot shape. Wind is always a factor at Kensington, while the undulating greens are regularly fast and have made even the very best players in the world look foolish.
The closing three holes are among the best on the course beginning with the long and difficult par-4 16th, before players face a short par-4 and reachable par-5 to conclude their round, with birdie chances on offer for the aggressive player.
GREEN FEES: Available upon application.
5 ELANORA COUNTRY CLUB
At No.38 in Australia’s Top-100, Elanora is the highest ranked course on Sydney’s idyllic Northern Beaches, which is home to plenty of high quality golf and some of the country’s most famous beaches.
Sitting high above the suburb of Narrabeen a little over 40 minutes from the GPO of Sydney, Elanora features undulating terrain and is surrounded on most sides by dense bush and trees that provide a tranquil setting for the members of the private club and their guests.
Originally designed by Dan Soutar with 18 holes opening for play in 1930, the course underwent a redesign by James Wilcher in 2004, which improved the strategy and conditioning of the layout, while also addressing some safety concerns and incorporating environmental wetlands into the course. The couch fairways and A1 bent greens are consistently among the best to be found in Sydney.
A large exposed rock behind the green immediately grabs first time visitors’ attention at the opening hole, which is one of the standouts on course and does as all good 1st holes should. It provides a window into what to expect throughout the rest of the round, with bunkering and the narrowing of the fairway in the longer hitter’s driving zone delivering the uphill par-4’s main defence.
Similarly, the course’s conclusion leaves golfers wanting more. A par is always a good score at the 394-metre uphill par-4 18th, which requires a well-struck and straight drive from one of Elanora’s many elevated tees to set up the best angle to a green that sits in front of the stately clubhouse.
GREEN FEES: $295 (per person for 18 holes), on application by interstate and overseas players with a letter of introduction from their home club.
6 ROYAL SYDNEY GOLF CLUB
Sifting through the records of the Royal Sydney club reveals the course that now lies a smooth 7-iron hit from the edge of Sydney Harbour in Rose Bay was originally laid out by an unknown designer and more than 360 bunkers dotted the layout.
Some of Royal Sydney’s original architectural work has often mistakenly been attributed to the legendary Dr Alister Mackenzie, who visited the course briefly in 1926. He said the undulating ground was “adaptable to the construction of holes, which should compare favourably with the best championship courses in Britain.”
But he was critical of the penal nature of the course and suggested three-quarters of the bunkers be removed and replaced by grassy hollows. Over the decades, MacKenzie’s words seem to have rung in the ears of the various club committees and more than 200 bunkers were removed.
In 1980, course designers Peter Thomson and Mike Wolveridge redesigned many of the holes and changed all the greens, which was completed in 1986.
Nearly two years after Aaron Baddeley won the 1999 Australian Open on the course, another designer was on site. Acclaimed designer Ross Watson was commissioned to rebuild some holes and all the greens, which were suffering from drainage and turf problems.
The club revealed two years ago that highly-rated American designer Gil Hanse had been commissioned to rebuild the course. Hanse submitted his blueprint for the new Royal Sydney layout but work is yet to commence on realising his vision for the layout, which was ranked No.41 in the country earlier this year.
The course is always beautifully presented and the bunker renovation completed half a dozen years ago did improve the golf experience. But the course, in particular the greens, is ready for Hanse’s upgrade.
GREEN FEES: Upon application for interstate and overseas golfers.
7 TERREY HILLS COUNTRY CLUB
When construction of the Terrey Hills course was completed in 1994, it was the first layout to open in nearly three decades that was less than 30 minutes’ drive from the Sydney CBD.
Its proximity to the city is one of the reasons behind the success of the Graham Marsh-designed layout, which has become one of the most popular corporate golf venues in Sydney.
Another aspect of its success is the quality of the layout – 18 holes of two distinctly different nines that offer plenty of challenges for the better player and a fair, enjoyable round for the average golfer.
This high level of conditioning goes hand-in-hand with Marsh’s outstanding design, which rewards good driving and accurate shot-making from the fairways. Missing any of the large undulating greens presents its own challenges, whether it is a shot from sand, down a deep hollow or the side slope of a mound.
A change of ownership in recent times has seen the standard of presentation maintained, while Marsh was asked to come back and tweak the design of a few holes. The most notable change can be seen at the par-3 12th hole, where the green is now closer to a lake that has always flanked the right edge of the hole. More bunkering has been added to the two original bunkers, found back and right, creating a tough short one-shotter.
GREEN FEES: Guests may only be invited by a member.
8 STONECUTTERS RIDGE GOLF CLUB
The newest course to open in Sydney’s metropolitan area has held a place in the top-50 of this magazine’s national ranking since opening in 2012.
Despite being located 45 minutes’ drive west of the Harbour Bridge, Stonecutters is well-affected by wind – in terms of strength and direction – which was noted by the designers when routing the course.
The Greg Norman design, in what was his last collaboration with former design partner Bob Harrison, takes into account that the prevailing wind varies significantly from season to season and, sometimes, from morning to afternoon. A strong westerly, for example, will be in your favour playing the four par-5s, but the same wind will add some length and bite to the longer par-4s through the middle of the round.
In essence, the routing has become one of the great attributes of the layout as it never plays the same from round-to-round simply because of the wind direction.
Stonecutters Ridge provides mostly spacious fairways where errant drives are punished via awkward approach angles rather than snarly rough. OK, so there’s plenty of that in view, along with water, but most times the penalty for a safety-first play is instead felt when sizing up the next shot. A perfect case is the 343-metre 4th hole, which shares a fairway with the 3rd to the left and is almost as wide as the 1st and 18th holes of the Old Course at St Andrews. But the ideal line here is to skirt the water hazard lining the entire right edge of the fairway to leave a straightforward approach into the long, narrow and angled green. If you play conservatively here and hit your tee shot into the wide expanses to the left, your second shot will be much longer and coming from a difficult angle.
Most good scores are made on the back nine, which carries three of Stonecutters’ four par-5s. But it is the par-4 14th you will long remember. Ranging between 326 and 370 metres, the 14th meanders downhill with a single fairway bunker on the left and a large tree retained in the right side just as the land starts to flatten out. The approach shot is played uphill to a clever green complex with sand on both sides and a steeply two-tiered putting surface, where the top shelf houses the more demanding hole locations while the bottom level has the most fun flags as the step in the green can be used as a backstop.
GREEN FEES: $50 (weekdays); $55 (weekends and public holidays).
9 AVONDALE GOLF CLUB
Avondale Golf Club quite rightly ranks among the Harbour City’s best courses but its ‘hidden’ location on the leafy upper north shore and its exclusivity have combined to maintain a low profile for the course.
The club was founded in 1926 by a consortium of leading businessmen who wanted to establish a private club on 200 acres of rugged bushland in Pymble, adjoining what is today the upper reaches of the Lane Cove River National Park. The course was officially opened the following year and the original clubhouse still stands and, although there have been several extensions, the same architectural-style remains.
Both the clubhouse and course were designed by Eric Apperly, who split his time throughout 1927 between Avondale and implementing the Alister MacKenzie design plans for the New South Wales Golf Club course at La Perouse. With pockets of the Avondale site cleared by members wielding axes, Apperly was able to create a superb routing across the heavily timbered slopes, rocky outcrops and stony ridges of the site. It is testament to his ability as a course designer that the routing remains largely unchanged to this day.
Acclaimed designer Ross Watson was commissioned by the club to redesign the course and this decade-long program was completed in 2008. Watson’s incorporated the best of Apperly’s routing into his reshaping of fairways and greens as well as the remodelling and addition of bunkers to the landscape.
Some of Avondale’s most memorable offerings come on the back nine and one of the best is the short par-4 17th hole. The 303-metre two-shotter is a terrific hole where you get a glimpse of the green in the distance from the elevated tee. In between is a ‘hogsback’ contoured fairway, which turns slightly right and plunges into a dip before rising again to meet the green. Long hitters sweating on a big finish to their round by finding the green with their tee shot need to be wary of the bunkers short and right of the relatively small kidney-shaped putting surface.
GREEN FEES: Reciprocal guests welcomed. Other guests may only be invited by a member.
10 ST MICHAEL’S GOLF CLUB
Covering some wonderful seaside land, St Michael’s is one of the most improved courses in Sydney during the past decade.
The northern neighbour of the famed New South Wales layout, St Michael’s offers a terrific variety of long and short holes that are played to all points of the compass and are all influenced by the ever-present wind.
For much of the past 10 years, ‘St Mick’s’ has been constantly working on improving the playing experience by raising the level of presentation (which has rarely been better than it is now) and tweaking the design of many holes. A program of clearing non-native vegetation has worked well and, in some parts of the course, this has exposed areas of sandy wasteland, which has added to the visual appeal without lessening the challenge.
One hole that has significantly improved is the 298-metre uphill par-4 9th. There was a time not so long ago where the only real play from the tee here was a fairway wood or long iron straight up the middle of a narrow fairway (avoiding bunkers and scrub left, and out-of-bounds and scrub right) to leave a short iron into the green. Pretty boring really! Today, golfers are asked questions on the tee about how they might tackle the hole. A large scheme of bunkers is visible up the left side of the fairway, which has been significantly widened with the clearing of scrub. Longer hitters might now be tempted at having a go at the green in favourable conditions, while shorter hitters can get the best angle into the elevated green by taking a tight driving line alongside the bunkers to the left. Playing to the fat of the fairway might be a safe driving play, but it will leave a second shot that must carry bunkers.
GREEN FEES: $90 (Monday to Saturday); $100 (Sunday).
11 MANLY GOLF CLUB
Situated a few well-struck drives from world famous Manly beach, Manly Golf Club underwent a large scale renovation by Peter Thomson and Ross Perrett in 2012 that has increased the challenge of the layout by putting an onus on placement and positon, rather than power.
With the brief to incorporate fragile wetlands of the area and address flooding problems on the low lying, flat piece of land, Thomson and Perrett created a strategic test with undulating greens of dramatically varied sizes – which make it difficult to get the ball close to the hole, even when approaching with as little as a wedge.
The playing surfaces have continued to improve each year since the renovation was completed, meaning the course’s presentation is always of a high standard. And while creeks that split multiple fairways on the northern paddock that houses holes 2-9, including the back-to-back par-5 2nd and 3rd holes, have received criticism for the holes’ lack of risk reward opportunities, the hazards do as the designers intended. They take the driver from all but the longest hitters’ hands and giving the course some added length on second shots, despite a lack of space.
The back nine, played entirely on the southern side of the property that is split by Kenneth Road, features the majority of the course’s more interesting holes – with multiple holes requiring players to work the ball from the tee to set up shorter approaches to the tricky greens, thanks to tree-lined doglegs and expansive fairway bunkering.
GREEN FEES: Limited midweek tee times are available for members of a golf club who hold a current handicap. $165 (per player).
12 CASTLE HILL COUNTRY CLUB
Castle Hill gained national recognition in the 1980s and ‘90s as one of Sydney’s premier courses as host of the Australian PGA Championship twice and the Australasian Tour’s Canon Challenge four times.
Much has changed since Greg Norman shot 15-under to win the PGA there in 1985 and there are more changes to come with Norman’s former design partner, Bob Harrison, submitting a masterplan for the redesign of the course.
Work began on the redesign last month, with construction crews starting on the 16th and 18th greens and surrounds. Despite the renovations, the course, about 35 kilometres north-west of the CBD, will be playable.
Castle Hill is a charismatic and enjoyable layout boasting good changes of elevation and some of the best prepared and consistent playing surfaces in Sydney.
The par-72 is a driver’s paradise, hence the success Norman had there in the mid-80s. The clubhouse occupies the highest point of the layout and three of the best driving holes – all par-5s – are played to and from the clubhouse.
For example, the 485-metre opening hole sweeps downhill from the elevated tee into a valley before rising again for the final approach to the green. The fairway is heavily bunkered in the lay-up area and around the massive putting surface that slopes markedly from right-to-left. There is almost three clubs’ difference between a front and back pin position, so correct club selection from any distance is important here.
GREEN FEES: $99 (18 holes with shared cart and drink) for visitors Mondays after 10am.
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