There are some brilliant golf courses in Sydney that provide a true taste of Australian golf which don’t require membership, invites or exorbitant green fees. Let’s take a quick tour.
Sydney’s upmarket Eastern Suburbs boast some of Australia’s best golf courses, like The Lakes and Royal Sydney Golf Club. But Moore Park is way more accessible for casual visitors and a great place to experience the parkland style of golf this part of Sydney is known for. The 18 championship tree-lined holes are wide and manicured and weave their way through the park offering fantastic views of the the city’s skyscrapers. The club also has perhaps Sydney’s best practice facilities and driving range.
In the suburb of Collaroy in the northern reaches of the city, Long Reef provides some of Sydney’s best beachside golf, with the course offering a great links experience. Set on a headland close to the beaches of Collaroy and Dee Why, it’s blessed with sea breezes and unforgettable views of Sydney’s Northern Beaches. British and Australian Open Champion Peter Thompson described it as having the best location for a golf course in Sydney.
Views of Sydney Harbour and the closest course to the famous Harbour Bridge, Northbridge Golf Club features 18 challenging holes with sloping fairways that wind through huge trees accompanied by abundant birdlife. Together with affordable green fees, it’s one of the best public golf courses in Sydney.
Up towards the Northern Beaches, Mona Vale Golf Club has played host to the New South Wales Amateur Championship, but it’s much more approachable in terms of green fees and easier to get a round than at some of the city’s more exclusive clubs. It offers golf of great variation, with the first 10 holes snaking through bushy, hilled terrain, before holes 11-18 flatten out close to the wonderful coastline.
The neighbour of another public course, the excellent but more slightly more expensive St. Michael’s Golf Club, The Coast Golf Club offers a great alternative with a links round that’s just as challenging with tight fairways and tricky greens which make full use of the splendid views of Botany Bay. In the south of the city and sharing the same coastline as the illustrious and exclusive New South Wales Golf Club, it’s one of the best value rounds of golf in Sydney. Together with St. Michael’s, this is a must-visit part of the city for golfers.
In the far north-west of Sydney, this tricky layout with unforgiving bunkers and plenty of water was designed by Greg Norman. Opened in 2012, it’s a recent and welcome addition to the city’s golfing portfolio. Surrounded on all sides by native bushland and designed with three distinct landscaping themes, it provides a complete feast for the senses and a total test of golf across its 18 championship holes.
In Sydney’s west, Bankstown Golf Club is an oasis of tree-lined fairways on the banks of the Georges River. It’s a parkland course which travels through native bushland and a forest of Eucalypts, offering stunning scenery and immaculate year-round condition. It’s an expensive-feeling golfing experience at an affordable price.
9-hole golf
For a quick, more casual round, Sydney has plenty of great shorter courses. But two in particular stand out.
Neighbouring the exclusive Royal Sydney Golf Course in the city’s Eastern Suburbs, this enjoyable and varied 9-hole course is highly affordable, tree-lined and a great combination of par 3s and 4s. Hole 3 can be played longer as a par 5.
This club’s short and fun 9-hole clifftop course is set spectacularly overlooking the world famous Bondi Beach and Sydney skyline. It’s probably the quickest round in the city, but great fun before popping down to the beach for a cold beer.
