Most "best of" lists rank on prestige, which in a city like this would just hand you a column of private clubs you'll never see the inside of. I've done it differently. I care about the round you'll actually have: the quality of the architecture, yes, but also the drama of the setting and — because this is meant to be useful — whether a normal golfer can book a tee time. The happy truth about Sydney is that its single best course is also, wonderfully, one you can play. You'll find every one of these in our Sydney directory.
The quick ranking: 1. NSW Golf Club · 2. The Australian · 3. Royal Sydney · 4. The Lakes · 5. Bonnie Doon · 6. Elanora · 7. Terrey Hills · 8. Concord · 9. Avondale · 10. St Michael's · 11. Long Reef · 12. Manly · 13. Pennant Hills · 14. The Coast · 15. Moore Park · 16. Bondi.
1. NSW Golf Club
The best course in Sydney, and one of the great clifftop golf experiences on earth — Alister MacKenzie's 1928 routing along the rocks at Little Bay, where the par-3 6th plays across an inlet of the Pacific to a green on a headland. And the miracle of it: NSW is public-access. Save up, book ahead, and play the finest golf in the harbour city.
Access: Public (premium green fee) · Designer: Alister MacKenzie (1928) · Don't miss: the 5th and 6th, golf's most photogenic two-hole stretch.
2. The Australian Golf Club
Australia's oldest club (1882) and a regular Open host, The Australian is a big, muscular Jack Nicklaus championship layout sitting improbably close to the city. Recently refreshed, immaculately kept, and — like its neighbour The Lakes — open to visitors. Proper tournament golf without leaving the suburbs.
Access: Public-access (visitors welcome) · Designer: Jack Nicklaus redesign · Don't miss: the closing holes that have decided Australian Opens.
3. Royal Sydney Golf Club
The grandest address in Sydney golf, at Rose Bay, lavishly reborn in a bold Gil Hanse redesign that swept away decades of trees and rediscovered the sandy ground beneath. Royal Sydney is private and peerless in its conditioning — a members' world most of us only read about, now backed by world-class architecture.
Access: Private (members & guests) · Designer: Gil Hanse redesign · Don't miss: the transformation — it's a different course.
4. The Lakes Golf Course
Water, water everywhere. The Lakes at Eastlakes is a dramatic, lake-laced championship test that has hosted multiple Australian Opens, its sandy fairways winding between glittering hazards. Demanding and beautiful in equal measure.
Access: Private (members & guests) · Designer: von Nida / Clayton redesign · Don't miss: the water-guarded run home.
5. Bonnie Doon Golf Course
A genuine slice of sandbelt sand in the Eastern Suburbs. Bonnie Doon at Pagewood was reborn on sandy ground that lets it play firm and fast, with bunkering that wouldn't look out of place in Melbourne. The connoisseur's Sydney pick.
Access: Private (members & guests) · Designer: sandbelt-style redesign · Don't miss: the firm, running ground game.
6. Elanora Country Club
Tucked into the northern beaches at Elanora Heights, Elanora is a parkland course of rare beauty and golden-age pedigree — gum-lined, rolling, and a perennial favourite of anyone lucky enough to play it.
Access: Private (members & guests) · Designer: golden-age parkland · Don't miss: the sense of seclusion ten minutes from the beach.
7. Terrey Hills Golf & Country Club
A modern championship course carved from the bushland of Sydney's north, Terrey Hills is a Thomson-Wolveridge design that has hosted professional events — big, polished, and a serious examination off the tee.
Access: Private (members & guests) · Designer: Thomson Wolveridge · Don't miss: the immaculate, big-event presentation.
8. Concord Golf Club
A surprise of the inner west: Concord is a beautifully maintained parkland members' course with glimpses of the city skyline, far better than its low profile suggests.
Access: Private (members & guests) · Designer: classic parkland · Don't miss: the city views you don't expect.
9. Avondale Golf Club
Leafy, rolling north-shore parkland at West Pymble, Avondale is consistently rated among Sydney's best private courses for its conditioning and quiet, tree-lined challenge.
Access: Private (members & guests) · Designer: north-shore parkland · Don't miss: the back-nine tree corridors.
10. St Michael's Golf Club
The third of Little Bay's clifftop trio — and, like its neighbours, St Michael's is public. Wind-blown, ocean-fringed and a touch underrated next to NSW, it's terrific value for golf with this much sea in view.
Access: Public · Designer: clifftop links-ish · Don't miss: the holes hard against the cliffs.
11. Long Reef Golf Course
Out on a headland at Collaroy with the sea on three sides, Long Reef offers 360-degree ocean views and a breezy, public links-style round that no visitor to the northern beaches should miss.
Access: Public · Designer: headland links · Don't miss: the panorama from the high holes.
12. Manly Golf Club
A classic, tight members' course at Manly Vale, Manly rewards straight hitting and good iron play — old-school Sydney golf with a loyal following.
Access: Private (members & guests) · Designer: classic parkland · Don't miss: the premium on accuracy.
13. Pennant Hills Golf Course
Hilly, leafy and demanding, Pennant Hills winds through the bushy upper north shore and asks you to flight the ball off awkward lies all day. A proper test.
Access: Private (members & guests) · Designer: undulating parkland · Don't miss: the elevation changes.
14. The Coast Golf Club
My home course, so take the placement with a grain of salt — but The Coast at Little Bay is the most beautiful cheap round in Sydney: clifftop, public, and measured in atmosphere rather than conditioning. Bring more balls than you think.
Access: Public · Designer: clifftop, reshaped by James Wilcher · Don't miss: the par-3 4th, over a gorge.
15. Moore Park Golf
The democratic heart of Sydney golf — a busy inner-city public course beside the SCG where the city actually learns to play. Moore Park isn't a championship test, but it's where the game stays open to everyone, and that matters.
Access: Public · Designer: inner-city municipal · Don't miss: twilight, with the city lighting up.
16. Bondi Golf Course
Not great golf — but unbeatable theatre. Bondi is a ramshackle public clifftop nine right on the Pacific at North Bondi, with Aboriginal rock engravings on the headland and whales offshore in season. Play it for the place, not the card.
Access: Public · Designer: clifftop nine · Don't miss: the ocean on every hole.
Honourable mentions
A few more worth your time: Randwick (a breezy public links at Malabar), Killara and Pymble (handsome private north-shore parklands), Monash (a quiet northern-beaches gem) and Woollahra (a charming par-3 course in Rose Bay, perfect for a quick hit).
How I ranked them
Three things, weighed together: the quality of the architecture, the drama of the setting, and access — because a list that's useful to one per cent of golfers isn't really useful. Where a great private course and a great public one were close, I nudged the one you can actually play a little higher. The national panels would have Royal Sydney and The Australian jostling at the top; I've backed NSW Golf Club, because it's their equal and you can book it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best golf course in Sydney? NSW Golf Club at Little Bay — an Alister MacKenzie clifftop layout ranked among the best in the country, and, unusually for a course this good, open to the public.
What is the best public golf course in Sydney? NSW Golf Club for the splurge; for value, The Coast, St Michael's, Long Reef and Bondi all give you clifftop ocean golf for a fraction of the price.
Which Sydney courses can visitors play? NSW Golf Club and The Australian both offer public-access tee times, and the council clifftop courses — The Coast, St Michael's, Long Reef, Bondi, Moore Park — are all genuinely public.
So there's my sixteen. Argue the order — every Sydney golfer will — but the headline holds: this is a city where some of the best golf on the continent sits open to anyone willing to book a tee time and brave a sea breeze. Lucky us.
Eliza Hartley is a features writer and former state amateur who writes about golf as a story about people and place. She plays off 7 and walks every round.
