Golfing in Port Stephens Council
Port Stephens is one of the strongest public-golf districts in the state, with all seven of its courses open to visitors across Worimi country north of Newcastle. Newcastle Golf Club at Fern Bay is the standout: founded in 1905, it moved into the sand dunes here in 1915 and was ranked 30th in Australia by Australian Golf Digest for 2022/23, with generous fairways but testing green positions. Horizons at Salamander Bay, a 1992 Graham Marsh and Ross Watson design, threads doglegs, lakes and heavy bunkering through the wetlands. Pacific Dunes at Medowie is a championship parkland cut through bushland, while Nelson Bay (1961) and Muree, on an old sandstone quarry at Raymond Terrace, are rich in kangaroos and birdlife. Flat, all-weather Tanilba Bay and the volunteer-run Karuah nine-holer complete the set.