The Australian Golf Club

The verdict

No club is more woven into the history of Australian golf than The Australian. Established in 1882 at Kensington, only a few kilometres south of Sydney's center, it hosted the inaugural Australian Open in 1904 and has staged the national championship more than twenty times since, a roll of honor that reads like a history of the game in this country. To play here is to walk ground that Gary Player, Greg Norman and the modern stars have all contested.

The course you play today is essentially Jack Nicklaus's. Commissioned by the media magnate Kerry Packer, Nicklaus radically rebuilt the layout for the 1977 Australian Open, replacing the older links character with a bold American parkland of heavy mounding, water hazards and sculpted bunkering. He returned around 2013 to redevelop it once more, and the result is a par 72 of about 6,610 metres that examines every part of the game. It is a private members club rather than a resort course, but for the visitor who can arrange access, it is a definitive Sydney round.

The holes worth the trip

The Australian is a championship parkland in the fullest sense, and its defenses are length, water and the green complexes. Nicklaus built a course that asks the better player to shape the ball both ways from the tee, then attack large, contoured greens that are guarded by deep bunkers and, on several holes, by water that leaves no margin for a loose approach. The fairways are generous enough to tempt aggression, but the second shot is where the round is won or lost.

The water holes are the signature, the kind that produce drama on the final afternoon of an Australian Open, where a leader must take on the carry or play safe and trust the putter. The closing stretch in particular has decided championships, demanding nerve and precise distance control when it matters most. It is golf built for the professional game, yet it remains fair and rewarding for the club player from the right tees.

Conditioning matches the pedigree, with the tournament standard presentation of fairways and greens you would expect of a venue that hosts elite events. For the visiting golfer, the appeal is as much the sense of occasion as the architecture, the feeling of testing yourself on a stage where the history of Australian golf has so often been written.

Where to stay nearby

The Australian's location is part of its appeal. Sitting at Kensington just south of the city and minutes from the airport, it lets you base yourself anywhere in central Sydney and still reach the first tee easily. The eastern suburbs and the beaches at Bondi and Coogee are close, and the full range of the city's hotels, from harbourside luxury to boutique stays, is within a short drive.

For the golfer, The Australian sits at the heart of Sydney's championship cluster. It pairs naturally with The Lakes, its neighbor across the road, with Royal Sydney in the eastern suburbs and with the clifftop drama of New South Wales Golf Club at La Perouse. A few days in Sydney can take in all four, an outstanding lineup of city golf.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts around Sydney.