Located in the 2000 Olympic City of Sydney, The Australian Golf Club is one of Australia’s most exclusive golf clubs. The Australian is a perfectly manicured and aesthetically pleasing golf course. A series of water hazards provide golfers of all standards with challenges right up until the final approach shot into the 18th hole. Guests should be invited to play by a Member of The Australian, unless they are from interstate or overseas, in which case they may be introduced by the General Manager.
The Australian Golf Club, founded in 1882 and set in the centre of Sydney’s busiest industrial area, is the oldest golf club still in existence in Australia. It moved to its present location at Kensington in 1903 and Dr Alister MacKenzie was commissioned to update the Australian layout. Sloan Morpeth performed further revisions and then Jack Nicklaus completely redesigned the course under the finance of Kerry Packer in 1976 to what is now the current championship livery.
In the 1940s the club struggled financially and during the early war years the clubhouse was commandeered by the US armed forces, and in 1944 was requisitioned by the American Red Cross. Fire eventually razed the ill fated clubhouse to the ground in 1982 and the Australian Golf Club now has a wonderful new clubhouse with panoramic views.
Sloan Morpeth added further modifications and nine extra holes in 1967. The course is set in a large, often windswept, sandy basin. With few trees on the property, the Australian is reminiscent of a concave Walton Heath with elevated plateaux greens and cavernous bunkers.
Host to no fewer than nineteen Australians Opens, the first and inaugural Australian Open was played here in 1904 and most recently in 2015. The Australian is a championship venue that’s as hard-as-nails and the course will no doubt be utilised for tournament golf for many years to come.
