Historic Golf Clubs
in Australia

Golf arrived in Australia in the 1840s, making it one of the earliest countries outside the British Isles to adopt the game. The first clubs were established in Melbourne and Adelaide, and the game spread quickly among the British colonial community. By the turn of the 20th century, Australia had a thriving golf culture that was already beginning to develop its own distinct character.

The sandbelt region of Melbourne became the country's spiritual home of golf course design — a stretch of land that Dr. Alister MacKenzie and other architects used to create courses of extraordinary quality. Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath, Metropolitan, Huntingdale — names that appear consistently near the top of world rankings and have done so for decades.

Australia has 61 golf clubs in The Centenary database that are 100 years or older. Among them are 8 clubs that hold a Royal designation. The concentration is heaviest in Victoria and New South Wales, but historic clubs can be found across every state and territory.

Below you will find the complete list, ordered by founding year. We also show which clubs currently qualify for The Centenary network based on our Provenance Index — our transparent measure of a club's international and regional standing.