The access scale
Can you play it?
A ranking tells you how good a course is. It does not tell you whether you can get on it. In Australia the answer runs along a scale, and it is not the one the word “private” suggests.
At one end are clubs with a few hundred members where you cannot play unless one of them takes you. At the other are council courses where anyone can turn up. In between sit the great old clubs that welcome visitors from interstate with a letter of introduction, the clubs that will usually find a time if you ring, and the large number of members clubs that quietly let you pay and play on most days.
We class every ranked course on five levels, by one question: what does a visitor need to get a game? Price and ownership are not access. Seven Mile Beach and a council course are equally open to anyone who turns up, one just costs more.
The five levels
- 1
Ultra-private
A member playing with you. There is no other route.
These clubs keep membership to a few hundred, take no visitor bookings of any kind, and do not honour introductions from other clubs. If you want to play one, you need to know someone who belongs.
2 courses, 1 with a Golf List position. Best ranked: Cathedral Lodge (#19). For example Ellerston, Cathedral Lodge.
- 2
Private
Locals cannot book. The ways in are an interstate or international introduction, a stay-and-play package, or a charity or corporate day.
The great old clubs. A visitor from interstate or overseas can usually play with a letter of introduction from their own club, on set days and at a premium fee. A local without a member to bring them generally cannot. Most of the Melbourne Sandbelt sits here.
48 courses, 46 with a Golf List position. Best ranked: Royal Melbourne (West) (#1). For example Royal Melbourne (West), Kingston Heath, Peninsula Kingswood (North).
- 3
Semi-private
No online visitor booking. You ring the pro shop and ask.
A grey zone. A local who rings, with a reasonable reason and a green fee that reflects the club's standing, will often be found a time. Nothing is guaranteed and nothing can be booked online, so a visitor cannot plan a trip around it.
8 courses, 6 with a Golf List position. Best ranked: Woodlands (#27). For example Woodlands, Spring Valley.
- 4
Members club
Book a visitor round online, around member times.
Most Australian private clubs are members clubs in name only. They let you pay and play any day except Saturday morning and some men's and ladies' competition mornings. They are not exclusive, and they make up the majority of clubs in the country.
57 courses, 25 with a Golf List position. Best ranked: Barwon Heads (#26). For example Barwon Heads, Port Fairy.
- 5
Public
Nothing. Anyone can book, any day.
No membership is needed. This covers the premium, privately run courses, resort courses that sell public tee times, and council courses at a fraction of the price. How much a round costs is a separate question from whether you can play it.
58 courses, 34 with a Golf List position. Best ranked: Cape Wickham (#3). For example Cape Wickham, Seven Mile Beach, Barnbougle Dunes.
What this means for a visitor
Two groupings drive the rankings on this site. Courses you can play are levels four and five: you can book a round online without knowing anyone, though a members club may close to visitors on Saturday morning (59 ranked courses). Public courses are level five only: anyone can book, any day (34 ranked).
Level three is deliberately in neither. If you have to ring and hope, you cannot plan a trip around it, so we do not promise it.
How to read a course page
Every course page shows its level, what that level needs, and any note on the way in, with the month it was last checked against the club. Levels are entered by hand from the club's own booking rules, never guessed from a course's name or its ranking. A course without a level says so, and that means unchecked, not closed.
As a cross-check we compare against Golf Australia's Top 100 Public Access list, which names courses where a visitor can book at least five and a half days a week. A course classed ultra-private or private cannot be on it, and the build fails if one is. The list is a top 100, so a public course missing from it is not an error.
Access rules change when clubs change hands or policies. Classifications were last reviewed in the data refresh of 2 August 2026 and carry their own checked dates. If one is wrong, tell us.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I play Royal Melbourne?
- Royal Melbourne is classed private. Locals cannot book. The ways in are an interstate or international introduction, a stay-and-play package, or a charity or corporate day.
- What is a letter of introduction?
- A letter from the secretary or captain of your own golf club, introducing you to another club as a member in good standing. Private clubs often accept one from interstate or overseas visitors, on set days and at a premium fee, when they will not take bookings from locals.
- Which top 20 golf courses in Australia can anyone play?
- Cape Wickham (#3), Barnbougle Dunes (#4), Barnbougle Lost Farm (#6), Seven Mile Beach (#10), St Andrews Beach (#16), Ocean Dunes (#18). The rest of the top 20 are private or semi-private, or members clubs that take visitor bookings.
- What does semi-private mean in Australia?
- A club with no online visitor booking where you can ring the pro shop and ask. A local with a good reason and a green fee that reflects the club's standing will often be found a time, but nothing is guaranteed, so we do not count it as open to visitors.
- Is a members club the same as a private club?
- In Australia usually not. Most clubs called private are members clubs that let you pay and play any day except Saturday morning and some competition mornings. They are not exclusive. We class them separately from the private clubs that take no local bookings at all.