Albany Golf Club

Golf has been played at Albany since the closing years of the nineteenth century. Sources give both 1898 and 1900 for the original nine holes, and the club’s own history and the state heritage record do not entirely agree.

What is not in dispute is that this is the oldest links course in Western Australia, that it was extended to eighteen holes in the 1960s, and that the state heritage listing considers it comparable to traditional Scottish links, which is not a comparison Australian heritage registers make lightly. It is currently rated the second best true links in the country and sits inside the Australian top hundred.

What it asks of you

Genuine links ground on the south coast, five hundred kilometres from Perth and exposed to the Southern Ocean. The next land south is Antarctica, and the wind arrives with nothing in its way.

A par 72 of 6,068 metres over fairways carrying the swales and undulations of real dune land, where the ball bounces in directions the eye does not predict and the running approach is usually the right one. The green complexes are the club’s strongest feature: varied in shape and size, quick, and subtle rather than severe.

Strategy matters here more than power. A player who takes the obvious line into a crosswind will spend the round in the dunes.

What players say about it

The course is open to visitors with booking advised, and the review record is healthy for a course this remote. The notes below summarise recurring themes across specialist golf sites, traveller review pages and player discussion threads. They are other people’s opinions, not ours: we have not played the course, and we do not name or quote individual reviewers.

What comes up in its favour

• The links character is the headline. Reviewers repeatedly describe it as the closest thing in Australia to a Scottish links, and mean it as high praise.
• The green complexes draw specific admiration for variety and for the quality of the putting surfaces.
• The ocean views across the dunes are mentioned in nearly every account.
• The pro shop staff and the clubhouse are praised, and the club’s competition programme comes up often.

What comes up against

• It is a long way from anywhere. Five hundred kilometres from Perth means a visit has to be planned rather than added to a trip.
• The exposure is total, and a round in a Southern Ocean gale is hard work rather than fun.
• At just over 6,000 metres it will not stretch a strong player in calm conditions, though calm conditions are rare.
• The review record is thinner than for the eastern states, simply because fewer people get there.

Getting there and when to go

Albany is on the south coast of Western Australia, around four and a half hours by road from Perth or an hour by air, and the drive down through the karri forests is part of the trip. The town itself is worth a night or two.

The course plays all year, and the southern climate is mild in every month. Spring and autumn give the least severe wind. Booking is advised.

Green fees

Rates and visitor tee times are handled by the club. See the club’s own site.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, Wikipedia, the state heritage record and published coverage for the history and the design, and the club’s own site for access and booking. The opinion section summarises public reviews and player discussions read in September 2026; we report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we do not reproduce or attribute quotes.

We have not played this course, and nothing here is a substitute for that. The club has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say in what it says. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.