Our nationwide search concludes with a final assessment of each state’s leading golf community as we anoint an overall winner.
In order to define what makes a great golf town, we first need to understand what it isn’t. A collection of golf courses – even very good ones – is not enough for a town to be considered great. Instead, the place needs to ooze golf, not merely contain it at its periphery. Like in St Andrews, you should feel the game permeating your soul as you walk the streets. A handful of good courses on the edge of town simply isn’t enough. A town with golf courses is one thing; a genuine golf community is vastly different.
When we embarked on our journey last August to determine which community is the Best Golf Town in Australia, we aimed to highlight the game’s utopias – places where golf truly works. Wherever such a place exists, it’s certain to be the result of a symbiotic combination of many forces. Good courses and sunny weather help, but as we said from the start, a better question to consider is: where would you raise your children if you were hellbent on cultivating within them your love for the game? A properly golf-obsessed parent can do that anywhere, of course, but it’s easier if there’s a community to support it.
Each state had its chance, and we shone the spotlight on several worthy towns in each of the six to determine state champions. We shared the load, with four different editors and writers involved in overseeing our state evaluations. One interesting quirk surfaced during the process: five of the six state winners are towns beginning with ‘B’. Let’s revisit them.
New South Wales: Bowral
Bowral is a thriving golf town, with a combination of excellent courses, accommodation and a boutique Southern Highlands charm. Bowral Golf Club is also a regular host of the NSW Hickory Championships. In addition, Moss Vale Golf Club and Highlands Golf Club (Mittagong) are within a 12-minute drive. Golf flows through the town’s veins in myriad ways, and even the weather tends to feel a little bit Scottish.
The towns it beat: Coffs Harbour, Forster-Tuncurry, Merimbula, Narooma, Nelson Bay, Orange, Pokolbin, Tocumwal, Wagga, Wagga.
Victoria: Barwon Heads
Barwon Heads became trendy with the release of the ABC TV series “SeaChange” in 1998, yet golfers might argue its moment came with the opening of the first of a trio of courses at 13th Beach Golf Links three years later. Or perhaps the town has been a golf haven ever since the golf club of the same name was formed more than a century ago. Whenever Barwon Heads’ moment in the sun occurred, it hasn’t left the golf spotlight. Meanwhile, the arrival of the Vic Open 12 years ago to such a warm response from the locals only boosted the golf-y feels.
The towns it beat: Bendigo, Echuca, Healesville, Horsham, Mildura, Rye, Shepparton, Warrnambool, Yarrawonga.
Queensland: Bundaberg
Bundaberg Golf Club is the sugar town’s oldest course, with mature vegetation, wide fairways and numerous birdlife. Highly recommended is the 20-minute drive east through canefields to the Coral Cove oceanside residential community, while Bargara Golf Club offers superb value with a visitor green fee of just $30 to play a quintessential Queensland layout. With relatively modest green fees, affordable membership fees, good practice facilities and world-class tourist attractions nearby, Bundaberg embodies the qualities of what a great golf town looks like for locals and visitors.
The towns it beat: Beaudesert, Bribie Island, Hervey Bay, Maleny, Noosa, Port Douglas.

Western Australia: Bunbury
Founded in 1928 and established on its current site in 1948, Bunbury Golf Club is home of the South West Open. It’s also been dubbed the ‘Lake Karrinyup Of The South’ with slightly undulating couch fairways, slick bent greens and kangaroos – but not a single red peg to mark a penalty area anywhere on the course. Nearby Sanctuary Golf Resort is a complete contrast, with water on most of its holes. For value for money and access to decent courses, Bunbury has everything a golfer desires.
The towns it beat: Albany, Busselton, Kalgoorlie, Mandurah.
South Australia: Willunga
Hosting a Webex Players Series event helped turn the spotlight onto Willunga, which is an emerging town in the South Australian golf scene. Willunga is a picturesque and historic settlement that’s just a stone’s throw from the vineyards of the famous McLaren Vale. Walking the streets during last October’s Webex Players Series event, you could feel the buzz down the main street, which is walking distance from the course. Local characters were out in full flight, while walking into the local hotel or bakery, you’re bound to strike up a conversation with a local about golf in Willunga.
The towns it beat: Loxton, Millicent, Robe, Sandy Creek, Tanunda.

Tasmania: Bothwell
Bothwell is the town that started it all for golf in Australia. The nation’s oldest golf course, Ratho Farm, is in the town on the edge of Tasmania’s Central Highlands. While some holes have been renovated – even reclaimed – in recent years, they remain entirely true to their 19th-century origins. So if history counts for anything, Bothwell possesses attributes no other Australian town can replicate. Ratho’s fairways continue to be kept short by grazing sheep with fences protecting the greens. Meanwhile, the Australasian Golf Museum is a worthy destination in town and completes Bothwell’s golf offerings.
The towns it beat: Bridport, Currie, Devonport, Kingston.

And the winner is… Barwon Heads (VIC)
If the quest is to reward a place where golf perpetually resonates – one where you feel golf even when you’re not near a golf course – then no town matches the vibe of Barwon Heads on the Bellarine Peninsula. Golf in the seaside town officially dates back to 1907, yet never has the game felt more entrenched there than it does today.
Anthony Masters is the general manager of Barwon Heads Golf Club and was previously in the same role at nearby 13th Beach Golf Links and Anglesea Golf Club before that. He is intimately familiar with the region and what makes it tick. He notes both the deep roots of golf in the town as well as the significance of hosting the Vic Open for Barwon Heads.
“The Vic Open brought a new focus to the town,” Masters says. “It married beautifully the intergenerational history of, say, Barwon Heads Golf Club with a modern golf membership structure at 13th Beach. No ropes, people walking on the fairways… and golf seeps into the local village. Walk down the street and you’ll see people wearing a golf cap, or there’s grandparents and grandkids walking around talking about how they’ve been members of a certain golf club for decades. With the local primary school literally over the fence from Barwon Heads’ par-3 course, children have every opportunity to begin their golf journey early.
“It has that mini-Scottish feel, and apart from the fact that the three courses in Barwon Heads are all world-class, the town got behind the Vic Open by volunteering and billeting players. Many of our members at Barwon Heads were involved in that. So it’s been a real village feel, and a team effort to get it to where it is.”
And if you happen to visit the town outside the mid-summer period when the Vic Open is on, the golf culture Barwon Heads exudes during the tournament is still evident. That’s thanks to the calibre of the golf on offer, of course, but also the people.
“I think people are drawn by the quality of the golf courses, then the surprise is how the town breathes golf,” Masters says. “Go down the street and the local butcher is a single-figure golfer. So you go in and buy your barbecue meat for dinner that night and you can talk about your round – whether it was in the wind, heat or cool. Golf’s always with you here.
“A lot of the members of both clubs are involved in the town. Brian Andrew, who has the BeachHouse in town, is big supporter of both Barwon Heads and 13th Beach. Go down there for a drink and you’ll wind up talking golf. Even the pub has a golf connection.”
This helps explain the drawing power of the town. One of the region’s strengths is repeat visitation. At Barwon Heads Golf Club, Masters says the record for the longest repeat group booking is 60 years (with an asterisk for COVID). Barwon Heads is also a drawcard for amateurs. One of Victoria’s most historic team competitions for women, the Marrum Cup, has taken place annually at Barwon Heads Golf Club since 1925, attracting generations of women from clubs across Victoria and as far afield as the Royals of Adelaide, Canberra, Queensland and Sydney and Lake Karrinyup in the west.
“They love the golf courses, but they love the traditional feel of the clubhouse and sitting by the fireplace with a red wine and watching the flags wave with the southerly off Bass Strait in the afternoon,” Masters says. “They get that feeling of Scotland just an hour-and-a-half from Melbourne. It does have a Scottish vibe. You could be on the Scottish coastline playing the course at Barwon Heads, especially the front six holes. Then, you retreat into the safety of the clubhouse for some sustenance in the evening.
“So it’s not just about playing golf; it’s the whole day. It’s not just about teeing it up and putting out on the 18th; you also experience – in equal fashion – the hospitality in the clubhouses.” This will be further enhanced when the clubhouse at Barwon Heads re-opens in late 2025 after a $20 million restoration.
Aided by a popular tournament but steeped in golf well before the Vic Open came along, Barwon Heads exemplifies what a great golf town can look like.