Royal Melbourne’s West course returns emphatically to No.1 as a host of old favourites resurface on our biennial ranking after completing major redesign work.
Triumphant returns are the order of the day as Australian Golf Digest delivers the 20th ranking of our nation’s Top 100 Golf Courses, 40 years after the first list hit newsstands and letterboxes.
Having been deposed from the top spot for just the second time ever two years ago, Royal Melbourne’s famed West course returns to No.1 and does so in style, generating an average score that comfortably surpassed the next-best layout. Lest anyone assume the homecoming was aided by hosting last December’s Australian Open, our online scoring portal for panellists to enter their evaluations showed Royal Melbourne West held a stranglehold on top spot for almost the entire two-year ranking cycle.
Comebacks are a theme throughout our biennial ranking, with several layouts returning after extensive redesigns or renovations. Nine courses were deliberately omitted from the 2024 ranking, five of which re-enter this time, along with one highly anticipated, brand-new inclusion.
Such an influx inevitably handed many incumbents a built-in six-place fall that had nothing to do with their own situation. In some cases, lower-ranked courses dropped by double digits despite improving their average score from the previous ranking. Nowhere was this more evident than through the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, where a ‘traffic jam’ saw established courses fall simply due to the strength and volume of returning entries. Many dropped by the exact number of places occupied by those rejoining above them, while even a 10-place fall in the lower regions should be viewed in context, as the net loss is often far smaller than it appears.
New and new-old
Beyond the intrigue over which course claimed No.1, the most compelling storyline of the Top 100 Courses list for 2026-2027 was where the new and returning courses would land. Huntingdale, Royal Sydney, Commonwealth, Mount Lawley and Links Kennedy Bay rejoin the list in that order, slotting in between the high teens and 40th position, while the debut of 7 Mile Beach generated considerable attention.
Hobart’s newest golf course – the only brand-new entrant – opened last May with 11 holes under limited access before the full 18 became playable from December. More than 50 panellists visited 7 Mile Beach during the summer, praising the design work of Mike Clayton and Mike DeVries’ in a spectacular setting, while eagerly anticipating how the layout will evolve with another growing season.
Huntingdale, meanwhile, pulled out all stops to return to this ranking rather than waiting until 2028. After a slow start to spring in Melbourne, the club delayed its course re-opening from December to early February, leaving our panel just a month to assess the Ogilvy Cocking Mead (OCM) redesign before the ranking cycle closed. This came amid a period when Huntingdale’s patient members were itching to get back on their course. So we thank the club for accommodating an astonishing 34 panellists in such a short window of time.
Royal Sydney had the time to take a more measured approach, allowing its Gil Hanse-led renovation time to settle and members a period of exclusive access before opening to panel review. Like Huntingdale, it was a stirring return to our list for Royal Sydney’s renamed Bay course, but one that likewise leaves the impression more time will be an asset to its ranking as the work further beds in.
Conversely, Commonwealth had the luxury of returning on the heels of a full ranking cycle after the Sandbelt course re-opened in March 2024. Tom Doak and Brian Slawnik’s restoration sparked keen interest from our panel with 86 visits across the two years – a level of visitation that no other course bettered this cycle.
In Western Australia, Mount Lawley and Links Kennedy Bay re-opened at opposite ends of 2025, finding their way back into similar positions as the battle to be ‘best in the west’ becomes more fascinating. Lake Karrinyup remains the benchmark, though Mount Lawley (OCM) and Kennedy Bay (Graham Marsh) loom as serious contenders in the 2028 ranking, the latter in particular likely to benefit from more time to mature.
Not strictly a return – as it was never omitted, such was the speed of the renovation – but still highly anticipated was the revamped New South Wales layout. Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert, renowned for their work on Britain’s great links, called upon that experience to address problem areas of the iconic Sydney course and augment its natural strengths. The result is an upward move in a part of the list where multiple-spot gains are notoriously difficult.
So, what changed at the top?
Overall, average scores were marginally higher this cycle compared with 2024, largely due to the slightly different composition of the judging panel. While most panellists returned, new additions naturally brought fresh interpretations of the scoring criteria.
For No.1 Royal Melbourne West, gains were recorded across all seven categories relative to 2024. While that may seem expected in a higher-scoring cycle, its nearest rivals – timeless Sandbelt icon Kingston Heath and the majestic Cape Wickham Links on King Island – improved in six and two categories, respectively.
That said, Cape Wickham was unlucky to slip to No.3, having led Kingston Heath for much of the ranking cycle before being pipped by just 0.03 points as final scores were submitted. Often the margins are that fine.
As always, this list is a snapshot in time – one that could look markedly different just months earlier or later. We narrowly missed the late-March re-opening of The National Golf Club’s brilliantly re-imagined Long Island layout, though we were able to incorporate the wave of recent course openings and renovations.
Use this ranking as inspiration for your next golf trip, to guide your ‘bucket list’ or to fuel debate at the 19th hole. Just know that behind the scenes, more golfers contributed in more ways to produce this list than has ever been the case in the 40-year history of Australia’s Top 100 Golf Courses.
The 2026 ranking, by the numbers
- 271 panellists
- 824 courses scored
- 7,899 total evaluations
- 39.58 average no. of evaluations per Top 100 course
- 29.15 average no. of evaluations per panellist
- 73.34 score for the No.1 course (out of 80)
- 58.13 score for the No.100 course
- 0.91 the gap between No.1 and No.2
- 10.49 the gap between No.1 and No.50
- 4.52 the gap between No.51 and No.100
- 9 courses currently occupying their highest-ever ranking
