Among the top 10 layouts on our biennial Top 100 Golf Courses ranking, none exhibits as high a ‘quirk factor’ as venerable Royal Adelaide Golf Club.
That’s not a knock on South Australian golf’s most regal gem, rather a complement. It’s a layout that asks every question in the game, yet one that reveals its uniqueness in multiple ways.
To start, few – if any – golf courses require you to drive right across the 18th fairway to reach the carpark, yet that is your introduction to the Seaton links. Then there’s the still-in-operation suburban trainline between the city and the beach that is both in play on a few holes and needs to be crossed twice during a round. And within the playing corridors is a short, bunkerless par 4 that causes golfers fits yet is treasured like a crown jewel, plus a host of spectacular green sites where natural beauty oozes from the exquisite sandy amphitheatres.
To say there is no course like Royal Adelaide is absolutely to revere the place rather than revile it.
While numerous sets of fingerprints have touched it over time, the original influence of Dr Alister MacKenzie cannot be overstated. Classic architecture reigns throughout, while much of Royal Adelaide’s appeal lies in its simplicity. A cleverly angled green here, a subtle rise or dip there; an unkempt dune here, a grove of pines framing a target there.
Nothing is overdone, allowing the land’s best characteristics to lead the way.
THE DETAILS
Royal Adelaide Golf Club
Ranking for 2024-2025: 9th
Prior rankings: 10th (2022), 11th (2020), 9th (2018), 14th (2016), 12th (2014), 13th (2012), 9th (2010), 6th (2008), 5th (2006), 5th (2004), 5th (2002), 5th (2000), 7th (1998), 7th (1996), 9th (1994), 6th (1991), 5th (1989), First Ten (1986)
Where: Tapleys Hill Rd, Seaton SA 5023
Phone: (08) 8356 5511
Web: royaladelaidegolf.com.au
Photography by Gary Lisbon
