Newcastle Golf Club

Newcastle is located at the coastal outlet of the Hunter River, two hours drive north of Sydney. Its provenance is steel mining and shipping and the town retains its industrial demeanour. With heavy industries of the 19th century came Celtic miners with a yearing for golf and it is thought that a group of them formed the Newcastle Golf Club in 1905. Details are uncertain due to a catastrophic fire that razed the clubhouse in 1969 and with it most of the club’s records.

The steady expansion of Newcastle’s industries in the early part of the 20th century forced the local golf clubs to relocate. Newcastle Golf Club moved across the Hunter River to Stockton, then only accessible by ferry. Work on a nine hole golf course began in 1913 and was completed in 1915… The club struggled financially through its early years… It was therefore a decision of great courage to expand the golf course to 18 holes in 1935 when the Hunter Valley area was still in the grip of Depression.

Given its manifest qualities and historical significance, Newcastle Golf Club is somewhat of an anomaly. Compared with Victoria, the state of NSW is not well endowed with great historical golf courses, so Newcastle’s history, from the financially dicey early years to its settled maturity today, has taken place in a form of splendid isolation. The club celebrated its centenary in 2005. Credit is certainly due to decisions of committee after committee to preserve the original layout and bunkering as much as possible from Eric Apperly’s handsome design completed in 1930.

The above passage on Newcastle Golf Club is an extract from The Finest Golf Courses of Asia and Australasia by James Spence. Reproduced with kind permission.

In February 2021, Bob Harrison told us that he has been working with Newcastle Golf Club for the last five years. The club is leasing four holes for housing on the strip of land that stretches along the main road. Bob said: “These holes lie on the least desirable flattish part of the course. Seven new holes will be built on rolling, sandy land closer to the beach (more than four to make the geometry of the final course work). They are also going to remodel the remaining holes. Newcastle is already ranked highly, and the changes should push it a lot higher still.”