Sydney golf club membership fees soar amid plans to slash Moore Park course to nine holes

Plans to hack Moore Park golf course in half are driving membership fees through the roof at other Sydney clubs where wait lists are now up to three years. Find out how much the joining fees are here.

The push to hack Moore Park Golf Course in half — despite the game booming across Sydney — has driven a stunning rise in membership fees at nearby clubs and blown out waitlists to three years.

Plans to reduce Moore Park from 18 to nine holes when the golf club’s lease expires in 2026 remains the intention of the NSW Government, and is strongly supported by Sydney Mayor Clover Moore.

Existing Moore Park members wanting to retain an 18-hole golf experience are already seeing their options of signing up to other clubs around Sydney disappear.

Surrounding eastern suburbs clubs including The Lakes, St Michael’s, Bonnie Doon, Eastlakes, The Coast, NSW and Woollahra all have waiting lists for potential members.

The driving range at Moore park Golf Club. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

St Michael’s president Carl Dumbrell said the Little Bay club had been inundated with new membership applications, with a growing waiting list of around two to three years.

“It all comes back to supply,” he said. “There is the proposed Moore Park transaction, Kogarah golf course is about to close in March and those elements combined have driven up demand.

“They have also driven up prices. There is so much demand for golf right now and I don’t see it stopping.

“We also had our best month ever in November — record green fees from visitors coming to use the course.

“Clover Moore might say ‘let them play on a driving range at Moore Park’ but that’s not what people want. They want to play golf and they want to play 18 holes.

“You can’t keep building houses and apartments and then stripping away sporting facilities.”

St Michael’s joining fee two years ago was $12,000.

It has risen to $15,400 and is likely to rise to $20,000 this year.

The Lakes, reserved for anyone over 40 years of age, is $42,000 to join with annual membership fees of $6700.

Bonnie Doon had a $9700 joining fee in 2015, however, this figure has climbed to $21,000 and has a waiting list of at least three years for more than 400 prospective members.

Moore Park Golf Club director Jared Kendler. Picture: Jonathan Ng

For Moore Park members an equivalent 18-hole alternative currently does not exist.

“There is literally no option,” Moore Park Golf Club director Jared Kendler told The Daily Telegraph.

“But Moore Park is not all about the members. This is a course for the public. It’s also a course where people young and old, male and female, learn how to play the game.

“We have the Sydney Golf Academy here and since 2019 we have seen the numbers increase 80 per cent.

“Women and kids are where we are seeing the biggest growth. But where are they going to play the game after they’ve learnt it and love it?

“Moore Park going back to nine holes would mean less people getting to play and prices going up so the Government gets the same return they are getting now from the course.

“And if newcomers want to join a club anywhere near us they will face long waiting lists or prices that in a cost of living crisis they simply can’t afford.”

Darragh Sheard, 7, Ari Skrabal, 10, and Lewis Sun, 9, during a coaching clinic at the course in Moore Park. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Kendler is part of the Moore Park Golf Collective — a consortium that includes Golf Australia, PGA of Australia, Golf NSW and the Moore Park Golf Club.

The consortium has an alternative plan before the NSW Government to keep Moore Park as an 18-hole course while also providing significant tracts of land for open space and recreational use.

“The community has made it clear they want to keep 18 holes at Moore Park and we’ve given a way for the government to do that,” he said.

An alternative plan was lodged by the Moore Park Golf Collective.

“There were 3.8 million Australians that played golf last year. They need to play somewhere and in Sydney, Moore Park should be able to provide that opportunity.

“It was established as the workers’ course. An affordable opportunity to play the sport at a Government-owned public facility.”

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Originally published as Sydney golf club membership fees soar amid plans to slash Moore Park course to nine holes