Adelaide Golf Tours
four championship courses, one short drive

Melbourne's sandbelt gets the attention, and deservedly. But Adelaide has a sandbelt of its own, and it is arranged in a way no other Australian capital can match: Royal Adelaide, Kooyonga, Glenelg and The Grange all sit in the same western pocket of the city, between the CBD and the sea, most of them within about fifteen minutes of the airport and twenty of Rundle Mall. You can play two of them on consecutive mornings without changing hotels or spending an hour in the car between rounds.

The ground helps. This is old dune country — sandy, free-draining soil that firms up rather than turning to soup, holds a running ball, and takes bunkering the way sandy soil always does, which is to say beautifully. The great Scottish architect Dr Alister MacKenzie visited Adelaide in the 1920s and his remodelling of Royal Adelaide, which brought the sand dunes properly into play, is the reason that course has an international reputation. Cargie Rymill, a local, laid out or shaped much of the rest — Kooyonga, Glenelg and the original course at The Grange all trace back to him.

What Adelaide has never had is a straightforward way for a visiting golfer to play any of it. These are private member clubs, not resort courses. Access exists, but it runs on reciprocal arrangements, letters of introduction, handicap certificates and weekday availability — a set of conventions that are perfectly normal if you are a member of a club at home and completely opaque if you are not. That administration is most of what an Adelaide golf tour actually buys you, alongside someone else doing the driving.

Beyond the sandbelt the options widen out fast. The Barossa is an hour away and has vineyard golf worth the drive. The Fleurieu Peninsula's coastal courses are ninety minutes south. And in the middle of the city, on the banks of the River Torrens, sits a 54-hole municipal course that anyone can book — no letter, no handicap, no member required. Adelaide is a better golf destination than its profile suggests, and the compactness is the whole argument.

Autumn — March to May. The best golf weather in the state. Warm, stable, dry days in the low to mid twenties, minimal wind on most mornings, and courses that have come through summer and are being nursed back into peak condition. It also overlaps with vintage in the Barossa and McLaren Vale, which makes a golf-and-wine trip land at exactly the right moment.

Spring — September to November. Equally good and arguably prettier. Courses are at their greenest, the Park Lands are in flower, and the Adelaide Hills and Barossa look their best. Slightly higher chance of a wet day than autumn, and a bit more wind, particularly on the coastal Fleurieu courses.

Summer — December to February. Hot and dry. Adelaide regularly runs above 35°C in January and February and the Barossa and Clare pass 38°C. Golf is entirely possible but should start early — a 7am tee time is a different day from an 11am one. Fairways run fast and firm, which many golfers enjoy, and the ball travels. Carry more water than you think you need. February is also tournament season, which restricts access at The Grange.

Winter — June to August. Underrated. Adelaide winters are mild by any northern-hemisphere standard, with daytime temperatures typically in the low to mid teens. Courses are quiet, visitor tee times are easier to secure, and the sandy soil across the sandbelt drains well enough that rounds are rarely lost to the ground being unplayable. Bring a rain jacket for the cold fronts that come up off the Southern Ocean and you will have some of Australia's best courses close to yourself.

LIV Golf Adelaide

The Grange has hosted LIV Golf Adelaide every year since the event's inception in 2023, and it has become the largest golf event in the state — more than 260,000 fans across its editions, and twice named the World's Best Golf Event at the World Golf Awards. The 2026 tournament ran from 12 to 15 February and was won by Anthony Kim, whose aggregate of 265, 23 under par, is the tournament record. The format is 54 holes of shotgun-start individual and team stroke play, and the party around the par-3 Watering Hole is as much of the draw as the golf.

For visiting golfers this cuts two ways. It is a genuinely good reason to be in Adelaide in February, and it slots neatly into the state's summer sporting calendar alongside the Tour Down Under and the Adelaide International. But it also means The Grange is effectively unavailable for casual visitor play around tournament week, and city accommodation prices move accordingly. If you want to play The Grange rather than watch golf at it, choose a different fortnight. Dates for future editions are announced by LIV Golf and are worth checking against the official schedule before you book flights — we do not sell tournament tickets, but we do run transfers for people who have them.