Australia's Toughest Golf Courses, Revealed By Arccos Data

Much like ranking the best beers, finest wines or funniest Adam Sandler movies, the task of identifying the toughest golf courses in Australia can be a fraught undertaking. Rating a layout’s difficulty tends to be a highly subjective exercise. After all, how often do you hear golfers complain that a course ‘just doesn’t suit my eye’?

An official Slope rating has long been the only metric to indicate a course’s difficulty but the recent explosion in shot tracking and statistical analysis potentially offers a more accurate, entirely data-driven, insight. Leveraging the vast statistical expanse of the Arccos ecosystem, we drilled down into a motherlode of cold, hard, unbiased data to discover which courses cause Australian golfers the most pain.

What the numbers revealed was rather surprising, to say the least…

THE ARCCOS HALL OF PAIN

A comparison between average score data and average handicap data revealed these 10 Australian courses were the nation’s toughest for Arccos users. Let the countdown begin!

No.10 DUNTRYLEAGUE GOLF CLUB, NSW

Located in the town of Orange in regional NSW, it’s fair to say Duntryleague Golf Club’s anguish-inducing difficulty is masked by the course’s tree-lined beauty. The course co-hosted the Australian Boys Amateur Championship back in 1998, which was won by a young tyro named Adam Scott. What would Scotty shoot at Duntryleague nowadays? Arccos statistics suggest somewhere in the region of 6.11 shots more than his current handicap! A foreboding heritage-listed mansion overlooks the manicured playing surfaces at Duntryleague, which seems entirely appropriate given the course’s handicap-haunting reputation.

Arccos Rating: plays 6.11 shots harder than the average handicap.

No.9 KINGSTON HEATH GOLF CLUB, VICTORIA

It’s probably no great surprise one of the greatest championship courses in the country is also one of the hardest to crack. Kingston Heath, a jewel in the crown of Melbourne’s famous Sandbelt, is a blockbuster layout that has hosted many Australian Opens. Immaculately conditioned and easy on the eye, Kingston Heath’s stunning bunkering, sandy waste areas and tricky par threes make it an exacting test — if you ever have the good fortune to score a tee time.

Arccos Rating: plays 6.13 shots harder than the average handicap.

No.8 PALMERSTON COUNTRY CLUB, NT

Maybe it’s the rampant Top End humidity and the exasperating frustration that comes with the dreaded wet season build-up, but Palmerston Country Club has clearly been sending golfers troppo. Located in Darwin, Palmerston Country Club features plenty of water and is also rather long, which might explain its curmudgeonly qualities. Host course of the NT PGA Championship — which surely features the world’s coolest trophy — the stats suggest playing to your handicap at Palmerston Country Club would be akin to, in Top End parlance, surviving a skirmish with a big Saltie.

Arccos Rating: plays 6.16 shots harder than the average handicap.

No.7 LAKE KARRINYUP COUNTRY CLUB, WA

Given its hilly terrain, extreme elevation changes and challenging bunkering, it’s probably no great shock Lake Karrinyup Country Club finds itself in the Arccos Hall of Pain. Located in Perth’s northern suburbs, Lake Karrinyup has hosted many international tournaments, including the World Super 6 and Perth International, and is regarded as WA’s premier golf course. But the stats reveal a tale of collective struggle and discomfort at Karrinyup, no doubt due to the course’s wild greens and ever-present sidehill lies.

Arccos Rating: plays 6.21 shots harder than the average handicap.

No.6 CHEQUERS GOLF CLUB, WA

Despite being just 20 minutes from Perth’s eastern corridor, Chequers Golf Club in Bullsbrook offers the distinctive feel of a country course. However, Arccos stats suggest a round at Chequers offers very little country hospitality because it’s WA’s toughest track. By and large, Chequers is a flat and fairly featureless course, but its pocket-sized greens, towering eucalypts and thick stands of banksia can evidently leave a significant bruise.

Arccos Rating: plays 6.27 shots harder than the average handicap.

No.5 ELANORA COUNTRY CLUB, NSW

Elanora Country Club is a secluded gem in Sydney’s northern corridor, but Arccos data pegs it as an absolute teeth-kicker. Adjacent to the pristine bushland of a national park, the course features significant changes in elevation throughout its 18-hole routing. It’s immaculately conditioned and looks incredibly inviting but don’t be deceived: the struggle is real at Elanora CC. If you’re ever asked to play this cloistered marvel, consider sandbagging your handicap a few months ahead to account for its inherent difficulty.

Arccos Rating: plays 6.35 shots harder than the average handicap.

No.4 INDOOROOPILLY GOLF CLUB WEST COURSE, QLD

Routed through a peninsula next to the Brisbane River, Arccos statistics suggest the West course at Indooroopilly Golf Club is the most tumultuous golfing test in Queensland. Expansive bunkering, rolling terrain and several water holes possibly explain why playing a round at Indooroopilly West feels as ominous as traipsing through Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley at 2am with a kebab in hand.

Arccos Rating: plays 6.42 shots harder than the average handicap.

No.3 HUNTINGDALE GOLF CLUB, VICTORIA

Possessing some of the most feared green complexes in Australia, it’s easy to see why Huntingdale is at the pointy end of the Arccos Hall of Pain. The long-time host venue of the bygone Australian Masters is a Sandbelt classic that becomes plain nasty in a crosswind. Club selection becomes precarious and baked out greens turn Huntingdale into an intense challenge. Buckle up because golf at Huntingdale is hard.

Arccos Rating: plays 6.48 shots harder than the average handicap.

No.2 TAMWORTH GOLF CLUB, NSW

Tamworth Golf Club is situated in the country music capital of Australia, but Arccos data indicates golfers generally sing the Blues after playing this devilish course in regional NSW. Don’t be deceived by Tamworth GC’s flattish terrain. All three par fives stretch beyond 500m while narrow fairways and substantial forestation explain why Arccos users tend to wallow in self-pity after finishing a round at Tamworth.

Arccos Rating: plays 6.97 shots harder than the average handicap.

No.1 WENTWORTH GOLF CLUB, NSW

And Australia’s most ferocious test is… Wentworth Golf Club! Arccos data suggests this narrow, tree-lined 18-hole parkland layout in Orange, 250km inland from Sydney, is the least user-friendly track in the country. It might look tame, but the scoring stats indicate Wentworth is the nastiest and baddest of them all; the golf course equivalent of Mike Tyson, lulling you with a jab before punching you ferociously in the mouth. It mightn’t have been an obvious choice as Australia’s most difficult course, but the numbers confirm Wentworth Golf Club is resistant to low scoring: across the Arccos community it plays a staggering 7.54 shots higher per round compared to the average handicap. It’s also the second course from Orange to crack the Arccos Hall of Pain Top 10, which suggests playing golf in Orange is an extremely perilous proposition.

Arccos Rating: plays 7.54 shots harder than the average handicap.

WHAT THE ARCCOS RATING MEANS

The Arccos Rating is the average number of shots a player shoots above their handicap at the course. For example, Wentworth Golf Club (No.1 on the list) plays 7.54 shots harder than the average handicap. So, a 10 handicapper would, on average, shoot 17.5 over par off the stick.

HARNESSING ARCCOS DATA

Boasting hundreds of thousands of active users, Arccos is the most prevalent game-tracking and analysis system in golf.

Over 20 million rounds have been logged by users around the globe. In July 2024, an Arccos user named Jordan Cook chalked up the platform’s billionth shot at Sydney’s Beverley Park Golf Club.

The Arccos system is easy to integrate into your game: simply screw Arccos sensors into the end of your grips, download the Arccos app on your phone and you’re ready to enter golf’s data era. A multitude of statistics are tracked automatically, such as average distances for each club, miss tendencies and Strokes Gained for driving, approach shots, short game and putting. It’ll highlight where you’re gaining and losing strokes and suggest areas to focus on to improve your score and lower your handicap.