History

The Oakbank Golf Club, founded in 1892, is South Australia’s 2nd oldest golf club and a founding member of the South Australian Golf Association.

Following its inception, the Club was situated for just over 100 years on the Oakbank Race Course, home of the Great Eastern Steeple Chase. The Racing Club’s stands provided excellent clubroom facilities, but visiting players (and many locals) found the hazards – especially the ever-present race track railings – required extreme caution.

Contact between golf ball and railing inevitably resulted in extreme and unpredictable deviation from the intended course! There were no bunkers, but the sand track, railings and other racecourse structures more than compensated as hazards.

​In 1994 the new nine-hole Oakbank Golf Course on Smith Street was laid out on land that had been owned by J and A G Johnston Ltd since 1858.

The transformation from farmland to links-style golf course began under the direction of longstanding Johnston’s company secretary – and Life Member of the Oakbank Golf Club – Bryan O’Leary.

The first season on the new course, following a one-year interlude at Mt Pleasant, was officially opened on January 15th, 1995.

Hundreds of trees and shrubs were planted, and for the first few years there was little impediment for the golfer who strayed off the beaten path from tee to green. Today, it is a different story. The vegetation now creates a spectacle in its own right, and a wonderful habitat for the Adelaide Hills’ fauna, not to mention a real incentive for the golfer to maintain direction down the manicured fairways.

In June of 2015, the club was able to purchase the course from the previous owners, J & AG Johnston and is now able to develop and maintain the course into the future.