The next stage of redevelopment at North Adelaide Golf Course is set to begin later this month, marking a significant moment in South Australia’s push to turn the site into a major tournament golf destination.
Construction on the new Greg Norman–designed championship course and driving range will ramp up through 2026, with the project intended to culminate in a fully rebuilt public facility by early 2028.
Once complete, the course has been earmarked as a future host venue for LIV Golf Adelaide and, according to state government planning documents, a potential home for major women’s professional events, including the Women’s Australian Open.
In the meantime, golf at North Adelaide will not disappear entirely.
While the South Course will close, the par‑3 course and parts of the North Course will remain open, offering a scaled‑back but continuous golfing presence through the construction phase.
It is an approach designed to keep public access alive while transforming a central‑city layout into a tournament‑ready venue capable of broadcasting Adelaide to a global audience. The strategy fits neatly with South Australia’s broader embrace of marquee sporting events as a key pillar of tourism and economic growth.
Still, it is hard not to have reservations about how the project has been delivered.
For a state taxpayer‑funded redevelopment of this scale, the absence of an open design tender process remains uncomfortable.
There are also design details that will make golf architecture tragics raise an eyebrow. Notably, early routing plans show all four par‑3 holes running in the same direction, a highly unusual choice that runs counter to long‑held principles of variety, wind challenge, and strategic interest.
Even so, South Australia appears committed to the bigger picture: building a high‑profile tournament hub in the heart of Adelaide and betting that major events will outweigh architectural quibbles.
Whether that gamble pays off will ultimately be judged not just by television audiences, but by how the course plays day in, day out, long after the grandstands have gone.