Members and visitors alike will join forces to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Griffith Golf club.
IT is becoming one of the most momentous years in the history of Griffith Golf Club.
And even Aussie golfing great Peter Senior wants to be a part of it.
The Queensland veteran will head to Griffith in October to join a growing list of professional golfers from around the country, who will be playing in high-profile Legends Pro-Am.
Earlier this year the likes of former champion jockey Jimmy Cassidy and former Australian rugby league star Tim Brasher were in Griffith to play in the annual B&C Plumbing Centennial Pro-Am.
Now the word has got out that the Legends Pro-Am, scheduled for October 26 and 27, will be even bigger and better and golfers are clamouring for a start.
And while many of them will arrive with their golf games intact and ready to fire, they may be in for a surprise when this Riverina gem bares its teeth.
Griffith Golf Club boasts lush kikuyu fairways and lightning fast bent-grass greens.
A happy home to mobs of kangaroos and abundant birdlife, native trees line the fairways.
Some visitors head for Griffith Golf Club just to catch a glimpse of the Major Mitchell or Pink Cockatoos which are a feature of the course.
But if there is one thing which might also catch them out its Griffith Golf Club’s own version of the famous ‘Amen Corner’ which runs through holes 12 to 14.
It consists of three long and demanding par fours that rank the most difficult on the course and has brought many a promising round to its knees.
First-up is the 12th hole, a 382m slight dogleg left which is stroke index No.1 .
Then the 13th is just as testing; it’s a 372m monster with out of bounds down the right-hand side and a stroke index of three.
Gary Player, pictured alongside 1960 Australian PGA champion John Sullivan, visited the Griffith Golf Club during his early days.
Theirs is little respite if you get through those two holes unscathed because the 14th is a 348m slight dogleg left to a tricky green and a stroke index of five.
It’s fair to say even single-figure players struggle to play all three in even par.
Hang in there though because Griffith’s signature hole on the 18th – a straight-away 356 m par-four (stroke index seven).
It’s the perfect finishing hole as you look down the fairway with the clubhouse framed in the distance, with members watching from the iconic clubhouse balcony overlooking the first tee as well as the ninth and 18th greens.
Amazingly, there are just two bunkers and no water hazards at Griffith Golf Club. So, what happened to your score?
Well, you have just tackled one of the best and sternest tests of golf in the Riverina with small, fast greens and tight recovery areas which punish anything off-line.
Perfectly located on Scenic Hill in Griffith, the golf club is a mere stone’s throw from Griffith Regional Airport.
And it’s fair to say this golf club is a story of enduring spirit and adaptation.
Celebrating its centenary in 2026, the club is honouring 100 years since its mid-1920s founding and merging legacy with Lakeview Golf Club, which triumphed over devastating floods and a clubhouse-destroying inferno, before uniting with Griffith in 1960 amid regional expansion.
From its humble beginnings in the mid-1920s, when pioneers carved out a nine-hole course on government-gazetted land amid the nascent Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA), Griffith Golf Club has embodied the resilience of country NSW.
The club traces its roots to as early as 1922 with the opening of Lakeview Golf Club at Lake Wyangan, which battled both floods and a fire disaster before the merger.
As Griffith exploded from a fledgling town proclaimed in 1916 into the vibrant hub of 27,000 residents it is today, serving a wider district of 55,000, Griffith Golf Club adapted – expanding to 18 holes in 1936 after nearby showgrounds relocated to make way for housing, then shifting to its current 51-hectare site in the late 1950s.
Today, its modern championship layout and iconic clubhouse which opened in 1961, stand as testaments to enduring local grit.
“Reaching 100 years is a testament to the generations of members and volunteers who have built Griffith Golf Club from the ground up,” said James Corner, Secretary Manager. “As we celebrate this milestone, our focus is on honouring that legacy while ensuring the Club continues to thrive for members and the wider Riverina community for the next century.”
Affordable and inclusive, green fees start at $30 for unlimited play, with equipment hire, golf carts, lessons from PGA Professional Darryl Sando, and a pro shop stocked with premium brands.
The clubhouse doubles as a premier venue for weddings, corporate functions, and social gatherings.
As Golf Australia spotlights national milestones amid the sport’s growing popularity, specific to the upsurge in Women’s Golf, Griffith Golf Club’s story is one of adaptation and fierce determination to ensure that golf thrives in the region for another 100 years to come.
This club has nurtured some champions over the years too.
Golfers share the fairways at Griffith with mobs of kangaroos and abundant wildlife.
Among them are Ron Crowe, who won an incredible 18 club championships between 1954 and 1990; multiple men’s champion Matthew Staines; sensational Elizabeth Graham, who won extraordinary 46 women’s club championships, including a 19-year streak that few golfers in this country could match.
Oh, and a young pro named Gary Player also graced the fairways in his early days as the South African superstar plied his trade around the world.
Griffith Golf Club offers exclusive Play and Stay packages through The Gem Hotel
www.gemhotel.com.au.
And there is also a thriving women’s and junior golfing community with women’s and junior clinics under the tutelage of PGA Professional and Director of Golf, Darryl Sando.
MORE INFORMATION:
Griffith Golf Club
22 Lloyd Prest Drive, Griffith NSW 2680
Telephone: (02) 6962 3173
james@griffithgolfclub.com.au
www.griffithgolfclub.com.au
Griffith to benefit from Sando’s touch of ‘wordly wise’
YOU can’t beat a touch of ‘worldly wise’ . . . and that’s exactly what Darryl Sando has brought to Griffith Golf Club since his appointment as the club’s resident professional.
Sando boasts more than three decades of professional experience.
A Penrith local, who turned professional at 18, he has worked at leading courses across Canada, South Africa, England and Sydney before taking up the role of Director of Golf at Griffith Golf Club in July 2025.
Sando’s international career has given him a broad perspective on the game.
In South Africa he coached current touring pro golfer Shaun Norris, a player who has gone on to reach the world’s top 100 – currently playing on the Japanese and DP World Tours. In England he once met the then Prince Andrew, although he never knew it at the time, and only learned sometime afterwards.
In Vancouver he experienced year-round golf, including rounds on snow-covered fairways, while in Sydney he refined his coaching and club management skills at some of the city’s finest facilities, including a term as head teaching professional at the highly-rated Castle Hill Country Club.
For eight years Sando travelled to Griffith for the annual pro-am, drawn by the quality of the course and the region’s food and wine.
So, when the Director of Golf position became available, he jumped at the chance to make the Riverina home for his family.
WELCOME ADDITION: Griffith Golf Club Director of Golf, Darryl Sando.
He rates the Griffith layout up there with some of the more challenging courses to navigate so be prepared.
And he is quick to praise the kikuyu fairways, lightning fast bent-grass greens and the welcoming atmosphere of the club and community.
As Director of Golf, Sando oversees the pro shop, women’s and junior clinics, competitions and private lessons.
His priorities are growing women’s participation and junior golf as well as actively encouraging players of all ages and abilities to take up the game.
And he often reminds people that golf is one of the few sports that can be enjoyed well into later life – he once taught a 94-year-old – and that its benefits extend beyond physical exercise to concentration, mental wellbeing and lasting friendships.
Sando’s approachable style, international experience and genuine enthusiasm for what he rates ‘one of the best courses in the Riverina’, make him a valued addition to the club. Whether you are a seasoned competitor or picking up a club for the first time, he is ready to help you enjoy your game.
The post CLUB OF THE MONTH: Griffith Golf Club centenary one to celebrate – the word is out first appeared on Inside Golf. Australia's Most-Read Golf Magazine as named by Australian Golfers - FREE.