Tee Off with a View: Discover Bondi Golf & Diggers Club

If you want to swing a club with the whole of Bondi laid out beneath you, the Bondi Golf & Diggers Club is where I send visitors - a public nine-hole clifftop course perched on the headland at North Bondi, with the Tasman Sea on one side and the city skyline on the other. It's not a championship layout and it doesn't pretend to be; it's a short, friendly, ridiculously scenic round that anyone can rock up and play, seven days a week.

Where

Military Road, North Bondi

Course

9 holes, mostly par 3s

Access

Public - social play 7 days

Booking

Not required for individuals

Pro Shop

Open from 7am to sundown

What the course is actually like

Let me set expectations, because it saves disappointment: this is a short course built around par 3s, not a full 18-hole test of your long game. Purists sometimes sniff at it - it plays a bit like an upmarket pitch-and-putt - but that misses the point entirely. You come here for the walk, the wind, the ocean views over every tee, and the novelty of lining up a shot with waves crashing on the rocks below. On a clear morning I think it's a lovelier way to see this stretch of coast than half the paid tours in Sydney.

Because the holes are short you can go around twice for a full eighteen, or knock out a quick nine if you're tight on time. It's laid out on exposed headland, so the sea breeze is a real factor - club up when it's blowing, and don't be surprised when a gentle-looking par 3 suddenly bites back.

Hire, fees and turning up

You don't need to book as an individual - the course runs on a first-come, first-served basis for social play outside member competition times, so you turn up at the Pro Shop and go. If you're a group of ten or more, call ahead so they can slot you in. The team hires out clubs (half and full sets) and motorised carts if you'd rather ride than walk the headland.

One of my favourite things about the place is how relaxed it is. The club happily calls itself one of the most laid-back in Sydney, and there's no strict dress code out on the course - wear what's comfortable. That easygoing attitude is very Bondi, and it's a big part of why first-timers and non-golfers enjoy it as much as the regulars do.

Look down as well as out: the Murriverie rock engravings

Here's the detail most visitors miss. Out near the cliff edge on the golf course headland sits an Aboriginal rock engraving site the traditional owners know as Murriverie - carvings of marine life such as fish, sharks and whales, cut into the sandstone. It's one of a handful of engraving sites along this coast, and a reminder that people have been drawn to this headland for thousands of years, long before anyone teed off here. The engravings are weathered, unfenced and easy to walk straight past, so tread carefully, don't climb on the rock, and take a moment to appreciate what you're standing beside.

So if the surf's flat or you just fancy seeing Bondi from a different angle, grab a set of clubs and head up to the headland. It's casual, it's scenic and it's about as Bondi as a game of golf gets - sea spray, city skyline and all.