Under the draft plans, the park will include a community sports field, multipurpose sports courts, a playground, walking, running and cycling paths and trails with lights to improve safety on the main routes, toilets, picnic spots, outdoor furniture, tree planting and landscaped areas, and parking.
Public feedback will inform other potential features such as an off-leash dog area, outdoor fitness stations, a perimeter loop track, passive recreation areas, and a pump track for bike riders.
The golf club’s lease expires in June 2026, after which plans propose expanding the driving range from 60 to 90 bays.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Work on the project would begin after the existing lease for Moore Park Golf Course expires in June.
Under the plan, the park will open in stages from late 2026, with work expected to be completed at the end of 2028.
The government set aside $50 million in this year’s state budget to transform the site, months after it allocated $2.6 million for preliminary design and planning works in the 2024-25 financial year.
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The draft plans said the changes to golfing facilities would include an 18-hole mini golf course, and “amendments to the current course and adjustments to provide adequate buffers to the parkland”.
“Hole length has been designed to benefit the pace of play, avoiding the bottleneck of the existing golf course. Additional holes have been retained for operational and maintenance requirements.”
Minns’ move to carve up the golf course sparked a furious campaign from an alliance of industry bodies – Moore Park Golf Club, Golf NSW, Golf Australia and PGA of Australia – who branded themselves as the Moore Park Golf Collective.
The group lobbied against the plan and fought back with a counterproposal to retain the 18-hole golf course and create a “world-class” sport and recreation precinct.
Moore Park Golf Club president John Janik has also dug in to save the course from what he has described as “the ill-informed who continually believe the land and resources could be better used”.
The plans include a sports field and exercise tracks with lighting on the main routes to boost safety.Credit: NSW government
Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg, an avid golfer, thrust the issue further into the spotlight when he weighed in during a trip to Sydney, urging the Australian public to “save Moore Park Golf Club”.
Scully said the draft plans, on exhibition until November 24, to transform Moore Park South were designed to boost the community’s physical and mental health by improving access to green space.
“We must continue to pair homes with investments in our public spaces,” Scully said.
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“The new park will be a place to meet friends, spend time in nature, play and enjoy community sports in the heart of inner Sydney.”
Moore, as lord mayor, has long pushed to halve the size of the course to free up more parkland for the public.
Former Coalition planning minister Rob Stokes asked the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust to consider shrinking the course in 2020, but later kiboshed the plan following backlash from golfers and the club. He instead floated the idea of a reconfigured golf course that did not cut the number of holes.
