Two Fleurieu golf courses have improved their rankings in the list of Australia’s top 100 public access courses for 2021.

Mount Compass and Links Lady Bay are the only South Australian courses to make the list and both have been rated higher than the previous list.

Golf Australia magazine compiles the top 100 every two years and COVID restrictions made judging challenging this time around.

They assess Australia’s more than 1500 courses that welcome visiting golfers, defining a public access course as one that offers tee times for visiting golfers at least five days a week.

Courses attached to resorts, where non-member tee times are primarily set aside for hotel guests, were not included in the rankings.

Links Lady Bay resort, in Normanville, was ranked at 51 in the top 100, up five places from the previous list.

Judges praised its green complexes and putting surfaces, describing it as a welcoming course that has rarely looked better.

Mount Compass golf course was ranked at 42, up 17 places, judges considering it one of the most improved courses in Australia.

Cape Wickham Links, on Tasmania’s King Island, maintained its number one ranking.

The full list of Australia’s top 100 public access courses for 2021 is available from Golf Australia.