The Lake Macquarie Championship was first held in 1958 when a field of 140 competitors headed by Australian Amateur Champion Barry Warren, 1956 N.S.W. Champion Phil Billings and state team members Jack McCarthy and Bruce Devlin teed off.

The tournament was played over 54 holes and the first champion was Bruce Devlin who defeated Phil Billings.

This result was reversed in 1959 and again in 1961 when Billings won his third straight title. The 1959 tournament was held over 72 holes the first time a 72-hole championship had been held outside of Sydney.

Devlin went on to a great international career on the Professional circuit while Billings who won the tournament again in 1964, 65,66 and 74 chose to stay amateur and captained Australia to victory in the Eisenhower Cup.

Jack Newton won the junior section in 1966 and 68 before winning the championship (and the junior) in 1969. Rodger Davis won at his only attempt in 1973.

State Champion Don Sharp was successful in 1970, 71 and 77 while Eisenhower Team member and Australian Amateur Champion; Colin Kaye was also a three-time winner with success in 1975,76 and 79.

Tony Jones 1967 and State Representative Bruce Boyle 1972 joined Phil Billings as the only host club members to win the Championship.

In 1978 the event took the next step when it went "International" for the first time. Sponsored by Norman Ross and televised by NBN, Teams from the U.S.

(Lee Davis and Kemp Richardson) and New Zealand (Geoff Clark and Alex Bonnington) teed up against teams from New Guinea and all Australian States including Queensland's rising stars Peter Senior and Ossie Moore. Ray Carlin from Merewether overcame all players, and a second round washed out by rain, to win by two shots over Australian Amateur Champion Tony Gresham. Belmont's Gary Tozer won the junior event from Victoria's Mike Clayton.

Gerard Power held off the strong U.S. challenge from Mike Gove and U.S. Amateur Champion Mark O'Meara as well as Australian Champions Tony Gresham and Peter Sweeney in his 1980 victory.

1981 saw the first International victory when Englishman Rodger Chapman triumphed over three-time winner Colin Kaye.

American Curt Byrum set the tournament record of 283 in his 1982 victory over a field, which included runner up Jeff Senior, Tony Gresham, Colin Kaye, England's Richard Boxall, Gerry Power, Roger McKay, Paul Hartstone (N.Z.) and Fijians Vilikesa Kalou and Vijay Singh.

Internationals completed a treble of victories in 1983 when Scottish Amateur Champion Colin Dalgleish held off West Australians Glenn Carbon, Roger McKay and U.S. player Duffy Waldorf.

American Jamie Crow shot a tournament record 10 under par while unbelievably sipping cans of Tooheys beer in his 1984 win over Glenn Carbon with Chris Longley, Phil Billings and Don Sharp tied for third.

Ray Picker from Cowra beat a young Brett Ogle and Gerard Power in a three way play off for the 1985 Championship which was sponsored by P.G.H. Bricks, then in 1986 Peter O'Malley became only the third player (joining Newton and Billings) to claim both the junior and senior title, with his win over Mark Nash, Ray Picker and Englishman Peter Baker.

Scottish and unofficial World Champion Colin Montgomerie was a pronounced favourite for the 1987 event, but never really fired and it was left to Shane Robinson and Steven Taylor to fight out one of the best and most exciting finishes to the tournament. Both players went shot for shot over the final 9 holes in 32 strokes, followed by a three-hole play off, in which Robinson was successful after a birdie at the 17th.

Big Englishman Russel Claydon and strong winds blew the field away with his six shot victory in 1989. Two weeks later the 'Great White Kipper' or the 'Giant from Gog Magog' as he became known in the press, almost pulled off an amazing upset when he went head for head with Greg Norman to defeat everyone bar the great man himself in the Australian Masters.

Ricky Willison (Eng) overcame Kemp Richardson (US) and Phil Tataurangi (NZ) in an all-international finish in 1990, after Richardson had set a course record 63 in the opening round. Australians won the next three tournaments with victories to Shane Tait in the 1991 event, an impressive Stephen Leaney in 1992 and Stephen Collins in 1993. Collins victory came at the expense of Kiwis Michael Campbell and Phil Tataurangi who were favourites after their Countries' Eisenhower Cup success. New Zealand did not have to wait long however when Marcus Wheelhouse became the first successful Kiwi winning the 1994 event, which was sponsored by Premier Concrete. Lester Peterson's added the 1995 tournament to his already impressive list of achievements with a record 276 (12 under). Nathan Green from the nearby Waratah club was runner up. Victorian Steve Allan later referred to as the 'Baby Faced Assassin' defeated Brendon Jones in 1996.

Geoff Ogilvy stamped himself as a player of the future with a tournament low 274 in his victory over Bryce MacDonald, Brett Rumford and Scott Strange in 1997, while Englishman Shaun Webster equalled the course record 63 in the second round. This year was also the 40th anniversary of the event and was preceded by a Pro Am featuring many former competitors. Victory in this event went to Steve Alker from New Zealand.

1998 saw Brett Rumford defeat Englishman Gary Wolstenholme on the last hole of a three-hole play off while Brad McIntosh beat 17 yr old rising star Justin Rose for the junior title. Only a few months later Rose became famous worldwide for his great finish in the British Open Championship.

John Sutherland was a surprise winner over Kim Felton and Scott Strange in 1999 while Brad McIntosh again beat a rising superstar when he defeated Aaron Baddely in a playoff for the junior title.

Scott Strange continued his good form at Belmont with a win over a hot field in 2000. His opening 66 in driving rain and at times gale force winds was one of the great rounds of the event. Runner up was Luke Donald and tied for third were Paul Casey, Andrew Webster and Scott Gardiner. Tournament organisers considered Englishmen Donald the NCAA winner and Casey rated the number one player in college golf (US) were two of the most talented players ever to play in the event.

The talented Englishman saga continued in 2001 when 18 yr old Nick Dougherty lived up to his huge reputation beating Luke Hickmott in a play off. Dougherty, a protÃ©gÃ© of Nick Faldo, impressed everyone but unfortunately will not be defending his title in 2002, as he turned professional after the Walker Cup. Tournament watchers will follow with interest his professional career as well as those of Donald and Casey.

2001 saw the format for the tournament change when a pre-qualifying was introduced. This was to afford more players an opportunity to compete and to ensure the field was made up of the best and "in form" players, rather than relying solely on handicaps as the selection criteria. The pre qual proved most successful with 135 players vying for 73 positions. A score of 76 was enough to ensure a place in the field.

Since 1995 The Greater Building Society and NBN Television have sponsored the tournament jointly as major sponsors along with several minor sponsors headed by Premier Concrete. The Greater Building Society and NBN Television have agreed to sponsor the tournament for five years from 2002 and for it will forthwith be known as the Greater Building Society International Amateur Golf Championships.

The field for the 2002 tournament once again contained the best amateurs in the world with early favourites Robert Hamilton (Runner-up in the U.S. Amateur), Adam Groom (NSW) and Tim Wilkinson (NZ). Both Adam and Tim finished ahead of Tiger Woods in the NZ Open, Australian Amateur champion Andrew Buckle and Irishman Graeme McDowell who was rated by all Europeans as the best amateur in the world.

The field was very open with four Englishmen including 1998 Lake Macquarie runner-up Gary Wolstenholme and, for the first time, tow Canadians plus a host of talented Australians.

England's Daniel Wardrop set the tone for the tournament with an opening 64. Luke Hickmott led after 36 holes at 10 under par. Andrew Buckle and Chris Campbell led after 54 holes at 14 under.

Chris Campbell was the eventual winner after a final round 66 and new tournament record of 20 under par. Queenslanders Andrew Buckle and John O'Sullivan tied for second at 18 under.

The cut of one over par was also a tournament low.

Jarrod Lyle (Victoria) was the successful entrant for the 2003 Tournament and followed this with another win in the 2004 Tournament.

Danny Lee kicked off his memorable 2008 with a win here at the Lake MacQuarie Amateur.