Commonwealth Golf Club

Commonwealth Golf Club is a close neighbour of The Metropolitan and Yarra Yarra Golf Clubs, the three forming private golfing oases in modern Melbourne’s southward suburbs.

Commonwealth’s golfing origins date back to 1915 when 11 enthusiasts came together to form the precursor club of Murrumbeena which changed its name to Waverly Golf Club upon the lease of new lands. Commonwealth was instigated in 1920 when the club settled on the present location off Warrigal Road. By 1926 and for the first time the course was laid out as an 18-holer. The early work on the design was performed by the club’s professional Sam Bennett but the bulk of the improvements and upgrades were done by a club captain of the time Charles Lane who had ventured overseas to study course architecture.

The course meanders efficiently. The holes sometime loop and other times back-up on one another so the golfer will always face differing conditions if there is a breeze blowing. Although the land has been very well used with all holes running along side at least one other hole, you play along the fairways with a high degree of isolation due to the maturity of the bush that has grown up along the edge of the fairways. Commonwealth has some of the finest examples of Australian bush trees in the State of Victoria. Grand examples of mature eucalyptus, wattle, pine, gum and peppercorn line the fairways.

The 7th, 11th, 15th and 16th are holes that the golfer will recall for a long time after the round at Commonwealth has finished. The course will tempt you into errors that make you curse all the more for having been apparent. A handicap maintained at Commonwealth would render most golfers pretty competitive versus their peers at other clubs.

The above passage is an extract from The Finest Golf Courses of Asia and Australasia by James Spence. Reproduced with kind permission.