Commonwealth Golf Club

The club was constituted in 1920 and bought 89 acres of scrub near Centre and Warrigal Roads at South Oakleigh, land nobody wanted, in what is now the heart of the Melbourne Sandbelt. Sam Bennett laid out twelve holes to start with.

The course was extended to eighteen in 1926, after the club captain, Charles Lane, travelled to Britain specifically to study Harry Colt’s work and came back to finish the job himself. That is an unusual origin story for a course of this quality, and it shows in a layout that is more idiosyncratic than its neighbours. It has held the Australian Open and a long list of championship events since.

What it asks of you

A par 73, which on the Sandbelt is already a statement, since most of the region plays to 72 or lower. Sand beneath, tree-fringed corridors above, and firm ground for most of the year.

The greens are the examination and the reason first-time visitors leave puzzled. Almost every one is tilted to accept an approach from a particular side of the fairway, which means the tee shot decides the hole and a player who does not know that is beaten before reaching the green. It is the most demanding course on the Sandbelt to play well the first time.

The bunkering, greenside in particular, is the other feature people single out. It is expansive rather than merely deep, and it is placed to make the correct side of a fairway matter.

What players say about it

Visitors play by arrangement or member introduction, so the review record is moderate but genuine. The notes below summarise recurring themes across specialist golf sites, traveller review pages and player discussion threads. They are other people’s opinions, not ours: we have not played the course, and we do not name or quote individual reviewers.

What comes up in its favour

• Conditioning is rated excellent, and the greens rebuilt in recent years draw specific praise from reviewers who had played the old ones.
• The greenside bunkering is repeatedly called a highlight of the round, and some accounts rate it the best feature of the course.
• The strategic tilt of the greens is admired as the intellectual heart of the design, once players understand what it is doing.
• Several accounts place it alongside Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath, Victoria and The National as one of the best courses in the state.

What comes up against

• It is hard to play well without local knowledge, and first-time visitors frequently report being confused by the greens rather than beaten by them.
• The par of 73 and the tree cover make it feel less pure Sandbelt than Royal Melbourne or Kingston Heath to some purists.
• It lives in the shadow of its neighbours, and reviewers routinely have to argue that it belongs in the same conversation.
• Access is by arrangement or introduction, and the review record is thinner than the course’s quality warrants.

Getting there and when to go

South Oakleigh is around thirty minutes south-east of central Melbourne, with Metropolitan next door and Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath and Huntingdale all within a few minutes.

The course plays all year on sand that drains. Spring and autumn give the most reliable weather and summer the firmest conditions. Visitor access is by arrangement or member introduction.

Green fees

Rates and visitor conditions are set by the club. See the club’s own site.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, Wikipedia and published architecture coverage for the history and the 1926 extension, and the club’s own site for access. The opinion section summarises public reviews, guest accounts and architecture writing read in September 2026; we report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we do not reproduce or attribute quotes.

We have not played this course, and nothing here is a substitute for that. The club has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say in what it says. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.