Commonwealth Golf Club appoint Renaissance Golf Design as Course Architect
Commonwealth Golf Club is a spectacularly presented 18-hole championship golf course, located in the world-renowned golfing region of the Melbourne Sandbelt. Commonwealth is highly rated amongst Australia’s top golf courses and is a true test for golfers of all abilities.
After a worldwide search for a new Course Architect company, Commonwealth is pleased to announce they have appointed Renaissance Golf Design to oversee the restoration of their course.
Renaissance Golf Design
Renaissance Golf Design (RGD), established by world renowned course architect Tom Doak, is one of the world’s leading Golf Course Design firms. In addition to an impressive portfolio of international work, RGD has an enviable track record of constructing golf courses in Australia and New Zealand, (St Andrews Beach, the Gunnamatta course at The National Golf Club, Tara Iti), restoration (Yarra Yarra Golf Club) and renovations (Royal Melbourne).
Tom Doak has a long-term admiration with the course having listed Commonwealth among the 31 courses in the world he’d “most like to take a friend to” after his visit in 1989 and listed it in his “Gourmet’s Choice” in the first edition of his international best-seller, “The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses”.
RGD Senior Design Associate Brian Slawnik, also a world renowned golf course shaper and designer will be involved in the creation and implementation of the course project. Brian has worked extensively in Melbourne, on the Mornington Peninsula and other RGD projects all over the world, including work with Commonwealth Course Manager John Mann when he was employed at Royal Melbourne and Woodlands Golf Club.
With a heritage dating back to 1920, the Commonwealth Golf Club is revered for its magnificent tree lined fairways, strategic bunkering and subtle sloping greens which call for accurate shot making.
Commonwealth has played host to a number of major golfing Championships, including the Australian Open, Women’s Australian Open and Victorian Open, as well as a number of National and State Amateur Championships.
Commonwealth has been and remains a golfing home for many of Australia’s finest golfers, with the Club’s honour boards boasting names such as Jarrod Lyle, Marc Leishman, 2019 NZ Open winner Zach Murray and 2020 Dubai Desert Classic winner Lucas Herbert.
Commonwealth Golf Club looks forward to a successful working relationship with Renaissance Golf Design.











