Formed closer to the city of Melbourne in 1899, the Keysborough Golf Club moved to its current home in the south-eastern suburbs in 1946 after the land it lease for golf was reclaimed by the state government. Fresh from designing Huntingdale and the nearby Southern course, Sam Berriman was given the task of routing holes across what was an open, exposed piece of farming ground.

Today’s Keysborough is nothing like the Berriman course, with an abundance of mature trees and endless design tinkering taking away much of the look and feel of that earlier creation. What it does retain is a very sound routing, and a strong attraction for those who enjoy Sandbelt style bunkering and well-kept couch grass fairways. There is an argument that the conditioning standards here are superior to the more famous Sandbelt neighbours, given the resources and budgets available.

The closing stretch is Keysborough is also quite strong and interesting, but what keeps it from the elite in Melbourne are some of the sharper doglegs, flatter, narrow fairways and the unfortunate tree encroachments. These aside, as a reasonable priced membership option it does come recommended.