Blog 156 – Penguin

Nomadic_golfer : November 2021

Par 71, 5517m, slope 112, $20 green fee (9 hole course)

4 par3s 95-148m, 11 par4s 309-385m, 3 par5s 402-442m

This is fun, quirky (interesting quirky) and not as easy as it’s yardage might suggest. Set on a small parcel of land on Tassie’s NW coast, the designers have done a great job in creating a challenging, thought-provoking 9-hole layout routed through hills, creeks and a dam.

Every hole has some defining feature or characteristic that stands out and sticks in your memory. From the hill on the inside of the reverse camber, left to right, sweeping 385m first, through to the ultra-shallow diagonally positioned green with a stone wall running parallel to the edge, 6 feet away on the last, this joint is different, and very entertaining. There are trees; plenty of them, a mixture of tight & generous fairways, a stream that plays a part in about 5 of the holes, a dam that dominates the 7th and really true but receptive bentgrass greens that aren’t easy targets.

The shapes of the greens have been designed really well to fit the nature of each hole and add some difficulty to counter a lack of length, particularly notable on the last 3 holes: 7 (a really narrow green, sloping heavily down to the right on this short par 3 over a dam); 8 (a shallow green sloping steeply to the front on this short par 5) and 9 (per above, I loved this ultra shallow, wide, diagonal green with a stone wall one side and drop off the other).

Like Ulverstone before it, I think the fairways are a naturally growing mix of grasses and have good cover. It is a bit soft underfoot, especially around the stream but there has been a fair bit of recent rain.

Check out the photos & descriptions for the defining characteristics of each hole. Overall, this is fun. A very innovative design on nicely maintained surfaces represents great entertainment for just $20 (unlimited golf in 1 day)

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_{Above: The 385m 1st (& 356m 10th), turning right around the side of a steep hill}

_{Below: The 2nd (350m/ 385m) with stream down the right and cutting across the fairway (main photo also)}

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_{Above & Below: par4 6th (310m/ 344m) with bank left & drop off right. Fairway drops 10m at <200m from the tee, where the stream narrows in on the right, leading to a long, narrow green}

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