Blog 181 – Llanherne

Nomadic_golfer : January 2022

Par 72, 5948m, slope 124, $35 green fee

4 par3s 142-170m, 10 par4s 293-384m, 4 par5s 454-510m

Super 9 holer on a lovely sandy base and gently undulating territory at Seven Mile Beach. Located near Hobart airport, Royal Hobart GC, Tasmania GC and the soon to be started 7-Mile Beach GC, it was designed by local legend Peter Toogood, and opened in 1994. The large bentgrass greens are a real feature, and were in great condition. They have been creatively designed with a variety of shapes, and I think Mr Toogood had a penchant for a shallow or narrow green. The 2nd green is huge and the 4th is one of those long, narrow greens; I stepped my putt out at 35 metres here and the green at 50m.

Fairways are a rye/ fescue combination and in decent nick too. The sandy base, rolling fairways, wispy brown rough with exposed sand gives it a real links feel, but it’s other characteristics make it different. Medium sized trees start after a 10-20m band of rough on most holes and large pines mark some of the boundaries, which add to the aesthetic but don’t really come into play.

The design is clever and a real effort has been made to try and create a different look from the second set of tees, with the par5 9th / 18th epitomising this, utilising separate fairways for the first ~300m. It is a good even challenge, with the course’s defences being the sandy wasteland, a fair bit of bunkering and a couple of water hazards.

Each hole is it’s own character here, they’re all very different. Most memorable to me was the 4-6 stretch. The 145m 4th provides some wow factor, with a 125m water carry, a slither of land taking you out to the tee and that narrow, super-long green. The 510m 5th has those massive pines all the way down this straight-away monster, and then they wrap around the back-side also. The succession of pot bunkers set on a narrow rise/ bank from about 100m in on the left-hand side looks very Scottish and is quite penal, leading to another long green, this one hour-glass-shaped. 6 is a 370/ 340m par 4 with a beautiful view off the tee as it sweeps right over wasteland, with fairway bunkers on the outside corner and sand dunes on the inside, before turning further right to a very wide but shallow green, with a bunker at each end.

They are a very proud membership here, financially sound, employ 1 greenkeeper, supported by 8-10 regular volunteers and membership is currently full! Overall, this is a very good golfing experience, it is it’s own design with a different vibe and ooh, those greens.