Blog 189 – Pittwater

Nomadic_golfer : February 2022

Par 70, 5463m, slope 124, $30 green fee

6 par3s 123-183m, 8 par4s 279-381m, 4 par5s 459-494m

This is a quality 9 hole track in a pretty setting overlooking a bird sanctuary on Orielton Lagoon’s wetlands, 20 minutes NE of Hobart, having occupied this site since 1951. It is fully irrigated and they don’t hold back on the water so the fairways and tees were all very lush in late summer, with the greens just having been cored. The lush green playing surfaces provide a lovely contrast to the blues of the lagoon and the deep green of the gums.

The fairways were in very good condition, are of standard width, flanked by medium size native trees (replanted following a bushfire in 1967). Bentgrass greens of medium size, recently cored but looked to have a healthy coverage of grass. .

The routing uses the gentle slope on the side of the hill well, with the lagoon in constant view. The course is not long, with 2/11 at 380m and 6/15 at 180m the only lengthy asks for par. However, there are plenty of interesting & prominent water hazards, bunkers on about half of the holes, and exposure to the wind, to defend par here.

The stretch from 3 to 5 was most memorable for me: 3 (340/ 350m par4, down the steepest hill on the course with a blind tee-shot moving right, to a green protected by a bunker short left and water well right and long); 4 (surely the signature hole at 160/ 150m par 3 with the tee back against the lagoon and the shot required to negotiate several ponds and a narrow green with yawning bunkers on both sides – my favourite); and 5 (490m par 5 that sweeps left around the wetlands and has some variations of elevation levels as the hole progresses and finishes with a well-bunkered, 2-tiered green).

6,7&8 all add to the aesthetic highlights reel, with views of the lagoon on all, and the tee ground of 7 on the lagoon’s edge. That green complex on the 279m 7th, with bunker short right, water left and a rock wall behind a bunker over the back, is an absolute ripper.

Overall, this is a very good golfing experience. It gets a tick for interesting layout, tick for condition, tick for aesthetic and 1/2 tick for the challenge component. Don’t miss this one when staying around the Richmond area. And if you are lucky enough to secure playing partners and caddies of the calibre I experienced on this occasion (Tassie legend John Klug, wife Nat, 13 year-old Joe and Russell) it will complete the experience!