Green Fees: $8 ($2 for juniors)
So I had a day to myself so what better place to go than Bagdad I hear you ask.
Barnbougle, Royal Hobart, Ulverstone, Woodrising, Claremont, Elderslie, Riverside, Kingston, Mowbray .... but I digress.
The course:
I was a bit worried about travelling to a course unannounced on a Friday knowing that this is a common day for corporate golf events. I needn't have worried as I was the only person on the course and the last person to have paid the $8 green fees was about two weeks earlier. I filled out the relevant paperwork and headed off to find the first tee. Actually finding the next tee was something I struggled with throughout the day.
I did wonder at first why this was called Bagdad "Community" golf club, but it was quite straightforward really. I think the below picture best illustrates it:
Where else would you find a football field, soccer ground, cricket pitch & nets as well as a golf course in the same facility??
The course is a bit patchy with tight lies around the green making it hard to get up and down for par. I only managed two pars from 6 missed greens. I played the course on a wet winter's day and I'm sure it wasn't at its best.
Example of tight lies around the 4th green
This is the shortest golf course that I have played in both par and length and I would be surprised to find a contender for this title during the rest of my journey around Tasmania. The longest holes were the 170m par 3 fifth and the 162m par 3 ninth. The course is extremely flat and the only undulations I found were on the walk to the next tees.
I felt like Bagdad was a course that you could tear apart if you were having a good ball striking day, but if you weren't (as I wasn't) then it would be easy to be make bogies on most holes. It would be an excellent location for ambrose competitions because everyone would have a chance to make their shot count and low scores would be inevitable.
Given Bagdad's short length and easy walk, it would be a good golf course to take junior golfers to especially at only $2 a pop.
The round:
Date: 19 June 2009
Score: 31 (+4), Greens hit: 3/9, Putts: 16, Fairways hit: 0/0
I found it hard to pick the right club to start with because the course is so flat. I bogied three of the first five holes simply because I didn't hit the green. Picture my joy when I finally hit the 147m sixth hole (another par 3!) and three putted. Actually it wasn't all my fault, this llama (alpaca?) threw off my groove.
There is only one set of tees/greens for each hole so I didn't worry about playing 18 holes on this day.
The best shots:
My pitching wedge to the 7th (for birdie) was good especially given the poorly placed tree located at the front left of this short hole (111m).
Pending birdie on the 7th
Pending birdie on the 7th
The worst:
Not a bad shot as such, but try getting up and down on the 9th with this crap on your ball ...
Another course soon,
Patto
