Colebrook Golf Club
Par: 70 (nine holes - 35, 35) Length: 5520m
Green Fees: $12 (Competition Fee)
I never truly appreciated just where Colebrook is - I just knew it was near Richmond. You actually turn left before you get to the Richmond maze and travel a fair way along that road (Franklin St, Colebrook Rd). It turns out that the golf course isn't actually in Colebrook (it's 12.7 km before the town) but apparently that doesn't matter when you're naming a golf course. Then again not as many people would know where to go if they called it Lowdina Golf Course.
I played Colebrook as part of the 2010 Cascade South East Open. Balls won down the line were actually balls and beers down the line. What a great concept - I hope more courses I visit do this.
Colebrook is one of the few golf courses in the state that circles completely around the clubhouse in a similar manner to Devonport (Woodrising) and Barnbougle (sort of). In order to achieve this, you drive through the 4th hole but I expect traffic isn't a big problem here. The road into the Colebrook clubhouse isn't quite Woodrising Avenue, but I still think this is a good feature to have in a golf course.
I found the speed of the greens to be inconsistent and if I was to guess, I'd suggest that not all of the greens were created at the time of the original layout. This also affected the way the ball would react when you chipped and pitched to them with some receptive to spin and others as hard as rock. On this particular day I was advised that they had experienced recent trouble with the 3rd green receiving too much water thanks to a faulty watering system. Even taking this into account, I still think that the greens are difficult to judge for a visitor. The locals didn't seem to have many problems however.
Colebrook has two sets of tees for each hole although not many of them change the hole significantly. The exception would be the par 3 2nd which requires a more daunting shot over water on the back nine.
The Best
I'm not sure if a any particular hole stood out as the "best". The uphill par four 9th/18th hole was visually impressive as you can see from the below picture.
Impressive runway view of the 9th/18th
The Worst
I'm not a fan of short holes because I think the longer hitters then are forced to relinquish their advantage. Specifically the 4th was a little too short, as was the 7th. But my vote for my least favourite hole at Colebrook would have to be the par three 8th. At 120m the first nine and only 108m the second time around, it was too short for a full iron shot. This might be OK for locals and shorter hitters but trying to judge that kind of distance with half a swing reminded me a bit too much of a pitch and putt course.
The hole seemed out of place on the golf course as if it was put there simply to make up numbers. This hole also interfered with players teeing off the 9th tee which is another common occurrence on Tasmania's golf courses (see New Town Bay and Claremont). The only thing I liked about this hole was the name for the contours in front of the green - "Verna's Tits". I'm not sure who Verna is but I think she needs to visit Capri Lingerie for some better support.
To be honest, my opinion of this hole plummeted the moment a local member wouldn't give me a drop off embedded stones behind the green despite the clearly written local rule on the back of the scorecard. The inevitable scratch on my brand new Cleveland lob wedge was followed by a death stare directed at my marker.
Who's laughing now? Probably nobody.
Short but annoying par 3 8th hole
The Round
Date: 28 February 2010
Score: 76, Greens Hit: 5/18, Putts: 29
In my standard approach to playing unfamiliar nine hole courses, I made too many soft bogies on the front nine before warming up on the back. I had no idea where to play my drives to and subsequently made difficult 2nd shots for myself. Due to my unfamiliarity with the greens, I also failed to get up and down from next to each green I missed. Before long I was 3 over after four holes and ultimately 6 over after nine holes.
My second nine holes was so much better thanks in part to knowing the course and also to getting the feel for speed of the greens. I still struggled with pitching and chipping to Colebrook's greens. I was 2 under after five holes on the back nine but then had two soft bogies including the should-have-been drop on the 7th mentioned above. I find it hard to get any spin off stones.
Ultimately finishing with 6 over after my slow start was fairly satisfying. I'm sure I could do better next time I play, but can't see myself going back to Colebrook given its proximity to my house (or lack thereof). I really didn't hit a lot of greens on this day thanks to some poor iron play combined with incorrect club selection on the par 4 drives. I'd fully expect the locals such as Ready and Blair to regularly rip this course apart.
The Best
After misjudging my hybrid tee shot on the dogleg left 4th, I was confronted with the below lie in the rough.
Difficult lie in the 4th rough after driving through the dog leg
Despite this, I was able to pitch it out and somehow managed to exert a bit of grip on the ball so that it stopped a couple of hops after landing next to the flag. I even managed to putt the ball in for my first birdie of the day (13th).
The Worst
After a nice drive up the par 4 sixth hole, which is the hardest hole on the course, I was left with the following seemingly straight-forward shot with a 6 iron.
Got the equipment - just not the game. 2nd shot to the 6th.
I don't know if it was the pressure of having Darryn behind me with a camera, but for some inexplicable reason I bladed it along the ground to the right about 60 metres. Very very ordinary and worthy of a nomination as my worst shot this year.
So in summary, Colebrook a course that is worth a visit but perhaps just the once.
Patto
