Ratho Links
Par: 69 (34,35) Length: 5130 (dubious) metres
Cool fact: Ratho is the oldest surviving golf course outside of the home of golf, Scotland.
It lies on the Ratho farming property in Bothwell which was settled in around 1822, which by Tasmanian and Australian standards is pretty damn old. It is currently 15 holes but is in the process of being redeveloped as a full eighteen hole course. Originally it was a 12 hole course, like Scotland's first golf course Prestwick (the home of the British Open for the first heaps of years). Originally six holes ran North and six holes ran South towards Bothwell from the shearing shed. Three of the Southern holes were abondoned after World War II and the other three South holes were lost when the Government put in a road and bridge into Bothwell. Three additional holes were added (the 4th, 5th and 6th) to the surviving six and there is quite a different feel to these, in my opinion. In the last few years (2000's) six new holes have been added apparently with the aim of reproducing the lost six. A further three will be added at some stage to complete the 18 holes although there was no evidence of any construction when we visited. There endeth the Ratho history lesson. A test on this subject will be held on Tuesday.
To get to Bothwell you head up the Midland Highway (or down if you are coming from the wrong direction) and turn left at the Melton Mowbray Hotel (or right if - ah forget it). Pull into the pub for a beer - you deserve it, it's been a long drive and what harm can one beer do? After finishing the shout, get your designated driver to take you the rest of the way to the golf course, or hitch a ride from a friendly local. You might be too pished to drive, but not to play some of your best golf, or darts, or 8 ball.
The first thing that strikes you when you step onto the course/farm is the fences around the greens. These fences are required to keep the greenkeepers (a.k.a. sheep) off the short stuff. Apparently the little fellas aren't trusted to operate the greens mower although they'd have to be better operators than my mate Matho first thing on a Saturday morning.
The annual Highland Championship is the time to play Bothwell. The middle of winter in the highlands of Tasmania on a links golf course is surely the way the Scottish intended golf to be played. In this event in years gone by you would play your first nine and come into the wood heated clubhouse for a home cooked meal and a couple of (few) drinks to prepare you for the back nine (I don't know what happens now the course has been extended). One of my best golfing memories occurred at Bothwell when we were in the clubhouse along with many drunken golfers (some finished, others in between nines and the rest yet to tee off) watching Kieran Perkins in his memorable 1500m gold medal swim in Atlanta from the outside lane.
The holes at Bothwell are quite short by today's standards and the fairways aren't really defined. As mentioned above, the 4th, 5th and 6th differ from the rest in the fact that they resemble "standard" golf holes. The course can be exploited with today's technology (any clubs post 1985). The back six holes are completely different. Firstly the greens aren't square and they don't have fences. Secondly these holes are built on a patchwork of paddocks, rather than one consolidated farm as is the case on the front side. In my opinion these holes do not complement the others and it appears to me as if it is an attempt to make a standard 18 hole golf course out of a golf links that is anything but standard.
Another blind tee shot to a patchwork paddock. This time it's the 15th.
That said, Bothwell has a candidate for the best local rule.
SHEEP: A ball striking a sheep on the course, may be replayed without penalty.
At other courses they protect the greenkeepers and if you hit one then you would expect some sort of penalty - maybe not the golfing kind.
The course is so unique that I think it deserves a quick hole by hole run through - something I haven't done for my other reviews.
1st. Blast a drive to a fairway that is wider than the 1st at St Andrews. Pitch and putt.
2nd. Driver, 7 or 8 iron to a green that backs onto the highway. Don't hit the cars.
3rd. Standard par 3 (except for the square fenced green and the fact it is bloody cold)
4th. Blind dog leg. 3 wood, pitch and putt.
5th. Blast a drive, pitch up the hill
6th. Very short par 4 - 3 wood. Slicers need to aim away from the highway. Used to alternate between a par 3 and par 4 for each nine.
7th. Very short par 5 - Blast a drive, hybrid or long iron.
8th. Very short par 3 - throw it on.
9th. 141m par 3, slightly uphill. Don't go long because it is out of bounds but don't leave it short because it is a very sloping two-tiered green. Don't be right or left either or you will be faced with a difficult chip. Basically it's a hole that will ruin your front nine.
There were no cards available in the clubhouse when we teed off so at the end of the first nine, we didn't know where to find the 10th tee. Luckily the greenkeeper (human variety) hollered out to us as we walked down the wrong road.
The peculiar par 5, 10th
10th. A blind tee shot where the fairway starts at about 250m after traversing a couple of fences and a road.
11th. Par 3, island-like green. There is no real place to miss the green if you decide to get it on (which you should because it is a par 3). The hole reminded me of Lara Bingle - Looks good at first but it really is a bitch.
The par 3 11th
12th. Yet another blind tee shot (getting slightly sick of them by now) with a short approach.
13th. And now for something completely different. Walk back to a nearby paddock just so you can hit out if it over trees. Weird much? It's a very short par 4 at 280m and suggests to me that they ran out of room.
The strange 13th tee
14th. Short par 3. Standard fare.
15th. Par 3. Another blind tee shot into the next paddock.
15th tee shot. Spot the flag. Hint: It's not on the immediate paddock.
Usually to complete a round of golf at Bothwell, you would replay the 1st, 2nd and par 5 7th. For the purposes of playing all the holes on Tasmania's golf courses I didn't think this was necessary. Instead we proceeded to load the clubs in the car and headed off to Barnbougle.
Best Hole
None of the back 6 - they are all quirky. I think the first hole is great because it reflects everything that is unique about Bothwell. There is a square green with a fence for starters. The fairway is non-existent and is just an open canvas but there is a fence crossing about 100 metres off the tee catching any mis-hit low drives.
Worst Hole
The 4th - The local rules forbid you going around the right hand side of the trees and makes you play the hole as a dogleg to the right. For someone like me who draws the ball, I'd prefer to go for the green with a high draw but the shot is too risky with out of bounds looming. Conversely when I play it as it is intended I inevitably end up in the reeds even when I try to play safe with an iron. Frustrating!
The 4th (arse)hole
The Round (15 holes)
Date: 30 April 2010
Score: 61 (+5) Greens: 8/15 Fairways: N/A Putts: 25
Bothwell was the first course on the inaugural trip of the CODJ3R Golf Club. Patto, Yabbi, Scooby and Godfrey the human wind sock were in the first group. Potts, Dave, JP and the Stallion were also in the first group as least for the 1st hole and a half before we split into the more traditional two groups.
1st tee - CODJ3R Golf Club (Est. 2010) - Note the matching shirts
Bothwell is a remote course so imagine the surprise that faced the couple who walked in the gate as a group of 8 hackers walked off the tee. I'm sure they expected a walk up start to a quiet and empty course but we did the right thing and let them through when they'd got their stuff together.
After chunking my approach short to the 1st, I pitched just past the hole and made the putt for the first par of the CODJ3R trip.
1st hole - up and down for par
As is my usual thing when I play a different golf course, I displayed much muppability and couldn't get up and down from next to the green, had 3 putts and didn't make birdie putts that I'd expect to have a good go at on a course I'm more familiar with. I wasted shots on 2, 3 & 6 by not making pars from right by the green, or on it in the case of the 6th.
After teeing off the 6th hole, we looked back down the 5th and saw our 2nd CODJ3R group. They were scattered left and right but (not) surprisingly none were in the fairway. 15 minutes later the 4 players had moved around 50 metres towards the green with some swapping sides of the rough.
Potts, the Stallion, Dave and JP lost on the 5th hole
I found myself at 5 over after 6 holes and finished the original front nine with 3 regulation pars for a 39 (par 34).
The greenkeeper told us on the way to the 10th tee, "I don't care if you're Tiger Woods, you won't reach the 10th green in two shots".
Challenge accepted.
Unfortunately there is now way of knowing where the hell to aim on the 10th the first time you play this course. We struggled to find the damn 10th tee, so obviously we were going to struggle with the finer details.
10th tee - where to aim?
After blasting a drive I found myself on a cross-road with my second shot partially blocked out by a tree. I elected to play my hybrid and squeezed it (quite accidentally) between the branches just short of the two-tiered green. Considering I lost a few yards dropping off the road and that I couldn't hit my fairway wood because of the lie, hitting this green in two shots is definitely achievable for longer hitters.
The undulating 10th green
We came up with a new rule for CODJ3R golf which should apply universally. You are not allowed to lay up the first time you ever play a hole. You must elect to play the hole as it was designed to be played and commensurate with your handicap (which ever is the lesser).
i.e. you must go for the green in two on a short par 5 the first time you play the hole even if you know you that laying up is the better option for your score. The next time you play it (e.g. the back nine on a 9 hole course) you can elect to lay up.
Putting this strategy into effect on the 11th I went for the green and even though it landed up there, it bounded off into the hazard. I was able to get up and down for a bogey.
I'd like to suggest that a lot of the hole yardages are wrong but it is just as likely that the the wind affects shots a lot more on this exposed and elevated course than at others. It was either that or the gutta percha balls we were using (kidding).
I drove into the rough on the blind tee shot on the 330m par 4 12th which isn't surprising as there is no guide as to where to hit from the tee. I pitched out of the heavy lie and ran it up near the hole for my first birdie of the back 6. After driving near the green on the 280m par 4 12th I only had a pitch to the pin that was perched on the top tier of this large and sloping green. I thought that I should experience all this hole had to offer by pitching well right and long to the bottom tier. Luckily I was able to two putt for a regulation par.
My drive on the 13th just short. My pitch finished behind the bunker.
After parring the 14th we walked to the difficult looking 15th which was 197m into a stiff breeze. I gripped down on my 1 hybrid knowing it was too much club, but I knew my 3 iron would get caught up in the wind. As a result of my indecision, I came out of my tee shot and splayed it out to the right by about a paddocks length (the standard Bothwell unit of measurement). After spotting my ball from the traditional paddock the green is on, I had to circumnavigate my way by running back to the tee paddock and up a nearby path, using landmarks for reference. For a 197m hole I reckon I traversed over 800m - in good time too.
So after only two 1 putts on the front side, I managed to have five 1 putts around the back (out of 6 holes). As usual for me, if I could get used to the local conditions more quickly I could have threatened par for the course.
Best shot
My pitch out of the rough on the 12th setting up birdie
Worst shot
The 40m pitch on the 13th that ended up 20m right of my target was a shocker as well as my tee shot on the 15th that went a good 50m right of the target.
Bothwell is a short course by today's standards, but don't try to force it as the course has some bite as well. I look forward to playing at the Australian home of golf again on a regular basis.
