5. DEVONPORT WELCOME

If you venture to the Apple Isle via the Spirit of Tasmania, you can be on the 1st tee of a very good 18-hole layout within 15 minutes of disembarking in Devonport.

Devonport Country Club has hosted more than a dozen Tasmanian Open Championships, with winners including great names like Geoff Ogilvy, Bill Dunk, Ian Stanley and Bob Stanton.

Devonport CC. PHOTO: Brendan James.

Designed by Vern Morcom and opened for play in 1961, Devonport is laid out on gently rolling, easy-walking terrain on a peninsula leading to the banks of the Mersey River.

This is a traditional bushland course, so trees tightly flank many of the fairways, making birdies hard to come by. With most greens elevated slightly with steep slopes of each side, chipping and putting can also be tricky.

6. ULVERSTONE, OH, ULVERSTONE

Heading west of Devonport along the coast, the driving is easy and there are several good golf courses to sample.

Ulverstone Golf Club is a hidden gem about 30 minutes’ drive west of Devonport and can be a little tricky to locate in the hills away from the town centre, so make sure you follow the signs.

Designed by Al Howard, Ulverstone is a wonderfully undulating course that easily sits among Tasmania’s best and is perhaps the reason why it has hosted several state and national championships.

While you might read about other courses having fairways that are “heavily tree-lined”, none come close to Ulverstone for shear majesty in the size and number of trees that abound across the layout. This is hardly surprising considering the par-72 is surrounded by thick Tasmanian forest.

Launceston GC. PHOTO: Brendan James.

7. THE LAUNCESTON FOUR

The majority of interstate or overseas golf travelers en route to Barnbougle will fly into Launceston – Tasmania’s second largest city, behind the capital Hobart. It should come as no surprise then that this city of nearly 110,000 people also boasts four fine courses, all within a 15 minutes’ drive of the city centre.

Riverside Golf Club, just off the West Tamar Highway, is well regarded for the quality of its greens, while on the eastern side of the Tamar River, you will find Mowbray Golf Club, a layout covering far more dramatic topography that gives rise to some interesting holes and nice views of the city and the picturesque Tamar Valley.

Launceston Golf Club – located at Kings Meadow about halfway between the city and the airport – is the second oldest 18-hole layout in Tasmania and the fifth oldest in Australia having been established in 1899.

Launceston has some very good holes but arguably the most memorable is the par-3 13th, known as ‘Spine Cop’. At 157 metres from the championship pegs, it’s not length that provides its main defence, but it is the large wasteland in front of the green and the bunkers either side of the putting surface that will penalise the mis-hit tee shot.

Bunkers are also a memorable feature of the Country Club Tasmania course, 15 minutes’ drive south of Launceston via the Bass Highway.

The Peter Thomson and Mike Wolveridge-designed course, which opened for play in 1982, features gum trees and pines lining relatively wide fairways. There are several water hazards and a significant number of bunkers scattered across the course.

8. STEP BACK IN TIME

Once you start travelling to different golf courses throughout Tasmania, there is a name you will see with great regularity adorning honour boards far and wide.

The name Toogood, or more precisely, the Toogood family (of father Alf, and sons Peter and John) has had an enormous influence on the game in Tasmania – as players, teachers and course designers.

But perhaps the biggest ongoing contribution has come from Peter Toogood, who was instrumental in the foundation of the Australasian Golf Museum, ideally located at Bothwell – home of Australia's first known golf course – a scenic 50-minute drive north of Hobart in the beautiful Clyde River valley.

Housed in a heritage-listed schoolhouse, the museum is a must for any golf fan with interesting equipment exhibits – some dating back to the 1800s – photographs and paintings as well as donated equipment from some of our best players including Peter Thomson, Ian Baker-Finch, Mat Goggin, Graham Marsh and, of course, Peter Toogood.

 

9. GOLFING ROOTS

One of the most important things you will see at the Australasian Golf Museum is how the game was first introduced to Australia – on a property known as ‘Ratho’, just a few minutes’ drive out of Bothwell.

Scottish emigrant Alexander Reid played on Ratho Farm with featheries in the 1820s and three generations of Reids followed in their enjoyment of the course.

Ratho Farm. PHOTO: Brendan James.

The great-grandfather of Greg Ramsay, who played a major role in the formation of Barnbougle Dunes, purchased Ratho in 1936 and in recent years Ramsay worked hard to restore the course to its true origins. He’s done a great job and a round at Ratho Golf Links is a memorable today because it is as if time has stopped and dropped you back in the 1800s.

Adding to the Ratho experience is staying on the farm. The accommodation consists of several old farm buildings, which have been beautifully restored into luxury boutique rooms.

Each room is equipped with modern features but still retain interesting elements of the original masonry and carpentry. It is bed and breakfast farm stay accommodation with a difference.

10. SINGLE MALTS

Perhaps the only industry in Tasmania that could rival the growth of golf tourism in the past two decades is the whisky industry.

For those golfers looking for links with the Home of Golf, look no further than playing a round of golf in the morning and sampling some single malt whiskies in the afternoon at one of the many distilleries now scattered around Tassie.

Nant distillery on the Clyde River. PHOTO: Getty Images.

One of the finest single malts to be found in Tassie comes from the Nant Distillery – a few minutes’ drive from Ratho Farm just outside Bothwell. The Nant Estate dates back to 1821 and has been a commercial distillery since 2008 and, more recently, home to Australia’s only Highland Single Malt whisky. If whisky is not your drop you might, however, enjoy the Nant Whisky BBQ Sauce … delicious!!