1. yendor | Rated | 28 Apr 2008 | Add A Review

Tucked under the mountains of Ben Lomond in Tasmania’s Fingal Valley is Craggy Peaks Golf Resort, home of the Ben Lomond Golf Club. Bob Shearer has done a redesign of the course which has the peaks of Ben Lomond (Tasmania’s main ski fields) towering above it. The 9-hole course is set in eucalypt forests about an hour and 20 minutes from Launceston. It has been lengthened to 6060m for 18 holes. The resort boasts new self-contained holiday units set apart among the bush and an impressive new restaurant. The course is a challenging design that makes the most of its natural setting. The rough is bush. The first is only 341 metres but the tee shot is out of shoot with trees on both sides and a right angle turn through a gap in the trees across two creeks to the green. Too long a hit off the tee puts you in the rough, too short leaves no clear shot to the green. The new second par 5 at 455 metres is flanked by tall eucalypts that give the visual effect of it tapering towards the green. The sixth is a narrow, magic little par 3 with a steep forested slope rising up on the left and a deep creek down the left side running around the back of the green. The greens are excellent but Mr Shearer was having a bad hair day when he designed them. Almost all of them are tiered. The 175 metre par 3 eighth runs up hill with a comforting steep bank behind. Putts from above the flag however can end up 20 metres off the front of the green. The big disappointment is the fairways. At best they are poor and we played preferred lies. The new ones, the second and the third are littered with 20 cent size stones and shale pieces. The new grass is growing in tufts along the seed rows so it is possible to have a clean hit using preferred lies but it was not uncommon for a well hit shot to land in the centre of the fairway, hit a stone and bounce 20 metres sideways into the rough. The green keepers are working flat out but it will take a couple of growing seasons to get the fairways up to scratch. This is a fun course that in a year or two will be good. In the meantime if you’re prepared to use preferred lies it’s worth a visit. We paid $15 for the game and the lunch was great.