Ratho Farm

Location: Bothwell, Hobart & South, Tasmania
Address: 2122 Highland Lakes Road, Bothwell TAS 7030
Course: 18 holes · Par 70
Visitors: Open to public
Weekday green fee: $50 (18) · $35 (9)
Phone: +61 3 6259 5553

About the course

Ratho Farm is at Bothwell in Tasmania's Central Highlands, about an hour's drive north of Hobart, and is recognised as Australia's oldest golf course. Alexander Reid, a Scottish merchant from Leith, settled the farm on the River Clyde in 1822 with his family, and the Reids laid out the first golf holes there. The farm has been recognised as home to the country's oldest course since the 1970s.

The links-style course follows the Clyde past reed beds, timber bridges and natural sand hollows, with the Central Highlands on the horizon. Sheep graze the playing areas and fences keep them off the square greens, as was once done at St Andrews and Prestwick, and Highland cattle graze the fairways too. The original layout had 12 holes, but six fell out of use: three after the Second World War, when the club cut back to nine, and three in the 1980s, when a road and bridge were rerouted. Designers Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford restored the lost holes using old maps, scorecards and photographs, bringing back hazards such as hedges, rock walls and sheep yards, and six new holes completed a full 18. Peter Thomson attended the reopening.

The course is public and open seven days, with no membership needed. Green fees are $50 for 18 holes and $35 for nine, and $20 for juniors under 18. Tee times are booked and paid for online, with free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead. Club sets can be hired from $25 including a buggy, and pull buggies from $10. An annual membership costs $199.

The estate also has 16 suites in restored convict-built cottages, a 65-person function centre and trout fishing.

Green fees

Juniors $20; club hire from $25; pull buggy $10; online tee times

Planning your round

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