The clubhouse and practice green are at the highest point on the golf course with the first tee beyond the hedge to the right

Numerous people have told me that I must play Pottsville, sooner rather than later. I’ve been waiting for over six weeks owing to the floods and then more flooding and now rain. I was on my way to an Easter camping holiday a few hours South of Pottsville so, even though the weather wasn’t ideal, I took the chance to get 9 holes in. I am glad I did.

Now here is a tester straight out of the blocks. At over 190 metres, with a pond on the left and an intimidating row of trees guarding an out of bounds, presumably, you will need to hold your nerve to keep it in play. I was very happy with a 3 to start.

Now I soon realised that this course will test your driving skills in more ways than one. The cart paths are very narrow and the course has steep inclines and falls. The carts are the slowest I’ve ever been in, but this is a actually a bonus. They are obviously geared to keep it slow and under control, while having the torque to climb some sudden and steep hills. Besides you get more time to admire the beautiful surroundings.

The 3rd green is nestled behind a group of trees on the right. A high iron shot will clear them or you can play a lay-up to the front left

The third is a testing Par 3 of 130 metres. It’s a narrow entrance but it is possible to fly one over the trees directly at the heart of the green. I can imagine a higher handicapper struggling with this hole.

A long Par 3 , 195 metres, up hill with severe trouble left and not much easier going high right

The drive to this hole is an adventure in itself. Then the view opens up to a very intimidating uphill par 3. I was wrapped with my 3 and I am sure anyone else would be too.

Back down the hill to the 4th green at the Par 3, 136 metre hole

A couple of bunkers guard the front left and right of this green, however I think the trees lining both sides of the fairway presents the bigger challenge.

The shortest hole so far. Don’t go right or don’t be short in the bunker on the right. Up to the left has a friendly hill which should help to return a pulled shot to the putting surface.

The 6th at 91 metres is the shortest hole on the course

So the next, the 6th, is the shortest hole with around 90 metres steeply downhill to the green. It has a nicely sloped backstop too where an over hit shot should roll back to the green. In my case I surprised myself with a Wedge that bounced in the back trees, then slowly rolled back down to 3 metres from the pin and I got the putt. They all count, don’t they.

The only Par 4, while not long, is certainly very tight off the tee. A large row of trees guard the Out of Bounds left while a very large tree dominates the right side. The fairway is less than 20 metres wide so if you driver is spraying them a bit, then the hole is short enough to play a long iron or lofted fairway club giving you the best chance of landing on the fairway. From the fairway it is a straight forward pitch to the green.

After a drive on the boardwalk surrounding the lake, you are faced with a 135 metre uphill shot. The green itself is perched sideways in that it is shallow front to back from the tee but wide. There is a generous backstop so my thinking was to take an extra club, allowing for the uphill and going for the backstop. Well, I can tell you that wasn’t enough. I hit about 4 good shots with that club , and later found all 4 to be just a few metres short of the green’s surface. I did try one more club and from the tee I though I saw it hit the green and possibly finish on the backstop. But no, it was a metre short too. So beware. This hole requires you best shot to get up there. My recommendation would be definitely two clubs more than your normal 132 metre club.

I forgot to take a photo of the 8th, a downhill 122metre Par 3 with the lake on the left, close to the green. Next time I will remember.

I spoke to the greenskeeper who was on office duty on the Saturday morning. The property was his father’s farm and he made the original course as a hobby for himself and some mates. He was serving his green- keeping apprenticeship at Murwillumbah at the time. Locals kept asking when the course would be finished and opened to membership. And so it began. A few tees have moved since the original course but in essence it remains as the original hobby course.

It’s been very wet in the Northern Rivers region over the past 6 weeks but the course is in good condition. He has had to keep the greens a little longer at the moment but I thought they were fine for the current conditions.

The course is only open Wednesday to Sunday. A round costs from $17 walking and another $10 for a cart, normally for 2 people. Some local members walked but I think it is definitely worth hiring the cart. I’ll hope to bring some friends with me the next time as I believe they too will enjoy this experience. I took less than one hour to drive down from Carrara, even with the roadwork delays at the Southern Gold Coast M1. The course is only 3km from the Pacific Motorway turnoff.

Pottsville Golf Club, NSW

Call 0420 923 981