AMAZING ARM END
One of the most exciting new projects in Australian golf is currently under way just outside of Hobart, near the coastal town of Opossum Bay, at South Arm Peninsula.
The development is the brainchild of Greg Ramsay, who played an integral role in establishing Barnbougle Dunes and currently manages Australia’s oldest running golf course, Ratho Farm.
“When I first came back from Scotland in my early 20s (in 2001) I scouted out and identified five amazing golf sites,” Ramsay told Golf Australia magazine.
“I’ve been very lucky to have lived and worked all around the world in the golf industry – but Arm End is quite literally one of the greatest sites ever given over to the game.
“What’s really cool about that site is that it’s for everyone. It’s big enough for three golf courses if we wanted to, but we’re putting in tens of kilometres of walking trails, cycling paths, fishing pontoons and picnic pavilions.”
The layout is being designed by renowned course architects Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford of Golf Strategies and is aiming to become a world-class, public links-style course. It will play roughly 6,000 metres from the tips, utilise the natural lay of the land and feature wide fairways.
“The site is a spectacular one, unlike any other to our knowledge in Australia, with water views from every hole around a dynamic coastline of dunes, cliffs, beaches and promontories,” Crafter + Mogford state on their website.
“The site for golf purposes is certainly top-10 calibre in Australia and our task is to design and build a course that is worthy of the site.”
The land at Arm End has been leased by Parks & Wildlife – following many years of hard work gathering permits from several government and regulatory bodies – however construction at the horseshoeshaped peninsula has faced numerous delays. Should all go to plan, though, Tasmania will soon be able to bookend its northern stars with something truly remarkable in the south.
“Arm End is going to be spectacular. Some of those holes are going to have water views at 270 degrees,” Tourism Tasmania CEO John Fitzpatrick said.