From time to time we would like to let you know about who our clients are (with their permission). How they got together , favourite courses and trips and how they keep it going. This time it is the Ratpack from Nowra. They have used us on two trips-Canberra and the Central Coast. I got the lowdown on the group from Ratpack stalwart, Trevor Kanaar.
It all started with a golf tour to Narooma
It all began nearly 40 years ago in 1984 when a group of golfers from Nowra Golf Club decided to travel to Narooma Golf Club in June. It was before there was any of the other local courses like Worrigee or Shoalhaven Heads. They are still doing that trip eventhough a number of the founding members have passed on . The group has a number of swimming enthusiasts and will also hop into the waters around Narooma at around this time of year eventhough it can be a litte bracing! However now more trips have been added to the calendar with a different group organiser for each trip.
They also do a fortnightly midweek day trip to a golf course away from Nowra and that trip can range from Mollymook Hilltops in the south to as far north as St Michaels in Sydney. This group like so many, has a wonderous scoring system where your GA handicap is modifed (only for this comp) during the course of the year in how you go in the single or 4BBB at these events. This group can be 12 to 16 in numbers so it must be quite an effort to keep this handicap system going.
Barnbougle a favourite
Although they have travelled around the country, Trevor’s favourite trip is to Barnbougle Dunes in northern Tasmania. He has been there 6 times. In regards to a preference playing a tough layout like Barnbougle or something more playable, Trevor says “that it depends on the day” and your perception of the course is coloured by how well you play. Recently he played at Magenta Shores with the Ratpack and shot 32 points the first time he saw it on a breezy day . He enjoyed the course whilst others in the group who had lesser days, were not so sure. He did make the point that those days on championship courses can mean small margins where you can either be in a 10ft deep bunker or sitting out on the fairway with a beautiful lie.
How do they keep it going?
Trevor says he always played competitive sport (basketball and rugby). He likes the good natured competition that happens on this tours but then enjoys a wine or two in the evening discussing the various funny rule breaches that happened out there during the day! The Ratpack has transitioned to incorporating members from other clubs in the area as friends have bought other friends in.
Sometimes it may not always work out. On one of Trevor’s first trips with the Ratpack to Antill Golf Club at Picton, they played with a bad tempered player. It got to a stage where that player threw a club and it nearly hit a Ratpack member whose nickname was “the Ayatollah.” What that member said within the group was gospel. The bad tempered player never got invited again.
The secret of the success of the Ratpack seems to be that responsibility is shared, they love travelling for golf and travelling in each other’s company. It is bringing groups like this together for golf travel that makes having this business so fulfilling. You can see why it could be in Tim O’Shea’s review on their recent trip to the Central Coast.
