Par 71, 6148 metres (Forrester Tees)
Green Fees - $98 per 18 holes ($65 for locals)
Firstly let me state that Barnbougle Dunes is no doubt (to me) the best golf course in Tasmania with a similar level of quality not available elsewhere in the state. It is, however a public golf course and with that comes the subsequent “characteristics” - numerous unfilled divots, footprints in bunkers, poorly placed rakes and a general lack of etiquette from fellow golfers. While this is at times distracting, the positives far outweigh the negatives.
Divot on 1st (above), rake on 3rd (below)
The fairways are very wide, but hitting the fairway doesn’t guarantee a par. You have to choose your line to the hole carefully prior to teeing off as it is easy to get obstructed by undulations within the fairway that force you to lay-up with a shorter iron (see view from par four 8th hole from 200m out).
If you do stray off the fairways or miss greens by a significant amount then you will be faced with natural marram grass (as shown below) that you will be lucky to find your ball within, or in the event you do, you will do well to hack it back into play.
You’ll also be greeted by the local wildlife such as the many wallabies I saw on my journey (spot the wallabies in the below picture).
It’s definitely a course where local knowledge would be worth many shots.
The course offers four different tees on each hole named Forrester (for 0-4 handicaps), Boobyalla (5-17), Melaleuca (18-27) and Marram (27+). The Forrester markers are at times more than 100 metres behind the Melaleuca and Marram markers with the Boobyalla tees somewhere in the middle. I’m sure that these tee options provide the course with multiple personalities and I can vouch for the fact that the back markers are a tough test for low handicappers. Still, there are a couple of driveable par fours (4th, 12th) even from the back tees, but there is a significant risk in trying to reach these – especially the latter. To the other extreme, the par four 8th is near unreachable, especially with the variable fairway height throughout the hole. Many of the par 5’s play as definite three-shot holes and a priority should be placed on keeping ball in play over trying to overpower the golf course.
The greens are very large and undulating (no different to the rest of the course really). The greens aren’t necessarily that fast overall, although I had some of the quickest downhill, downwind putts that I have ever faced. It is important to leave your approach shots in the right spot – something you won’t be able to do until you get to know the course. The 188m, par three 13th is the most undulating green on the course. I drove to Barnbougle Dunes via the East Coast and as we went through Elephant’s Pass we discussed the whereabouts of the elephants that this location was named after. I discovered on the 13th at Barnbougle that at least two of these elephants (probably three) had made their way to the North East coast of Tasmania and died under this very green.
The wind will definitely be present when you play the course as it is directly on Bass Strait.
The greens are very large and undulating (no different to the rest of the course really). The greens aren’t necessarily that fast overall, although I had some of the quickest downhill, downwind putts that I have ever faced. It is important to leave your approach shots in the right spot – something you won’t be able to do until you get to know the course. The 188m, par three 13th is the most undulating green on the course. I drove to Barnbougle Dunes via the East Coast and as we went through Elephant’s Pass we discussed the whereabouts of the elephants that this location was named after. I discovered on the 13th at Barnbougle that at least two of these elephants (probably three) had made their way to the North East coast of Tasmania and died under this very green.
The wind will definitely be present when you play the course as it is directly on Bass Strait.
It is the most picturesque golf course I have ever seen and it does Tasmania proud. It is worth the trip to play this remote course, whether you are travelling from interstate, overseas or within Tasmania (where, for us locals, a 20 minute drive is considered excessive). Even though the course has been open for a few years now you should still expect a lot of people to be playing on any given day, with the majority being interstate visitors. Although I didn’t stay in them, I recommend the on-site accommodation in order to get the maximum golf you can fit into the day. Oh, and buy a course guide – and consider enlisting the services of a caddy.
The Round
Date: 6 June 2009
Score: 83 (Forrester tees), Greens Hit: 9/18, Putts: 36, Fairways Hit: 7/14
Even though I had read every piece of information that I could find about Barnbougle Dunes before I arrived there, I had no idea where to hit the ball on each hole. More importantly I didn’t know where to miss it. I opened with three soft bogies that would have been pars on a course more familiar to me. I drove the 271 metre par 4 fourth and calmly three-putted for my first par (see my drive just past the hole on the right?) ...
The Round
Date: 6 June 2009
Score: 83 (Forrester tees), Greens Hit: 9/18, Putts: 36, Fairways Hit: 7/14
Even though I had read every piece of information that I could find about Barnbougle Dunes before I arrived there, I had no idea where to hit the ball on each hole. More importantly I didn’t know where to miss it. I opened with three soft bogies that would have been pars on a course more familiar to me. I drove the 271 metre par 4 fourth and calmly three-putted for my first par (see my drive just past the hole on the right?) ...
I have finally proven that it is possible to have a mildly unenjoyable round on a most enjoyable course. As Barnbougle is a links course, I was prepared for a bit of wind and rain. After the first four holes I thought I was going to be fortunate and play on a relatively calm day. Nu-uh. Everything changed on the picturesque walk along the coast to the 5th tee.
· Firstly, the wind came up on this hole and never abated.
· Secondly, it started to rain, but the wind made putting up an umbrella a fruitless exercise.
· Thirdly, I caught up to the slowest group in the world (see below).
· Secondly, it started to rain, but the wind made putting up an umbrella a fruitless exercise.
· Thirdly, I caught up to the slowest group in the world (see below).
I’m still not clear how many people were playing golf in front of me, or if indeed golf was the game they were playing, but there were 4 couples in two golf carts (I didn’t think carts were allowed at Barnbougle unless you had a medical certificate – I guess among eight, 80 year olds, you’re bound to have a valid excuse). All up my front nine took over three hours to complete even though I played the first 4 holes unimpeded. Granted, I took a little bit of extra time carving up a 6 on the short (112m), but ridiculously challenging, par three 7th hole.
The back nine was a much more enjoyable affair mainly because the group of eight that I was following stopped for skinny chai lattes and to buff their matching Audi’s™ at the turn.
I played the back Forrester (black) tees in order to obtain the full experience of Barnbougle Dunes. I can’t recall a time, apart from my junior days, where I have stood on par fours knowing that my two best shots wouldn’t be enough to get to the green. I assume reaching the 8th at Barnbougle, even with the prevailing tailwind, is not very common from the back tees. It was also obvious on a couple of the par 5’s that reaching them in two shots was not going to be an option, at least on this day.
The undulating greens and my lack of course experience resulted in 4 three putts and very few up and downs from next to missed greens. I had a couple of putts on the back-nine par 3’s where it wasn’t even possible to get the ball to finish near the hole. The pin at the 13th was at the back left and I needed to aim to the back fringe, with the ball dribbling back to about 6 feet (from about 25 feet). On the 16th, although I was only about 10 feet away, I had no hope of getting the ball to stop near the hole with a ridge surrounding each approach to the hole, but conveniently not one acting as a backstop.
I got my first birdie of the day at the par four 17th where I stiffed a nine iron to a foot and followed this up with a regulation par up the last in fading light. All up my round of 83 (44 out, 39 in) took around 5 hours. I get some satisfaction knowing that the group of eight that I passed through would have been stranded in the dark somewhere around the 14th as I packed my clubs in the boot of my car.
So all up it was a most enjoyable course, but not necessarily an enjoyable round - I guess I could have picked a better day to play than the Saturday of a long weekend. Still, I can’t wait to go back there where I'll draw upon the experiences I learned during this round.
The best:
I'd have to rate my drive onto the 4th green as a highlight along with my 9 iron to the 17th green. Yes the golf course got the better of me on most holes, but I showed it who was boss on at least these two.
The worst:
I was just going through my round and couldn't think of that many bad shots that I hit. I guess that shows that playing average golf isn't good enough on this course. I guess the fact my sand iron over the back of the 7th contributed to me having a 6 warrants it being adjudged one of my poorer shots. My 4 iron of a sidehill lie on the 9th to more than 50 metres right of the green can only be classified as a brain fade.
Another round soon,
Patto
