Par: 72 (36, 36) Length: 5835m (2nd longest tees)Not including two optional Holes: 2*par 3's (13a, 18a) - 110m and 105m respectivelyRound summary (not including optional holes) - Date played: 27 November 2010Score: 79 (+7), Greens: 11/18, Putts: 33Optional holes: Score: 6 (par), Greens: 2/2, Putts: 4I first went to the Barnbougle Lost Farm course on a golf trip with the Masters group from Tasmania Golf Club. Ideally I would have played off the back tees to get the full experience of what this course had to offer, but due to the size of our group, the fact we were playing for money and the varying handicaps of the golfers, we played off the 2nd from the back tees. The more I think about it, I reckon it was more a case of Stix being too scared to play off the back markers. I guess if you help to organize the trip then you can make rash decisions like this in order to offset the weakness in your long game (just kidding Stix, but I owe you a sledge or two).
1st – Par 5 – 430 m
The first fairway at the Lost Farm is so ridiculously large that there is no way you can miss it. If you were bad enough to miss it left, there is a large amount of waste as you can see in the picture that you would end up in. Given this information, you’d have to wonder how Kubey could have been playing his second shot from the middle of the practice fairway to the left of the 1st. After I found the fairway with my drive, I realised that a yardage book would be invaluable around this course. I’m guessing that yardages will be available along with GPS downloads at a later date (we played the course before its official opening). I spent the day (incorrectly) guessing clubs which detracted from my first round at this venue. On this hole I flew the green and plugged in the back left bunker. I chunked it out and two putted for a par.
2nd – Par 4 – 300m
The 2nd is a fairly straightforward hole compared to the rest of the Lost Farm holes. As long as you steer clear of the bunkers that are situated along this hole then an easy par should be no problem. Me? I hit it in the left bunker off the tee and made bogey.
3rd – Par 4 230 m
Even though it is uphill, this hole is very reachable but trouble awaits right, left and short. If you are feeling a bit girly then you could easily lay up safe and play a short 2nd shot up the tiered green. I’m sure that this would yield birdies and pars with very few bogies but that kind of play doesn’t sound fun to me. I have a rule when I play a golf course for the first time – no laying up. If you can reach a green, then you must go for it. I left the hole feeling pretty manly after running my driver into the right trees and taking my first Irish drop of the day. Result: A testosterone filled bogey.
4th – Par 3 Bugger all metres (105)
I don’t like short holes. The 11th at Claremont, the 7th at Barnbougle Dunes, the 11th at Tasmania, the 7th at Kingston, the entire Bagdad Community Golf Course. I know if I had made bogey on the 4th hole at the Lost Farm then I would have added this trivial hole to the above list. But seeing as I knocked it right at the flag and tapped in the very short birdie putt, I rate this hole right up there with the road hole at St Andrews, the 12th at Augusta and the 17th at TPC Sawgrass.
5th – Par 4 – 380m
This hole steers you towards trouble off the tee and not knowing any better, I hit what I thought would be a safe draw which turned out to be the complete wrong strategy. Double bogey 6. This hole is a good, tough hole but I don’t think you should require prior knowledge before playing golf holes. I won’t the same mistake again, but that doesn’t get my two lost shots back.
6th – Par 3 – 145m
I got one of my dropped shots back immediately on this hole as I put an 8 iron very close to the flag for a birdie and nearest the pin for the Masters group. As you can see from the picture, the very wide multi-tiered green is the major difference between a par and a dropped shot.
7th – Par 4 – 360m
Despite what I previously said about not liking holes where prior knowledge is required, the 7th does it well. All the information is presented to the golfer playing the course for the first time and they can then choose to attempt to carry the fairway bunker or play around it. I successfully took on the bunker leaving myself a short iron to the green and an easy par.
8th – Par 5 – 545m
This is a tough three shot par 5 with different challenges on each shot. I played my second from the left hand side of the fairway as shown in the above picture. Both Bummer and myself pulled our second shots into what I assumed was deep bush but as luck would have it both our balls ended up in a clearing about a sand wedge from the green. Lucky par.
9th – Par 4 – 300m
A fairly straight forward and relatively short hole but trouble lurks on the left. I can’t remember if it was intentional or subconsciously, but I bailed out to the right, towards the bunker, A pitch and two putts for a par rounded out the front nine.
10th – Par 5 – 500m
This is a dogleg par 5, but the dogleg doesn’t really start until after the drive. I tried to chew a little bit off the corner and ended up behind the tree on the left hand corner in the picture below – making it a true 3 shot hole.
11th – Par 4 – 390m
My good golfing mate Ben Button gave me some advice before I played this hole and it’s only fair that I relay it to you here. Ben said confidently “I walked this hole at a course superintendent’s day and it’s a [sharp] dogleg right”. Thanks heaps Ben – it’s really helpful to have a bit of knowledge prior to hitting a blind tee shot. I picked a line starting at the right set of poplars with a slight fade towards the sandy hill on the right of the picture. Smoked it!Pity the intel' was totally wrong. I’m not sure if Ben got his holes mixed up, whether he sees things differently because he’s left handed or whether it’s because he gets younger as he ages. Either way, this hole is relatively straight and the driving-line is more like at the left group of poplars. So in summary, I blame Ben's advice, not my poor play, for turning a probable birdie into a triple bogey.
12th – Par 5 – 435m
This was designated the easiest hole on the course on the day we played for stableford scoring purposes. It was on this hole that I had my first insight into what golfers on plus handicaps are faced with. I played with Kubey who was playing off +1 on this day. Basically when he stands on the tee on the easiest hole on a course in a stableford competition, he knows he has to make birdie just to get the standard 2 points. There’s an incentive not to improve beyond a certain point. Golf must suck when you’re that good. My aim is to get to scratch and if I go below then I will quit or only play stroke competitions. By the way, Kubey matched my par for 2 points with his birdie for 2.
13th – Par 4 – 350m
If this hole was on any other course I’d probably write heaps about it, but compared to the other Lost Farm holes the 13th is fairly non descript. It’s also fair to say that if I had made a birdie then I would have story to tell. I made bogey and I’ve got nothing to say.
13 a – Par 3 – 110m
The first of the optional holes. I guess I’m a bit of a purist and think that golf courses should have 18 holes but if it wasn’t here then I wouldn’t have seen one of the funniest things I’ve seen on a golf course for some time. Kubey’s club “slipped” out of his hands after playing his wedge and he had to locate it in the bushes (see picture). There’s a reason that Barnbougle has the Irish drop rule but it only applies to golf balls and not clubs. Kubey was fortunate to firstly locate his wedge and secondly to get out of the thick bush, but not until he had fallen in up to his shoulders.
14th – Par 4 – 240m
This hole is very driveable off the 2nd from the back tees. I choked down on my driver and played a little fade with the ball finishing on the top tier (pin was at the front). I two putted for an easy birdie. It’s not necessarily a gimme birdie though with trouble to the left and right up near the green.
15th – Par 3 – 160m
This par 3 (yes, another one!) is played right underneath the clubhouse windows and would make a great finishing hole. It’s downhill so this would normally mean a club or two less, but it’s into the prevailing wind so add a club or two. Subtract a club to factor in the adrenalin that is now flowing through your veins because of the crowd and add a club because your knackered from playing 15 holes (14 if you skipped 13a). Basically go back to the club you first thought of and hit that. I can’t remember what I played but it was probably a 6 iron and I two putted for a par.
16th – Par 4 – 355m
This is a gentle dogleg to the right with trouble on the right. The green also opens up if you find the left hand side of the fairway. I found the right hand side of the fairway but fatted my second shot into the bunker that is situated well short of the green. I chunked the bunker shot and failed to get up and down, resulting in a disappointing double bogey.
17th – Par 3 – 155m
Another par 3, another birdie for Patto. I managed to birdie three of the four conventional par 3’s at the Lost Farm (I made par on the two optional par 3’s). This was a nice change from my usual efforts on par 3’s which are historically my worst type of hole. My tip for this hole is to not be distracted by the trouble around the green. There is a lot of real estate on the green to aim for.
18th – Par 4 – 365m
This is a very picturesque finishing hole heading directly towards the clubhouse on the hill. I know we played this course before it was officially opened but I could not find any kind of distance marker for my second shot. I had to guess the distance based on the scorecard but ballsed it up and only just got to the front of the green with the flag at the back, leaving myself with the longest putt possible in Tasmania. I knocked it just off the back of the green with my first putt which makes me wonder if I should count it a as a hit green statistic or not?
18a – Par 3 – 105m
Enough with the short par 3’s! This is a bit of a nothing hole so much so that many of the Tassie group didn’t even bother playing it. We accidentally found a better use for this hole before we teed off the first hole when we inadvertently thought it was a practice green.
The Lost Farm clubhouse was pretty impressive and the large windows show off the views of Bass Strait. Like any place with a roof though, it’s a great place to be when the unpredictable Tasmanian weather turns nasty. These two photos were taken 20 minutes apart.
