I just got back from Australia. It was a wonderful family trip with some golf mixed in. I played Barnbougle Dunes, Kingston Heath, Royal Melbourne West, Woodlands, nine holes at Newcastle with Phillip Gawith (long story to follow in a future thread) and New South Wales.
Most of these courses have been thoroughly discussed and extensive pictures have been posted. I thought I would comment on impressions I had that either were surprises or impressions I do not recall being discussed extensively. I enjoyed each course very much, so any critical comments should be taken within that context.
Phillip covered much of the same ground I did and will be able to provide more information when he returns from New Zealand.
With respect to Barnbougle, I played it on an extremely windy day - 30-40 knots, which they told me in the clubhouse was 50-60 miles per hour. My understanding is that such a wind happens often. I suggest that anyone travelling to Barnbougle plan on multiple days in hopes of experiencing differing wind conditions.
From photographs, I was concerned that the course would be overly tight. It is not. The most photographed holes are in the larger dunes on the course (3-7) and their short length allows for some narrowness to be reasonable. The remainder of the course has very wide fairways.
You fight the wind on the first four holes and then reach a wonderful respite in this shack before walking along the coast to the 5th:
Generally, I thought the Australian holes I played had an inverse length/quality ratio. The best holes were par threes or short par fours. Par fives were less unique and memorable. That impression was particularly true at Barnbougle.
The 5th is a terrific downwind 200 meter par three with a safe shot left punished by a difficult chip downhill and over a tier, while the more intimidating line to the right allows one to approach the hole up the slope:
The 7th was one of the best of the trip. From 98 meters I played a 6 iron the first time and a 4 iron the second:
Similarly, the 13th was a terrific mid length par three with a stillwell park imspired green and I enjoyed the 16th with a dune blocking the wind off the sea, making it difficult to judge where to hit your tee shot.
The green contours were superb. I found nearly every putt to have an interesting slope while not detracting into a mickey mouse type challenge. Because of the wind, some putts broke uphill slightly. Below is an example of the green contours - the sideways horseshoe 4th green. Not only is the green interesting to putt, its contours add to the decision mix off the tee. The hole is under 300 yards and in light or moderate winds would provide many strategic options. The green shows the advantage of staying right off the tee to a back pin, which leaves either a blind shot short of a huge bunker or a putt if one carries the bunker:
Because of the wind, the short par fours (4 and 12) were full drivers and 4 irons for me. Not much thinking was required in those conditions.
In all I thought the course was outstanding. I will be interested to see where it moves in rankings. I believe Golf Magazine had it 41st in the world. I do not have enough experience with top courses to determine the accuracy of that view but it is certainly a wonderful course in a great setting. Others have covered the strengths of the course.
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=18329;start=msg325301#msg325301http://www.golfclubatlas.com/barnbouglemm.htmlI would definitely recommend that anyone travelling to Australia make the effort to play Barnbougle. Despite this few, I have a few humble criticisms:
I thought the par fives were the weakest part of the course. The first is a wide open hole with a bunker about 100 yards short and from the preferred right side for an approach. A straightforward and appropriate opening hole, particularly because I do not recall seeing a practice range.
The eleventh is the best of the bunch with a mid-fairway bunker protecting the tee shot and a great sharp slope protecting the left edge of the green.
The fourteenth was a pretty wide open hole. There were a series of bunkers guarding the right side of the fairway at an angle similar to those crossing the fairway at Bethpage Black. The problem with the bunkers was that I saw almost no advantage to aggressiveness with the bunkers. The green was accessible from the left side of the wide fairway and there was no distance advantage to going right.
One other feature of the course I felt did not work well was the split fairway 8th. The hole features a more narrow (and higher) left side and a wider right side and is 446 meters downwind from the back tee and 417 meters from the next set up. I tried both fairways and could see little or no reward in going left. The second shot seemed at a worse angle and needed to carry a significant amount of broken ground to get to the green.