next »

[Jimmy Muratt]

Below is a caption and a few pics from Ben Crenshaw's website on the new Coore/Crenshaw project at Barnbougle:

"Work began in October on Coore & Crenshaw's first overseas project since Indonesia in 1995.  C&C associates Dave Axland and Keith Rhebb are on the site on The Lost Farm at Barnbougle; Tasmania, Australia."

Hole 14

[Chip Gaskins]

That looks like terrible land for a golf course, oh my!

[PFerlicca]

That last picture almost looks like a hole was already there.  I'm sure Bill Coore is enjoying this site.

[Michael Dugger]

This course is not going to suck!!!  What land!

[Mike Nuzzo]

How f'ing cool.
That rolling fairway is f'ing stunning...

Who ever said Bill couldn't use technology well. 

[Tom Huckaby]

Question for you in the business:

I look at those pics and after marvelling at how cool the holes will likely be there...I say to myself "shit even I could build golf holes there."

I am selling you guys way way way short with this, I'm sure...

But is the real skill here (like the way it was at Sand Hills, or so it is said) indeed picking the right 18 great spots for golf holes, and making it all work together?

Just a stupid question from a neophyte.. but this does seem to be a great example with which to clear this up in my mind...

TH

[ed_getka]

One thing that can be problematic down there is the wind. Finding holes that will work with the wind velocity they can get there has to be tricky. The land is fabulous from what I have heard.

[Michael Dugger]

But is the real skill here (like the way it was at Sand Hills, or so it is said) indeed picking the right 18 great spots for golf holes, and making it all work together?
TH

You really just figure that out?  C'mon Huck, you've got an image to uphold!!!

[Tom Huckaby]

But is the real skill here (like the way it was at Sand Hills, or so it is said) indeed picking the right 18 great spots for golf holes, and making it all work together?
TH

You really just figure that out?  C'mon Huck, you've got an image to uphold!!!

Hell Michael, even asking a question like this is likely to improve my image.
 

And of course I didn't just figure this out... I guess my question is more is this ALL that is involved at a site like this?  What ELSE goes into making golf courses out of fantastic sites like this?  See to me it's always seemed oversimplified to say what they said about Sand Hills....

TH

[Greg Chambers]

they should just mow that grass down to fairway height and call it good

[Michael Dugger]

But is the real skill here (like the way it was at Sand Hills, or so it is said) indeed picking the right 18 great spots for golf holes, and making it all work together?
TH

You really just figure that out?  C'mon Huck, you've got an image to uphold!!!

Hell Michael, even asking a question like this is likely to improve my image.
 

And of course I didn't just figure this out... I guess my question is more is this ALL that is involved at a site like this?  What ELSE goes into making golf courses out of fantastic sites like this?  See to me it's always seemed oversimplified to say what they said about Sand Hills....

TH

Huck,

Shoot, I'm sure not every hole is just sitting right there.  Surely a little manipulation will need performed. 

[Tom Huckaby]

Yeah, I get that a little manipulation will be necessary... but come on man, this is a foray into GOLF COURSE ARCHITECTURE for me... a subject I rarely venture into in this forum... humor me, man. 

Seriously, I am genuinely interested in all that goes into making a course out of a fantastic site like this.  It can't be as easy as my simple mind is imagining.  Ed's post about wind helps - you'd definitely have to make that work.  What else must one do?

TH

[Michael Dugger]

Ye must give that Lost Farm a soul, Mr. Huckaby!  From the drive into the property, to the vantage point from the clubhouse, from the practice facility experience to the feel of the first tee shot.  There will be a symphony that unfolds over the course of the 18 holes.  Highs and lows, excitement, challenge and respite.

I'm thankful Mr. Coore is heading up this composition.

[Tom Huckaby]

Ye must give that Lost Farm a soul, Mr. Huckaby!  From the drive into the property, to the vantage point from the clubhouse, from the practice facility experience to the feel of the first tee shot.  There will be a symphony that unfolds over the course of the 18 holes.  Highs and lows, excitement, challenge and respite.

I'm thankful Mr. Coore is heading up this composition.

EXCELLENT!
That is what I am after... and what an idiot like me could certainly never do.  Give it a soul... very very well said.

Coore and his co-hort have sure succeeded in that in spades at other places... it's a safe bet they will here as well, I'm sure.

TH

[Mike Nuzzo]

Tom,
You have to know where to stand to take that picture.
Anyone can click the camera.

[Tom Huckaby]

Tom,
You have to know where to stand to take that picture.
Anyone can click the camera.

Mike, that's phrased damn well also.  Thanks.

[Jim Nugent]

Is Crenshaw working on this course?  I read before that he was not. 

[Mike Nuzzo]

How would you communicate making a golf hole with the tee at the stake?
(Assuming all the equipment, materials, labor and routing are in place)

Even if you see a pretty hole in your head, how do you get it out?

[Tom Huckaby]

How would you communicate making a golf hole with the tee at the stake?
(Assuming all the equipment, materials, labor and routing are in place)

Even if you see a pretty hole in your head, how do you get it out?

That's the question, and hopefully that's why you and the guys you work with make the big bucks.   

[George Pazin]

Thanks for sharing.

Somebody up there must like me.

 

[Philippe Binette]

if it the same site that i visited a few years ago, it is much more severe than barnbougle first course...

should lead to some real dramatic shots...

The top Pub in Bridport  will be busy again

[Mike Nuzzo]

Tom,

Did you ever see the guys from Saturday Night Live doing Beyonce's put a ring on it dance....
And all they did was try to copy her.

Cheers

[Chris Kane]

Is Crenshaw working on this course?  I read before that he was not. 

Originally he wasn't, it was to be a Bill Coore course - Crenshaw couldn't be bothered travelling.  Now apparently he's changed his mind - perhaps he doesn't want to miss out on the glory if something really special is built!

[Jim Nugent]

And my next question.  Can Keiser build more courses at Barnbougle?  Potential for another Bandon? 

[George Pazin]

And my next question.  Can Keiser build more courses at Barnbougle?  Potential for another Bandon? 

Fwiw, Mike K is not the primary partner in the Barnbougle development, at least not in my limited understanding. I believe the gentleman who owns the farm that the courses are located upon is the majority owner; unfortunately his name escapes me at the moment - I think it's Richard Sattler, but quote me on that - I'll have to look it up.

[Pat Craig]

That looks amazing.

Jim,

I think your point of this being a "second" Bandon is a good one. If there are 4 courses built there, coupled with Melborne being so close, would make this a prime destination for American Golfers. (Check out Barnbougle's website and the cabins you stay in, how neat!)

I hope the course is completed within the next two years before my planned NZ, Aus, Taz golf trip.

[TEPaul]

Would you just look at that last photograph?!?!

What the Hell!!!!

That looks to me like Tasmania's Mother Nature must be some kinda Rees or TomF 1980s and 1990s "containment mounding" fan on steriods!!   


BILL, if you see this thread call me immediately because we gotta talk some really cool alternative concept for that landform than what it at first appears to call for. Off the top of my head I'd say go for a long and massive natural sand waste area along most of the middle of that flat portion and let's talk about some really wild "Kicker" fairway area on both of those slopes on either side with a bit of winding flattish fairway strips on either side of the big massive flat sand waste area in the middle.

I'm talking some really distinct and wild tee shot options and alternate strategies here Bill. Now don't you dare miss a unique opportunity like that natural landform and do something dumb like basically put fairway in the middle.

Have they got any kind of like felcro-type indigenous fairway grass down there in Tasmania Bill? Just imagine the incredible lies one could get if they had to actually play the ball off of fairway area on those banks. One heroic strategic option could be to pull-hook or push-slice the ball off of one bank over to the other side and ricochet the ball right on to the green. That landform offers a totally unique conceptual opportunity in its basic natural form so do not blow this hole, Bill.

Do you guys realize that both Ben and Bill claim they don't even know how to turn on a computer and don't ever want to learn? Under the circumstances that might be considered to be a very good thing! 

 

[Josh Smith]

Bill C. just accepted my friend request on Facebook.

[Tom_Doak]

Tom P:  I hate to object, but a long and natural sand waste area in that latitude would quickly devour the whole northeast corner of Tasmania.  It is Windy there.

Tom H:  I guarantee you, it is not as simple as just mowing out the grass that is already there.  Part of it is putting the puzzle pieces together correctly, and part is the strategizing of the golf holes, but a big part of it in Tasmania is just wrestling with Nature to get the holes built.  Did I mention it was Windy there?

Incidentally, I saw Mike Keiser in Bandon this week on his way back from Tasmania ... he is the only person out there who is comparing the two new courses, and he finds it a point of humor that one is called "Old Macdonald" and the other is "The Lost Farm".

[Jonathan Cummings]

One thing that can be problematic down there is the wind. Finding holes that will work with the wind velocity they can get there has to be tricky. The land is fabulous from what I have heard.

Not true.

This is seaside linksland with the majority of the natural dunes parallelling the nearby shoreline.  The holes will mostly fit inside these dunes which means they too will mostly parallel the shore.  Barnbougle is much like this.

Tom D can correct me but I don't believe a lot of adjustment to the new holes will be attempted due to wind issues.

JC

[Ash Towe]

The new course is going to make Barnbougle a golf destination, especially when it is combined with Mike Clayton's development at Musselroe Bay which I believe is just up the coast.

[ed_getka]

Jonathan,
   I have only been to Barnbougle once and we had some pretty severe weather, but I don't believe for a second that the wind isn't an issue in laying out a golf course on that property.

[Tom_Doak]

Jonathan,

The new property is different ... part of it is a big valley (the Lost Farm itself) without dunes running both sides as tightly as most of the first course has.  So, I think they might have a couple more crosswind holes than we did.

The strip of dunes for the first course was so narrow that it was pretty much impossible to get holes playing north and south.

[Garland Bayley]

It's good to see those guys posed in front of the future skyline green to beat all skyline greens!

[Charlie Goerges]

More like a spaceline green