Barnbougle Dunes course profile posted under Courses by Country

[Ran Morrissett]

Everyone likes to be a critic, as if typing something snarky makes you observant. So, I will say something mean about Barnbougle Dunes: its location. The darn course is a 15-25 hour plane ride from a large part of the golfing population. Even worse, it is really close to those folks in Melbourne who are already spoiled. The amazing thing? As much as any course with which I am familiar, it is worth that kind of journey. Try applying that statement to the Doak scale!

It was the last course that I hadn't seen in what most would consider 'the world top 50.' I had suitably high expectations - and they were shattered. What a pleasure when that happens. Surely, it's Tom's best site? Add in co-designer Mike Clayton, an ace crew led by Brian Schneider, Mike Keiser, an ideal climate for fescue, a shrewd owner, shake it all up and voilà, you have a super fun course that battles the flawless Shinnecock Hills to all-square in match-play.

Details that attempt to support this drooling are found in its course profile here:

http://golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/australia/barnbougle-dunes/




 

Though the course has yet to turn 15 years old, the land feels hallowed and ancient in the finest UK links tradition, reflective of the very fine care taken during construction to NOT screw-up the one-in-a-million landscape.


I contend that the biggest drop in quality on the Doak scale occurs between 10 and 9, more so than 8 and 7 or 6 and 5 etc. This course substantiates that and joins Royal Melbourne West as a 10 in my eyes and leaves whatever course is third in Australia well behind. "10s" engender a singular emotional attachment and pose the one question that truly says it all: how &^%$ soon can I return?

Best,

[Ronald Montesano]

Photography and prose combined, I enjoyed this profile more than any other I've read. If I never play its corridors, this tour will have given me a great taste of its essence.

[Tom_Doak]

One of the other things that I see when I look back at Barnbougle [having dug back through some of my old photos from construction on Friday] is just how young everyone was.


This was sort of by design:  all of my current associates had been on site at Cape Kidnappers for the six months previous, and only Brian Schneider and his fiancée were up for staying on the road longer, since they didn't really have a home to go back to at that point.  I don't even remember how old Brian was, I just remember thinking that I'd built High Pointe when I was 26-27, so I was confident he could make the most of the opportunity.


The other thing was, we had a shoestring budget to work with, so we really couldn't afford to bring all the experienced guys ... I would have loved to have Eric there more, but Richard pleaded poverty.  Luckily for him, there were a lot of talented people who wanted to work on one of our projects.  Kyle Franz had been an intern for us at Pacific Dunes, and he was willing to go down there and work for a bare-bones wage, so he was in.  We also drafted Nicolas Biar, a young Frenchman who had worked at Pacific Dunes and who Greg Ramsay somehow convinced to come to Tasmania on a work permit ... Nicolas was a one-man finish crew!

[/size]When I'd interviewed interns the previous winter, I mentioned that there were three places we might wind up having work for them, and in the end, I picked the three guys who said they were most intrigued by the project in Tasmania -- George, Philippe and Chad -- an adventurous crew for an adventurous course.  I only found out later that it was actually the first airplane trip Philippe had made in his life ... Montreal to Launceston!![size=78%]

[/size]Though I value experience, I am also keenly aware that the best projects I have been on are also the ones where the crew has had the most fun.  Thus, it's important to keep finding new talent for each job, for whom the current project you are working on is the coolest thing they have ever worked on in their lives, as partial compensation for the long days, low pay, etc.  Nearly everyone on that crew has gone on to work on more great projects where they personally had bigger roles, yet I think most of them would agree that Barnbougle was still the highlight of their careers.  [size=78%]
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[/size][size=78%]  [/size]

[Peter Pallotta]

Thanks much, Ran - that was my first extended look at Barnbougle Dunes, and an excellent tour it is.

I know Tom's courses for photos. Pacific looks old (i.e. "like it's been there a hundred years") and Ballyneal looks old, and Dismal looks old, and Renaissance looks old, and in the few pictures I've seen of it even Tara Iti looks old, etc. --- but to me Barnbougle looks the oldest of all.

I keep staring at the photos to see if I can understand why/how it looks that old, but I don't have any ideas yet. But it strikes me as the kind of golf course Sean Arble might stumble across, somehow more worn-down and modest than most     

[Neil White]

Photography and prose combined, I enjoyed this profile more than any other I've read. If I never play its corridors, this tour will have given me a great taste of its essence.

I'm much the same....


Particularly liked the before and after photos - maybe Tom could post some for us?


I did check out the website to see what the accommodation deals were like though.


Maybe one day.

[Kyle Henderson]

Such a great course. I think Ballyneal may still be my favorite, and there is a similarity between the shaping of these courses which is not shared by any other I have seen, but Barnbougle has a personality all its own and really isn't surpassed by any other golfing experience with which I am familiar. Golf doesn't get any better, even in Scotland.

[Ally Mcintosh]

I mentioned in a post a couple of years ago which of Tom's courses I was most interested in seeing (having only played The Renaissance Club at the time). I remember Tom answering that the ones I'd chosen were ones he'd built on the lowest budgets. Which sounded about right.

Barnbougle was top of that list.

[RJ_Daley]

I don't know that I have ever felt more 'intrepid joy' of chasing the ultimate golf experience than playing fairly well on a couple of exciting previous holes - for me - coming off of 3-4-5 to then be joined strolling after my tee ball on 6 by apparently the same family of wallabies.  To be that far from home, in what one thinks is so unlikely a place, on a golf course so pure, so exciting in every way, was a blessing of life.

[Dieter Jones]

Ran, thank you for posting this wonderful profile. I have seen this on your "next" list for many years and always wondered what you would write about the course when you finally made it all the way to Tassie.

I am fortunate to live in Tasmania and have played the course over 80 times in the past 15 or so years. What fascinated me in your profile were a couple of the insights you provided into the course which I instantly agreed to but had never put my finger on exactly myself. For example I've always admired the 10th green and its challenging tiers - but you so perfectly described how it "drips down the hill".

Other things you observed from 1 visit took me 20-30 rounds to uncover myself. To me this shows 2 things.

1) The type of detail a person like yourself (with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the study of Golf Architecture) can observe very quickly.

2) How fine a layout Barnbougle Dunes is that even after so many plays I am still discovering new things each and every time I play there.

I too found the before pictures fascinating and would love to see any more that Tom or others may have.

Regards,

Dieter

   

[Thomas Dai]

As ever a splendid write-up and photos. Very jeolous of those who have been and played BD (and LF). Looks just my kind of place (snakes apart!). Well done to all involved.


A question - could someone please give an overview of the water supply and irrigation system.


Atb

[Adam Lawrence]

I have Barnbougle down as no. 1 in my list of modern courses

[RJ_Daley]

Thomas Dai, I'm not sure about your questions on water supply.  But, with the highlands just east and southeast of Barnbougle and the weather patterns off the Tasman Sea, with lush forests and freshwater rivers coming down from those highlands, I don't think there is any problem with abundance of good water.  As for snakes, my head was on a swivel the whole time, and I think our Aussie friends do take delight in emphasising their prevalence.  But then again, this happened right down the road about 200 meters from the place we stayed the night after we left Barnbougle:

http://http://www.examiner.com.au/story/2125842/snakes-found-in-shower/

We found our cabin shower with an open window, needless to say I shut it tight! 

[Tim_Weiman]

Photography and prose combined, I enjoyed this profile more than any other I've read. If I never play its corridors, this tour will have given me a great taste of its essence.

Ron,


I came away with a similar feeling. Ran has done some great work on his course reviews, but this might be his best. The photography is really special and the writing gives a great sense of both the project and the finished course.

[Tom_Doak]

A question - could someone please give an overview of the water supply and irrigation system.

Mr. Sattler's farm is quite large and pulls water from the Great Forester River for irrigation.  I can't remember for sure whether that water is transferred to the course, or whether wells closer to the course are used.


I DO remember that when I was with Richard one evening we went up to his holding pond so he could turn off a valve, and in the near-darkness, I heard something splashing around in the pond.  When I asked him what it was, he said it was probably a platypus!  I suggested he was pulling my leg because they are so rare, but he told me they are not so rare in Tassie, just not often seen by outsiders because of where and when they are active.

[John Mayhugh]

I have Barnbougle down as no. 1 in my list of modern courses

No argument here.

[Tom_Doak]

I have Barnbougle down as no. 1 in my list of modern courses

No argument here.

That's impressive.  I assumed Adam has not been to Sand Hills or Bandon, but I know you have been.

[John Mayhugh]

I have Barnbougle down as no. 1 in my list of modern courses

No argument here.

That's impressive.  I assumed Adam has not been to Sand Hills or Bandon, but I know you have been.

I loved Barny for all of the reasons that Ran did. 

Rating it above Sand Hills really comes down to personal tastes.  I couldn't give a compelling argument for one over the other.  But they belong in the same discussion.

Have not been to New Zealand, Cabot, or King Island.  Or Alotian. 

[Adam Lawrence]

I have Barnbougle down as no. 1 in my list of modern courses

No argument here.

That's impressive.  I assumed Adam has not been to Sand Hills or Bandon, but I know you have been.

I have been to both

[David_Elvins]

Thanks for a great right up Ran.  One of my favorite courses. 

[David_Elvins]

Tom Doak


One thing I find very hard to do at Barnbougle is bounce long approach shots on to the green.  The landing spots on holes such as 1,2,6,7,11,14,15,17 are just too small for me to contemplate trying to bounce the ball onto the green, especially when taking into account the severe slopes around some of these landing spots. 


It also tends to make the course less strategic as angles of approach are less important if you are not running the ball in.








It is a contrast to the course next door where gentler and more consistent slopes at the front of greens, along with greens that do not sit up as high allow for the ground game. 


What are your thoughts on what you were trying to achieve with greens built this way, and have your thoughts changed at all over the years? 

[Tom_Doak]

It is a contrast to the course next door where gentler and more consistent slopes at the front of greens, along with greens that do not sit up as high allow for the ground game. 


What are your thoughts on what you were trying to achieve with greens built this way, and have your thoughts changed at all over the years?

David:


I would say the general difference between my work and Bill Coore's is that I like to find natural green sites that sit relatively high so I don't have to worry about drainage, whereas Bill locates his greens in lower spots and tends to build them out of fill to solve the drainage issues.  I find the majority of mine on a map first; Bill tends to find them by eye.


Most of Barnbougle's green sites [like the two you pictured, #11 and #17], sit up on natural plateaus.  They aren't "built" that way, they were that way to start with, and we just massaged the contours on the greens and the approaches enough to make them playable.


As Ran notes in his review, #11 [usually downwind] does offer a narrow ramp into the green at the left-center; Ran just didn't play the hole in the usual wind to understand how important that ramp really is.  But in general, the majority of the downwind holes [5, 8, 9, 11, 13, and 14] do let you land the ball short of the green and run on, from certain spots in the fairway ... only #6 and #10 are elevated enough to make it very difficult to run on, and #10 at least is banked strongly back to the fairway.


On the holes that play into the prevailing wind, like #17, we didn't worry as much about running approaches because we figured you would seldom play them.  Still, all of the first four holes allow you to land the ball short of the green, as do #12 and #15 [from the right] and #18.


I do think about accommodating running approach shots more now than I did 12-13 years ago ... I think you'd find that to be the case at Tara Iti.  But I still tend to find my green sites in different places than Bill does, and I like the ones I find just as much.

[Peter Pallotta]

David, Tom - thanks for your interesting question and answer.

I went back to the photos (still trying to understand why Barnbougle looks so old) and, off your exchange, thought: Ah, perhaps it's the greens -- they look like greens from a way back time when architects weren't as self-consciously concerned with making them 'strategic', at least not at first glance/play.     

Not to say the Tom's later greens (from photos) necessarily appear this way, i.e. as obviously strategic, but they sure are often described that way by golfers and reviewers, as if it is absolutely essential to be able to say even after one round that "the greens are very strategic".  On some of those old old courses I've seen, it seemed enough for the architects -- and golfers -- for the greens to be "interesting" and "challenging"....and they looked that way.

In regards to all the courses we discuss around here, I can be accused (perhaps rightly) of focusing on merely the aesthetics -- but perhaps aesthetics sometimes do reflect on and reinforce playability, i.e. the golf course as a certain kind of field of play.   
 

[Jon Cavalier]

My god, what a gorgeous looking golf course.

[RJ_Daley]

Pietro, I'm really looking forward to sharing that notion of a 'certain kind of field of play' with heavy consideration of the aesthetics of the course, at Dismal Doak.  IMO, the 'certain kind of field of play' is quite different at Barnbougle, than Dismal Doak, even though they both include certain similar construction techniques and styles of features like bunkers, green contours and surrounds, tee boxes, fw grassing patterns, etc.  But, Barnbougle is aesthetically a course where you are aware of going hole by hole with not so much peripheral view of the rest of the course beyond the hole corridor you happen to be playing at the moment.  Dismal is a kind of place where you always have a view of most of the entire rest of the layout, and because the course is a mile or so from the clubhouse that sits above the field of play in a rather rustic-majestic kind of aesthetic, you also will be influenced as to your overall sense of place.  Tasmania and Mullen are two different places and aesthetics, yet both yield a playing quality that is uniquely superb and in my view, the pinnacle of golf design. 

But once you see it, you will undoubtedly be able to describe its unique qualities and aesthetics, far more than my own weak attempts of summoning words that reflect the experience. 

[Matthew Mollica]

My god, what a gorgeous looking golf course.

Jon, as good as the photos are, the course is even better in person.

Please let me know if you're ever coming down to Australia! You simply must see some of our courses!

Matt