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David Sneddon

  • Karma: +0/-0
Barnbougle
« on: April 21, 2005, 05:37:59 AM »
A friend of mine in Australia, Colin Wilson, recently played Barnbougle Dunes.  He has created a site to commemorate his round with some spectacular pics.

Well worth a visit since the site is done from his (the players) perspective, along with hole charts and scorecard.

It's enough to make one check for deals on Quantas.

http://publishing.kyneton.net.au/barnbougle/
Give my love to Mary and bury me in Dornoch

Mark_Guiniven

Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2005, 07:10:52 AM »
Now that's what I call dedication!



Love it.

James Edwards

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2005, 07:39:32 AM »
I cant believe what I have just seen - incredible dedication!
@EDI__ADI

Jeff_Mingay

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2005, 09:12:28 AM »
Who did the hole sketches? They're very well done.

I'm guessing Don Placek, from Doak's office.
jeffmingay.com

Mark_Guiniven

Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #4 on: April 21, 2005, 09:21:52 AM »
I think it says Michael Cocking 2004, Jeff, which would be one of the young guys from Mike Clayton's office.

Jeff_Mingay

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #5 on: April 21, 2005, 09:30:19 AM »
Ah, thanks Mark. I really like those sketches!
jeffmingay.com

Scott Witter

Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #6 on: April 21, 2005, 09:47:59 AM »
David:

Colin is certainly a GOOD friend! and dedication is putting it mildly.  The setup with his description of play combined with the drawings and the photos is "to die for".

I'm afraid I will have to keep dreaming about my day in the sun at Barnbougle a while longer, but this site certainly makes my dreams a bit more realistic!

Tom and Mike:  your combined talents are to be highly commended.  It is always a challenge to be wise enough to say when and to know when to leave well enough alone in great golf course design and you have most definitely accomplished this at Barnbougle Dunes.

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #7 on: April 21, 2005, 10:34:17 AM »
Wow, that is beyond dedication. Greg should have had Colin helping him on the initial sale! :)

I call dibs on the 3rd bungalow from the left.
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Mike Nuzzo

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #8 on: April 21, 2005, 02:33:48 PM »
I'm guessing he brought his laptop and created the site inbetween photos, scoring and hitting a shot.

I would way rather read his account than the standard head pros boring description on how you should play a hole.  And it would establish a bogey or more realistic goal for the visitor.

That is great.

Jeff - some of Cocking's sketches are in Daley's Hole Design book.

Cheers
Thinking of Bob, Rihc, Bill, George, Neil, Dr. Childs, & Tiger.

David Sneddon

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #9 on: April 21, 2005, 05:13:25 PM »
David:

Colin is certainly a GOOD friend! and dedication is putting it mildly.  The setup with his description of play combined with the drawings and the photos is "to die for".

I'm afraid I will have to keep dreaming about my day in the sun at Barnbougle a while longer, but this site certainly makes my dreams a bit more realistic!

Tom and Mike:  your combined talents are to be highly commended.  It is always a challenge to be wise enough to say when and to know when to leave well enough alone in great golf course design and you have most definitely accomplished this at Barnbougle Dunes.

You can bet the farm that should I ever travel to Oz that I'll be looking Colin up and we would be taking a trip over to Barnbougle.

It's an outstanding course, and Colin's pics and narrative gave me an ever better realization of how outstanding it really is from a players perspective.
Give my love to Mary and bury me in Dornoch

David Sneddon

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #10 on: April 21, 2005, 05:17:32 PM »
Mike:

Colin is handy with a computer, but I don't think his skills run to creating a site and playing golf  at the same time.   ;)

It's one of the best interpretations of a course design I've seen, and as you say, far superior to the usual claptrap from the 'pro'.

Maybe Tom will ask him to do a similar job with the St Andrews development .....................  :) :) :)
Give my love to Mary and bury me in Dornoch

danielfaleman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #11 on: April 21, 2005, 05:25:19 PM »
Beautiful. Doak's living the good life.

Scott Witter

Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #12 on: April 21, 2005, 06:47:52 PM »
Daniel:

Yes, on all accounts it does appear to be beautiful...someday I will witness it and confirm this conviction.

"Doak is living the good life"  Perhaps he is, but I firmly believe he has earned it.  I met Tom many years ago before he wrote or said anything that anyone wanted to read seriuosly or really listen to and before he was "famous" and I have met him a few times since then and IMHO he has essentially remained true to his beliefs, origins, philosophies (though they may have been shaped/massaged somewhat over the years and for the better I might add) and from the design and work ethic standpoint he has been consistent.

Living the good life, well, this can have a different interpretation looking from many points of view in many ways depending on who you ask.  But, until you have lived it from the ground up as I believe Tom has and along with many others, living the good life has probably come with many sacrifices and it may actually be a bit of a new, or fairly recent experience within the last few years, but one that is quite welcomed and deserved I'm sure.


Colin Wilson

Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #13 on: April 21, 2005, 07:06:47 PM »
Hi, thanks for your comments about my web effort. I had a spare day or two to put it together. :)

The photos are really just "snaps" with a 5mpx Olympus C-50, although I have taken a few photos in my time and have a reasonable eye for composition. They didn't take long to accumulate as I went round. I put the camera case on my belt so I could just whip it out. Fortunately I played alone, so I had time to take them anyway. The player's guide also has seven "notes" pages at the back, obviously for a reason!

I wanted to really think my way around the course and remember what I'd played, rather than just hit and walk, so taking the photos at the same time actually helped. Fortunately it was a Tuesday, so it was fairly quiet.

I loved playing Barnbougle. I've played most of the sandbelt courses in Melbourne (apart from RM), and I liked Barnbougle better than all of them. It was probably the range of options off the tee and the variety of shots in. In a lot of sandbelt courses, you are still over-tempted to just take driver off most tees, as you need the length. Apart from holes like the 8th and 9th at Barnbougle, and off the "terracotta" tees, length for me was not so much an issue. It was more accuracy and placement, and I liked that. Maybe the calm weather also had a lot to do with it. Also, a lot of pins were towards the front on the day.

The fescue fairways were also something different from the usual Melbourne couch, and I found them just as good.
 
Regarding the hole diagrams, I hope they don't mind me using them all. I casually asked whether I could use one or two to show the course to friends, maybe they didn't expect me reproducing the whole book. I thought with drawing red lines all over them they wouldn't really be useable anyway. It will probably encourage more people to buy the guide. :)

I hope Barnbougle makes it long-term as a financial proposition. It is too good a course to not do so.

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +2/-1
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #14 on: April 21, 2005, 08:59:47 PM »
Colin:

I enjoyed your tour of the course, in part because your golf seems remarkably similar to my own game.  I wouldn't have related as well to an account of Geoff Ogilvy's round.

Hopefully the course will forgive your use of the diagrams from the yardage book ... you can contact Mike Clayton to gain definitive permission, but I'm sure Michael Cocking won't mind gaining a wider audience.

George P:

If Colin had been able to do that BEFORE we built the course, he'd be a much better architect than I am ... it took me a lot of trips to get it figured out.

Philippe Binette

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #15 on: April 21, 2005, 09:31:12 PM »
Great photos...

Better than the tour of the course while it was all sand that I took myself.

For those who haven't been there, don't forget the photo effect:

1) as good as they are, you don't get the real scale of the place....

2) you have to multiply by 2 the elevation changes, the pics makes the course flatter than it really is....

That will help you dream...

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #16 on: April 21, 2005, 11:40:54 PM »
If Colin had been able to do that BEFORE we built the course, he'd be a much better architect than I am ... it took me a lot of trips to get it figured out.

I was referring more to the effort than the specifics.

Guess that plan to minimize photographs getting out isn't really working out too well. It's probably better for the course in the long run to get the word out. You certainly can't blame anyone for wanting to share their experiences, as they all sound pretty enthused thus far.

Can't wait to get there, just need to finishing constructing my teleporter. Should be any day now.

 :)
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Brian Walshe

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #17 on: April 22, 2005, 01:10:32 AM »
George,

They were keen to limit photos getting out until after it opened.  Now it is open I think you'd find Greg and Richard are more than happy to have as many photos out there as possible.

It is an incredibly beautiful place, so much so that as good as any photo is it doesn't do it justice.  One thing I love about Barnbougle is taking people there for the first time and making sure you are first off the 4th green and waiting to see their expressions as they crest the little hill on the way to the 5th tee.  That alone makes the trip worthwhile.

Brian

Philippe Binette

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Barnbougle
« Reply #18 on: April 22, 2005, 09:18:24 AM »
You re right about that Brian, the short walk from the 4th green to the 5th tee might be one of the greatest in golf...