That feature is the essence of the hole, and at least on site seems eminently natural, and free from any hand of man.
Spot on, MM. It fits in very well, quite a feat considering the flattish basin it sits in the middle of.
Mark,
Thanks for putting in the time to provide such a comprehensive tour. Looks like the wife will be wine tasting in Tassie again very soon; should she bring any sisters?
The more the merrier, Pete, the more the merrier. I'll get to work on my cellar immediately.
Sorry if this has been asked already, but how firm/fast is it playing at this point in time?
It's in pretty good nick for such a young course. The difference in the greens between now and Matthew Mollica's pictorial in April, is astounding.
It doesn't play very fast, however, when the wind is blowing into you.
Thanks Mark
How does the general width compare across both courses ?
No worries, Kevin.
In general, Lost Farm is very much wider than BB Dunes, but there are quite a few exceptions. It's interesting the way the two different architects have used width and deception. On BB Dunes, there are a few blind drives where you can't see either the fairway or the green (3, 9,11) a few blind but wide landing areas (4,5,9,11,18), and a few narrow but visible ridges to hit to (8, 12, 15) Lost Farm, on the other hand, generally appears extremely wide from the tee - and it is, mostly - but can play much narrower.
The first hole, for example has a extremely wide fairway, yet with the bunkering design, angle off the tee and the prevailing wind straight into you from the same angle, there is a little less room there than thought.
On 5, it is a very wide fairway - once you are over the spine that runs diagonally from the bunkered dune away from you. If the wind or your shot control are against you, you will catch the wrong side of it.
7 has an enormously wide fairway - yet the grassy knoll smack in the middle, along with the bunkering design, means there is much, much less width to play to, unless you lay up behind the knoll. Here is the 7th fairway from the 6th tee.
9 contrasts quite nicely with the other holes in appearing a little tighter from the tee - if you choose the upper road, it is narrower, but the left side tilts a little toward the scrub on the left, as well as having some lovely rolls in the fairway that could sling an unthinking shot wide of the mark, too.
At Lost Farm, too, the drives where you can't see the green from the tee ( 8, 10, 12, 13) you can see the massive landing areas, unlike their counterparts at BB Dunes.