Tim Weiman,
We'd all certainly welcome you back anytime. I'll stock up on sunscreen, and, more importantly, INSECT REPELLANT, right now. And save that bit of two-by-four my mother left lying around for those humongous huntsman.
, although you will have to use it, as I don't get within 20 feet of spiders, unless by accident.
Hopefully I can trudge around a little of Ireland with you before then, though?
Jason,
I have no idea where you are from, but in Aus, there was a very brief preview article of the Gunnamatta course in Golf Australia this month, but it was a pretty insipid little piece of work.
I'm working on some black and white photographs of the course at the moment, along with the odd colour one, and will, hopefully, have them (the B&W, that is) finished in the next week or so. Colour won't be ready for several months at least.
Depending on whether the club want me to or not, I'll post them up here. I think they are going to turn out really cool, as the nature of the course at the moment particularly suits the B&W medium, with the bunker shapes, and the areas that are being prepped with native grasses. Not to mention some dramatic lighting and clouds. The red filter sure got a good workout...
After a pretty horrid winter, and the sporadic threat of a miserable summer, the weather has, as is traditional for the start of the Australian Open tennis, turned hot, and has been for the last couple of weeks, although December also wasn't too bad.
As a result, the fairways, after a decent dose of chicken poo, have gone berserk, and are now in pretty good shape, with several of them excellent. A few more weeks like this should see them all in pretty good nick, I would think. I last saw them a week and a half ago, but it could have changed even since then, such is the magical power of digested chicken feed combined with warm weather.
As to the rankings, that will be a very amusing episode, I imagine. All the mags here have fudged over where Barnbougle may rank, and I think the Gunnamatta course, which is spectacular but also very subtle, will "confuse" a lot of them, especially as it will take a couple of years for all the native grasses that are being planted to grow in.
I'm biased, of course, but I think it's easily the third best course in Australia. I noticed that someone posted Golf magazine's last rankings here a few posts back. Birkdale and Carnoustie were in the 20s, if memory serves. The Gunnamatta course is so much better than those it isn't funny. (And I am a confirmed Carnoustie lover).
More importantly, as Tim Weiman intimated, it is terrific FUN.