Barnbougle Composite

[Ruediger Meyer]

I've got a mail today from Barnbougle stating that they run a tournament from July 21st to July 24th where they will unveil a composite course for competing players. To quote directly from the mail

This year Barnbougle will be hosting an inaugural Barnbougle British Open (BBO) Tournament. The BBO will run over The Open weekend and includes, for the first time, access to a Barnbougle Composite Course.

Does anyone have an idea which holes they will/should use for it? I'd assume the routing would only cross the Forester River once, maybe twice since they probably have to use a boat for it, right?

[Tom_Doak]

I got the same email you did, which is the first I've heard of it.  But, trying to encourage Australians to head south in mid-winter is not easy!

I have to assume they'll use the front nine of Lost Farm together for the starting and finishing holes, and the back nine of Barnbougle for the middle section.  (They'll have a nice halfway house that way.)  I think they were working on a bridge between the two properties, that would cross over somewhere behind #15 tee at Barnbougle to behind #5 green at Lost Farm; if it's complete, they'll probably use that, rather than a boat.

When we built Barnbougle I had my eye on the green site for #4 at Lost Farm, as a tee for #17 at Barnbougle, if I could have got over there.  It would have been a par-5 from there, more like 18 at Pebble Beach (mirror image).

[James Bennett]

Tom

you needed MacKenzie's CPC 18 bridge - but not quite as elaborate.

James B

[Jim Nugent]

Won't surprise me if Streamsong does something similar at some point.   

[Ruediger Meyer]

When we built Barnbougle I had my eye on the green site for #4 at Lost Farm, as a tee for #17 at Barnbougle, if I could have got over there.  It would have been a par-5 from there, more like 18 at Pebble Beach (mirror image).

I think it would be great if they'd use something like this for the composite. Tee off at one course and hit it over the river on the other one. Maybe starting at your elevated 16th tee of Barnbougle...

[RJ_Daley]

Any idea who would be invited to play in that tournament?  Is it a general open to all, flighted, and sponsored?  

Does Bandon Resorts do anything similar in off season with a similar hurdle of low seasonal weather interest, along with remoteness?  Surely, BB/LF is milder on average in off season than many miserable days on OR coast...or not?  It seems flights to Launceston to then rent-drive to BB/LF may be even cheaper for many Aussies than the flight-drive trek to Bandon for US destinations.

 I didn't see any bridge spanning BB and LF.  But, I may have missed the Goldengate in my awestruck focus on the golf holes!  

[Terry Thornton]

RJ,

It's open to everyone. I believe it is a 3 round event, one on each + composite.

I've only been there once in winter and would highly recommend it. Spoke with a group from Melbourne who were on their 6th winter visit, they had struck poor weather only once.

So few players the lack of daylight hours is no hinderance to getting 36 holes in even though there was frost til about 9am both days we were there. I'm hoping to get there late June this year

[Tom_Doak]

The conditions for winter golf at Barnbougle are actually pretty good -- a little warmer than Bandon in the winter.

The difference is relativity.  Bandon gets a lot of winter play, because the weather there is better for golf than in Portland or Seattle (which are too wet), or for a lot of other places that are under snow.  Barnbougle may be nicer than that, but it's still likely to be the coldest place in Australia on any given day in winter, so fewer people make the trip.

[AJ_Foote]

Bumping this thread as the Barnbougle British Open is almost upon us.

I'm heading down with two groups of four. Any other GCAers attending?

Forecast is looking magnificent - around 14 degrees (mid 50s for the Americans) with very little chance of any rain.

Club has been tight-lipped on the composite routing - all will be revealed on the day.

Andrew

[Pete_Pittock]

The conditions for winter golf at Barnbougle are actually pretty good -- a little warmer than Bandon in the winter.

The difference is relativity.  Bandon gets a lot of winter play, because the weather there is better for golf than in Portland or Seattle (which are too wet), or for a lot of other places that are under snow.  Barnbougle may be nicer than that, but it's still likely to be the coldest place in Australia on any given day in winter, so fewer people make the trip.

I don't think the weather is any better in Bandon than it is in Portland or Seattle. But it is certainly less muddy.

[Mike_Clayton]

Andrew

 I'll be there by lunchtime Friday - after 90 holes in Adelaide (Glenelg,Grange E and W RA and Kooyonga) with Lloyd Cole on Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday. Looks like 10 rounds in a week.
 Madness.

[Pete Lavallee]

Do they still have the big group from Melbourne occupying the course over Open weekend? We weren't able to play that Sat. when we were there and had to do wine tasting instead; no problem there. We were frosted on Fri morning, had hopes of getting 36 in but were unable to tee off until around 9:00. The day ended beautifully warm and sunny! Fabulous Resort with great golf, food, wine and staff!