My photos from Barnbougle

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

These were taken in late November, before the course "officially" opened, but I am just getting around to posting them.


The First


The great short par four fourth hole


The par three fifth hole


The beguiling seventh a short par three


The long and tough eighth hole


The 10th


The par three 13th, from the side, with its glorious green


From behind the back tee on the par four 17th


Looking back from behind the closing hole

[Donnie Beck]

kewl

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Donnie,
There is a hockey company by the same name here in Canada, so you must be on the right path!

Best,
Ben

[Sean_A]

Ben

Jeepers!  

Ciao

Sean

[ed_getka]

Ben,
  Thanks for posting the pix. Its on the list for 2006.

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Australia should really be on everyone's list, especially for you guys on the west coast. It has to be easier to get to Melbourne than to Edinburgh and Barnbougle is surely as easy as Dornoch...

It is a lovely area of the world and by 2006 you might even have a second course to play - ha!

[ed_getka]

Ben,
   What else did you see on your trip?

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Ed,
I saw Hope Island, New South Wales, National Moonah, St. Andrew's Beach, Moonah Links, Kingston Heath, Royal Melbourne, Wairakei and Cape Kidnappers, as well as a course in Fiji called Denarau.

You can see some of my photos of Hope Island, National Moonah, Wairakei and New South Wales in Ran's features.

[A_Clay_Man]

That picture of the 17th reminds me of another penultimate hole. Sans trees.

Looks like the course has always been there.

The beguiling 7th hole picture, at first glance reminded me of the berm in Lubbock.

Kudos to the boys.

[Matt_Ward]

Ben:

Congrats on the pictures -- a few questions ...

How long do each of the holes you posted play? I'm especially interested in the short par-4 4th and the 8th and 17th holes.

From your time at Barnbougle did you see the holes playing different from the different tee markers besides the varying length amounts? In simple terms -- was the angle of attack that much different from one tee box to the next?

For example -- what is the carry distance from the tip tees over the fairway bunker on the right side of #4?

Ditto the bunker complex on the right side of #17 to carry?

Last question -- how would you compare Cape Kidnappers from Barnbougle to Pac Dunes. I look forward to your answers.

Thanks ...

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Dear Matt,
I do not have a scorecard handy, but the fourth is very driveable with quite a bit of room over the bunker and short of the green.

Eight requires the golfer to drive to an upper (left) fairway for the the direct route and flatter lie, while the lower right fairway faces humps and bumps and the longer route. The photo is from the upper left portion, showing what would be a slightly blind shot from a shorter drive.

I am sure those who know the yardages might chip in with the carry distances.

Compared to PD and CK, Barnbougle is rather different. The dunes on the front side are far more dramatic than I had anticipated. However Barnbougle does not have the awe-inspiring views that the fourth at Pacific or the cliffside holes at Kidnappers do. Its land is far better than Kidnappers for golf and the walk is more welcoming. The three are quite different, with Barnbougle and CK drawing on different elements of Pac Dunes. Perhaps what separates Barnbougle for me is the land, which just seems perfect for golf. Here is a picture of the approach to 18, which sums that up.

[Sean Leary]

This may be a dumb question but is the land actual links land, or is it just sandy dunes like Pac Dunes.  

[Philippe Binette]

Those pictures nearly makes me wanna cry...

Having worked there for two months, the composition of Barnbougle is simple.
100% pure sand dunes covered by marram grass imported for their stabilization. This grass is about 1 1/2 - 2 feet high and you can't swing a club throught it, that if you have found your ball. (That's why the fairways are wide)

On a few low spots, like between 14th and 15th and the 2nd and 3rd fairway, you could see (before construction) the form land... which is covered by something that could be mown as fairway but it is normally a bit soggy.

Note: It's not really a tsunami safe design...

[Chris Kane]

Matt Ward, I played there again on Sunday, and have a yardage book and scorecard in front of me now.

4.  271m (298) from the Forrester tees (you'd call them the tips), into the prevailing wind.  Carry over the bunker is 215m (236).  Ben, you must be a HUGE hitter - into the prevailing wind its not even close to driveable.

8.  446m (490), prevailing wind at your back.

17. 400m (440), straight into a gale.  Carry over the bunker complex on the right, as well as the scrub past it, is 296m (326).  I hit driver, 3 iron then a full wedge into this hole.  For references sake, I average 240m (265) with the driver.

The wind is what makes Barnbougle.  Sunday was frightening -  could only be described as a gale.  My 6 iron second shot into the 475m (522) 11th finished on the back of the green, while on the 12th, a great little par four of 254m (279), I failed to reach the fairway with my driver, and had to blast a 6 iron from the light rough which finished short of the green!  Then on 13, the 188m (206) Sitwell Park hole, my 3/4 8 iron finished pin high!  Wonderful fun.

The wind blows in one direction most of the time.  I doubt there will be too many occasions when 4 and 12 are reachable.  

They appear to have cleared quite a bit of the marram rough, which took so many balls the first time I played there.  Its still intimidating from the tee, but you'll find your ball more often.  What they need to do is shorten the carries to the fairway on the headwind holes, which are close to unplayable from the back tees in strong wind.

[Tim_Weiman]

Matt Ward asked about the length of Barnbougle's 4th, 8th and 17th holes.

Re #4 - There are sufficient tees so that the hole will achieve what Geoff Shackelford calls "temptation" for 99, if not 100 percent of the people playing the course.

You CAN read that to mean there is a big reward for successfully going for the green and potentially a big penalty for failing to pull it off.

When I say the hole achieves "temptation", this doesn't mean I'd recommend against good judgment; the layup will often be the wise choice, I would imagine.

Re #8 - Into the wind, the hole is simply a par 5 for 98 percent or more of the people playing it. The question is where one lays up.

Downwind the hole still has enough length that the golfer who reaches this par 4 in two shots will feel pretty heroic and truly enjoy himself......especially if he has just screwed up the Little Devil #7.

Re# 17 - Not sure how long this hole is as I only played it downwind, but even then the key thing is the green.....quite tricky, it seemed, it several places. My group (playing as a fivesome) hit five really good approaches to a front right pin. I doubt any putt was longer than 15-20 feet and we went 0-5 on our birdie attempts.

Bottom line: throw out the scorecard. Barnbougle appears to have many holes that will play quite different depending on wind direction....and intensity. It's links golf.

[Chris Kane]

Tim, you played on one of the rare occasions when the wind blows the "other" way.  It would be a very different golf course with that setup!

[Tim_Weiman]

Chris,

Everyone mentioned the same thing, so I can hardly claim to "know" the course.....it will take a few more visits.

Still, my sense was that #4 (and #12) have the length - meaning tee box options - to provide "temptation" for most golfers.

Granted this might be lost playing into the wind from tees too far back, but then not many guys are likely to make that mistake.

The "temptation" is there, I believe.

[Chris Kane]

Tim, on the days I've played, temptation would only be provided by the two forwardmost tees.  Thats why I believe that 4 might (I repeat, might) be a dumb blonde.  It looks fantastic, but strategically its not so great.

Of course, with the wind going the other way, like on the day you played, its one of the best short holes in Australia.

12 is a wonderful hole, whether you're going for the green with a 3 wood downwind, or struggling to make the fairway into it!

[Jonathan Cummings]

Beautiful pictures Ben!

Are the fescues in Barnbougle's roughs as dense as they look?  This was sure true with Kidnappers.  There, a ball that strayed was pretty much kissed goodbye.  

If this is true then I suspect that Barnbougle, while sporting a wonderful seaside links-look, has much more teeth than any of her similar Irish and Scottish cousins.

JC

 

[Tom_Doak]

Jon:

The grass we planted at Barnbougle is all fescue and Colonial bentgrass into the roughs, but the tall stuff is mostly marram grass that was stabilizing the dunes until we built the golf course.

There is still potential for plenty of lost golf balls, but they will continue to work on thinning out the marram where it is prominently "in play".  They've done a lot of work on the back nine already and it's a lot more forgiving than it was during the grow-in.

Steady play would also help ... the more people are out there searching for balls, the more the grass thins out to where you can actually find them!  This was one of the coolest features of some of the out-of-the-way links courses I saw in the UK, like Machrihanish ... the punishment was less where other players were more inclined to make the same mistake, but more severe for really bad shots or for the longest of hitters.

[Matt_Ward]

My question on tee angles was not addressed. Does the course provide for a range of tee angles when playing the holes. It appears that's the case with several holes but wanted to find out from those who have played it if that happens consistently throughout the 18.

Chris K:

Thanks for the detailed yardage info.

[Philippe Binette]

About 4th and 12th...

Although I was gone before the first blade of grass was existing at Barnbougle... I think they'll be reachable more often than we think.

During winter time (july and august) when I was there, the weather was great (especially for a Canuck),
about 50 F at 9h30am   -   about 60 F from 11h00 to 16h00 and sunny most of the days with less than 10mph wind all day for about 50% of the days

So don't worry guys

[Tom_Doak]

Philippe:  You would be proud of how the place looks and plays.

Matt:  A few of the holes have differing tee angles -- the 2nd, 3rd, 6th [forward tee only], 11th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th.  Others do not because they are too confined by the dunes and the tees pretty much needed to be in a line.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Bravo Tom to the course and bravo Ben to the pictures.

[Jason Mandel]

Here's a general question.  We all know the power of the almighty dollar is not doing very well these days against the pound or even the euro.  how about in australia?  i know getting to australia is more expenive that getting to europe, but once you get there, what are the prices you can expect to pay?

Jason