We kicked off the new year in style with two rounds at Barnbougle Dunes. My one fear going in was that, having traveled half way around the world, I would be let down by the experience.
From Canada, Tasmania looks to be off the edge of the known world, so I had anticipated that it would be isolated and rustic. Turns out to be quite accessible from Sydney or Melbourne. Arguably easier to get to than, say, Bandon Dunes, and, not really rustic at all. Arriving at BD is certainly low key. The entrance wasn't on my GPS and the signage on the road is minimal. On the entrance road, you're left wondering where the dunes are, as it is on a dead flat cattle grazing plain. Flat enough that there is a grass runway that runs parallel to the second hole. Approaching the club house and cottages, the dunes become apparent. The cottages are simple and spartan, but each provides a patio with a view toward the first tee, the 9th green, and the clubhouse and, further to the right, across the heli-paddock (oops, or maybe that's the driving range too) to the 10th fairway.
In the shop they give you a scorecard, appropriately simple and spartan, that is specific to the tees you are playing. Based on handicap, they suggested either the back tees (6148 meters par 71) or a mix of the back tees and the next up depending on whether you were playing up-wind or down-wind. Normally, the tips at almost 6800 yards on a par 71, would be too long for me, but given firm and fast conditions I thought I'd give it a whirl. Unfortunately the wind was fresh in both my rounds, probably averaging 30 knots, and the holes were either downwind or upwind, very little cross-wind. I have no idea if this was the prevailing wind or speed, but it was daunting. The up-wind holes were killers, despite some of them being short 4's or 3's.
Now, onto the course. First thing I noticed was that the tees hadn't been cut in some time. The grass was long and wispy, reaching up to at least the bottom of a teed up ball. Don't think it affected play, but just looked odd. I've never seen anything like it anywhere else. The other feature of th etees that stood out is that they are ill-defined and not necessarily flat, nether of which is a bad thing.
The first hole is a 506 meter (560 yard) par 5 playing into the wind, at least on my two rounds. It is a long slog into the wind. The hole bends a bit to the right (in fact it seemed to me that there were a preponderance of left to right holes on the course. If I were doing a Doak rating on the course, I think that the first and second holes might tempt me to rank it a nine rather than a ten. They are on pretty flat ground with the greens adding the primary interest and challenge to the holes. Apart from the green complex, the first hole seemed a little mundane, but the flat ground needed to be utilized to route the course, I guess.
The tee shot is routed in a gap between two dunes that make the hole appear narrow, but the fairway is very generous, as are almost all the fairways on the course.
The second shot faces a wide crossing bunker on the right side of the fairway, presumably protecting the preferred right hand approach to the green. Or is it just placed there to lure you to that side? In any event, from those tees, and into the wind, it wasn't really in play for me on the second shot.
.
Sadly, I didn't have the time to get really good pictures of most of the greens, but the first green certainly provides a good introduction, with lots of internal movement. It is relatively mild compared to many of the other greens. Getting a third shot pitch or chip close to the pin locations is difficult without a lot of local knowledge. These greens probably pretty well define defending par at the green.
