Some six years after opening, the quiet Tasmanian farming town of Bridport has another course to partner its quarrelsome sibling, Barnbougle Dunes. Lost Farm is situated 2.7km further along the road from the first course, on a much larger but also less rambunctious plot of land.
Lost Farm had a soft opening on Friday, and I was lucky enough to be able to nip down for a day and play 36 holes. (Airfares $207 return for a 45 minute flight, including the outrageous $7 credit card booking fee.)
The legendary Matthew Mollica posted his own thoughts on the course a few months ago, so I probably won’t need to say as much as him, which is just as well, as following after such a fine and knowledgeable man is quite the nerve-wracking task, especially when you have a much different opinion of the course than him. I do, however, have a few more pictures, hopefully showing something interesting or at least different about the features of the course.
I basically had the course to myself, which was a surprise; on a glorious Spring day, I had thought there may be an eager queue of golfers chomping at the bit to get first crack at what has been the most eagerly awaited opening since Pamela Anderson's first
Playboy pictorial. Even the car park down the road at BB Dunes had less than a dozen cars there.
As well as being on a much larger plot of land than BB Dunes, and thus involving a greater variety of playing angles than the original, there are a few other intriguing differences between the two courses. There is quite a substantial parcel of flat land involved in the routing at Lost Farm, as opposed to only two flat holes at BB Dunes, and it the way it has been utilised by the two designers is illuminating. BB Dunes has much greater green contours on its two flat holes, as opposed to Lost Farm, where the flat holes have modest, gently contoured greens, with much more involvement in the fairways.
It is noticeable, too, that at BB Dunes, the golfer tends to very much have the land in play from the tee, either across ridges as at the 3rd, up and over dunes as at 9, 11 and 17, over or near a chasm at 12. At Lost Farm, the golfer more skirts along the edges of the dunes, and instead plays some heaving terrain and ridges in the fairways, as at the 3rd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 14th and 18th holes.
Now, on with the show.
Hole Number One –
Lost Farm opens upon the flatter segment of the property, with a par five that has a substantially different look and feel to it from the different tees. From the black tees:
Red tee:
From the black tees, it’s around 490 metres, into the prevailing wind. From the reds, it’s 430. From either tee, there is a classic diagonal presented to the golfer, inviting them to bite off as much as they dare with their opening swing, a nice feature.
On flat land, the construction of the shallow bunkers is first rate. The perfect depth for an opening hole, tempting the golfer confined to them to find what appears to be a somewhat open green, since the bunkers ahead don't snuggle near the green.
The green is one of the smaller on the course, with a modest contour. It's mostly made by this mound which feeds gently into the green, creating
the need for a fine touch around the greens early on.
Hole Number Two
Continues along the flatter portion of the property with this short par four around 300 metres. Skirting a marram covered left offers the best line in to most pins on a shallow green of some fifty yards width. There are a few other fairway bunkers situated within the vast expanse of fairway grass, but it is the green site construction that is exemplary. On such a flat portion of land, they have managed to construct a very good green complex with attendant hollows and mounds that look as if they have always been there.
A little forward from the red tee shows the general idea:
The green complex appears marvelously natural, and has a somewhat similar feel to the first.
Hole Number Three
Around 230 metres from the Red tees, probably 280 or so from the Blacks, this is sort of a cross between 4 and 15 at BB Dunes, but is everything the 4th at BB Dunes should be and isn’t. It's the first fairway where you play the incredible undulation present in this section of the course.
With the prevailing wind quartering into the player from the right, the hole is potentially driveable, but it would require a very finely judged and executed hit to find the green, either faded over the large central bunker, or chasing a draw along the right hand side. The more prudent play is an iron to the left of the huge ridge and then a pitch up to a marvelous two-tiered slightly boomerang shaped green sitting obliquely to the golfer.
From the black tee:
In contrast to the first two holes, a bold shot here would suffer a somewhat dire result:
Hole Number Four
Around 110 metres, short par threes and fours are synonymous with golfing excellence in Melbourne, the only place that matters for golf in Australia. The location atop a dune looking out towards the ocean is almost as stunning as the prevailing wind stinging into your face.
In contrast to the previous hole, which requires a shot to a green above, a punched iron kept low is required here, to a green below.
There’s a lot more room beyond the bunker than first appears, and this is also the first hole where enormous room exists beyond the green, although it isn’t particularly attractive territory.
Hole Number Five
Perhaps 430 metres from the Black tees, this is a daunting hole for good players, a semi-blind gentle dogleg right, with the drive not only requiring a good line, but a reasonable carry and good accuracy if one isn’t to drift left off the ridge and leave the green both blind and unobtainable in two. From the Red tees it is 380 metres, and a little more straighforward
From the black:
From the red:
The green may be the best on the course, a heart-shaped affair laying across the golfer and tumbling down in several waves from a high back point. As with the 4th hole, there is a substantial chipping area beyond the green to the right. The first three holes tend to have their greenside challenges out in the open. 4 and 5 contrast nicely in having a more hidden element as part of their defences.
Hole Number Six
A mid-length drop shot par three, 145 Metres from the Red tees, perhaps 175 from the Blacks. It’s a daunting shot over the bunker, but that section of the green is a half-pipe that will hold the ball up, whilst the left hand side of the green is wonderfully contoured, and although it appears to offer much more width than the right hand side, the contours ensure this isn’t he case.
Missing short or left offers plenty of opportunity to get up and down if a little care and thought is taken.
I'll post six holes at a time, and continue with the rest at a later date