BARNBOUGLE DUNES: A hole-by-hole pictorial!!! (18th hole posted)

[Kyle Henderson]

Savor the walk to the 5th tee.


5th hole overview


At last, the player has the prevailing wind at his back as he/she faces the first par 3.


Visually, the hole suggests a play to the left side of the green, which will feed down to the right.


However, a pulled shot (or an unfortunate bounce off of a sprinkler head, as my partner experienced) may carom down the path through the gap seen far to the left, leading to a large number and possibly a lost ball.


While set back some distance from the green, these menacing bunkers should not be trifled with, even in a strong tail wind.


The left-side view of the green suggests that recovery shots will be much easier from short and right…


… although even first-time players should know this after the sneak preview offered from the 4th tee.

[Patrick Kiser]

What I like about this hole (besides the setting) is how it sets up to my eye.  It just begs for a slung cut shot off the left bank and a roll into the green.  But go short and you're hosed.  Such a cool shot.

Going at the pin feels boring to me on this one.

Good recovery options down low and to the right of the hole.

[Tom_Doak]

It is hard to go straight at the hole here, because you have to carry over the bunkers and you can't tell how far short of the flag you can safely land the ball.  And with the hole playing downwind most of the time, just flying it pin high will put you well over the back.

[Bill Brightly]

It is hard to go straight at the hole here, because you have to carry over the bunkers and you can't tell how far short of the flag you can safely land the ball.  And with the hole playing downwind most of the time, just flying it pin high will put you well over the back.

It is "hard" to go straight at the hole because the bunker is so menacing.

The first time I played the hole, I did not know how much room I had over the bunker. So I chose what appeared to be the safe route: off the left slope. I pulled it hard left, and while the slope helped a little, it did not come back enough, leaving me in the rough off the green with a dead downhill chip. I made a great 4 from there.

Second time I took enough club to just clear the bunker and it rolled up nicely on the green. There is a lot more room over the bunker than it appears from the tee. So I think this hole works really well for a destination course like BD, where players don't see it very often. With regular play, I think the bunker would lose its "fear factor."


Question: Is there much work involved in creating that bunker"complex" or is it simply a matter of scraping the dune? (I just LOVE the look of it!)

[Scott Warren]

The back right pin here was one of the most fun on the course for putting off the green and having the ball run back to the pin, not just for shits and giggles, but as a preferable option to taking on the internal contours.

Jeez I can't wait to get back to Barnbougle!

[John Mayhugh]

This was my favorite of the par 3s.  I loved the look from the tee, and need to just carry the bunker if you wanted to go right at the green.

[Kyle Henderson]

6th hole overview


The panoramic views offered by dunes adjacent to the 6th hole are sublime.


From the 6th tee, one may play safely through the gap to the left or over the conical sand pile on the right riding the prevailing breeze.


Solid drives are rewarded not only with easier approach shots, but also with the opportunity to take the high road along the seaside ridge while others take the low road.


A stroll down the path from ridge to fairway…


…will hopefully lead to your ball, well down the right side. The approach from here is much shorter and from the best angle.


Unless the wind is helping strongly, an extra club should be considered for the uphill approach.


Looking back from long and left of the green, it is clear why approaches are more difficult from the left side of the fairway.


A favorite feature of Sir Kiser, this view of the day’s pin position is available from the 3rd tee (long and right of the 6th green).

[Bill Brightly]

A wonderful links hole. (Is this a hole that just routes itself or what!) What I really like about this is the feeling of doubt that you have on the tee about just how much room you have if you aim down the left side of the fairway. The large dune on the right is a problem, so left is better, but the first time you play it, you have to guess what is going on on the left side.

[Kyle Henderson]

A wonderful links hole. (Is this a hole that just routes itself or what!) What I really like about this is the feeling of doubt that you have on the tee about just how much room you have if you aim down the left side of the fairway. The large dune on the right is a problem, so left is better, but the first time you play it, you have to guess what is going on on the left side.

I think a stiff crossing breeze would be the most difficult, as one might have to aim outside of the corridor and hope the ball blew back to center.

[Kyle Henderson]

Overview


The 7th presents a small target from short range -- the prevailing wind comes into the player and from the left.


A miss into the left bunker is a veritable death sentence, as the resulting recovery shot is down-wind with the green sloping away. To the right, the turf is mown tightly and draws golf balls some distance from the pin.


This local helps to maintain the marram grasses and locates lost balls ($25/pouch).

[Philippe Binette]

There's really something WRONG with Barnbougle Dunes:

It's way too sunny for links golf...     

[Tyler Kearns]

Like all the great Australian golf courses, Barnbougle Dunes has the obligatory short and nasty one-shotter, in this case, a hole I failed to par over 3 rounds. This is a great hole, short enough to be inclusive to all, offering a potential for birdie for everyone, if they can execute. While it may look easy on the scorecard, the obvious difficulty surrounding the green can play havoc with your swing. The combination here of short yardage and strong winds really accentuates the difficulty, as you want to keep the ball under the wind, which is much more difficult to do with a shorter iron in your hands.

TK

[Bill Brightly]

A miss into the left bunker is a veritable death sentence, as the resulting recovery shot is down-wind with the green sloping away.

I have been patiently waiting to post this picture of Todd's (Andy Gray's friend) lie after what appeared to be a super tee shot. Alas, he came up two feet short and a hair left...

[Patrick Kiser]

Because of how the wind can really come into play, I think what the makes the hole is the bail out option short and right of the green. 

It's one hell of a recovery if you're not on.

[Brett_Morrissy]

a seriously great hole, if ever offering any advice for a first timer to Barny- "do not go left on 7" (quickly followed by "right on 12 is dead")

I think it gets scarier the more you play it - it is such a difficult hole to par - let alone birdie - and with just under 40 feet or 12 metres to land your tee shot, it is treachery at it's finest.

The left bunkers are not only very soft, and as Kyle mentioned, playing to a green sloping toward the right, but the face of the bunkers are sooo steep, it is a very difficult shot just to get it out - let alone contemplate and up & down.
- a fabulous reason to turn back around into the prevailing.

[Terry Thornton]

I think it gets scarier the more you play it -

Agreed,

played with a first-timer Sun arvo of Boomerang, he casually put Wedge to about 15feet, wondered what all my fuss was about

[David Kelly]

Short of the green on 7 is definitely the play if your opponent is in trouble or you are playing for a score but where would the fun be in that? On my first visit to Barnbougle I hit the green with a 5 iron in a gale but on this trip I hit the same shot every time - one that just hit the right edge of the green and bounded hard right 20 yards.

[Brett_Morrissy]

2 comparison pics for the bunkers left of 7.

first is 2007 - the bunkers certainly appear much shallower and user friendly:


and again in 2009 - this shot also may give some a perspective of how small the green surface appears from the tee:


I should have posted these two earlier, here are two shots taken late one May (Winter) afternoon, we had a swim a lunchtime...


and:

[Matthew Delahunty]

a seriously great hole, if ever offering any advice for a first timer to Barny- "do not go left on 7" (quickly followed by "left on 12 is dead")

You mean right on 12

[Philippe Binette]

You know it's a scary target when they are talking about bail out on a shot of 140 yards.

[Kyle Henderson]

I think it gets scarier the more you play it -

Agreed,

played with a first-timer Sun arvo of Boomerang, he casually put Wedge to about 15feet, wondered what all my fuss was about

I was glad to be one of the blissfully ignorant. First try, I went 12 feet over the flag stick (hit the putt a bit too hard through the break).

The second try was right on line, but I didn't accelerate, so I barely reached the front edge, but again went right at the flag.

A yard left would have left me in Andy's sand-filled shoes.


I now regret passing on the chance to try out a few bunker shots.

[Brett_Morrissy]

Thanks Matt

[Kevin Pallier]

You know it's a scary target when they are talking about bail out on a shot of 140 yards.

Absolutely - 3 times I played the hole and 3 times I erred on the side of caution and landed in the bail out area. That said - the next shot aint easy up and over the steep ridge to a narrow green where a putter is probably the preferred method.

It's a brilliant short hole - one of the best I've seen.

[Duncan Betts]

You would certainly want to miss right, as the bunkers on the left have far too much sand in them.

[Scott Coan]

I'll echo everybody's comments and say this is the most treacherous short par 3 I've ever played.  Left is absolute death - pick a number, any number and it may stretch to double digits.  We played a gross tourney out there a few years back and my mate Pete took a 13 in the morning round, followed by a duece in the arvo!

That being said, right is no bargain either.  Rolling off the green to the right is not so bad as the ball stays in touch with the green.  With a 40 mph wind howling though my 9 iron did not have the benefit of rolling off the green but instead bounded off the mound quite forcefully and left me on the edge of thje haggis about 20 meters away.  My ball was lying in hairy fescue growing straight into me, leaving a 20 meter bump and run into the narrowest part of the green, into that same 40mph breeze, and with the death bunker lying in wait.  Naturally came up short and gladly took my 5.

If I was playing a gross tourney and had this hole to play down the stretch I would take a sand wedge and purposely lay up straight in front, then take my chances with a relatively easy up and down from there.  This on a 110 meter hole!