I think it was T-Pain, oh wait, it was Jim Colton that once said, “Pac Dunes would 10&8 any TPC.” But after heading to Tasmania for a weekend I think he had his courses mixed up and he meant Barnbougle Dunes!
The Barnbougle story has been told many times and there have been many threads with pages of discussion, so I won’t get into all of that, but this is just to just show some highlights of the holes and how they currently look for those that haven’t been there in a while.
For those that don’t know, the nines are essentially two out-and-back loops with the front heading west to start and the back heading east with the clubhouse centralized between the two. The outward nine plays mainly down in the valleys between the huge dunes and the inward nine plays across a much wider and elevated landscape in spots before returning down into the dunes for the last couple holes along the water.
A couple cool aspects of the course that stood out for me (aside from the beautiful setting and the views that went on forever) were the quadrants on some of the greens that allowed for balls to be worked across slopes and a few backboards that fed shots into certain locations. I really enjoyed this and in the photos you’ll be able to see what I mean. Greens like 2, 4, 5, 9, and 13 immediately come to mind for shots that I was able to play given my day’s hole locations and the greens were kept at acceptable speeds given the slopes which allowed for a lot of creativity and aggressiveness. I also like how the bunkering wasn’t overdone around the greens and many of the recovery areas were short grass with all sorts of hollows and uneven terrain to play shots. Mentioning the uneven terrain, in some aspects, and I mean this as a compliment, but it seemed like the course was blanketed over some sort of huge junk yard! I’m not sure if I had a level lie for the entire day and I really enjoyed the challenge.
On my visit though, I had the very uncommon wind that was coming from the east. Therefore, holes 1-4 played howling downwind and I also had the closing stretch of 15-18 downwind as well. Point being, those downwind holes played much easier than they were designed as I had virtually nothing left for approach shots, but it also created an unreachable par 4 in hole #8. I only bring this up because so many people bring up #4 at Old Mac being unreachable in the winter wind. I’m a long hitter and on #8 I hit driver, 4 iron, 8 iron and was just short on a 490 yard hole. Obviously, with the wind heading the other direction, it’s a different story and an easily reachable hole, but that’s just the way it goes. I guess I could’ve played the course as a par 72 instead of a 71 that day.
I enjoyed the course so much that Barnbougle is now my favorite Doak course among the 8 that I’ve played and that includes Old Mac, Pac Dunes, RCCC, Sebonack, SAB, Stone Eagle, and Lost Dunes. I also wanted to note, for those of you that don’t know, Barnbougle is set up like Bandon. You’ve got a key card to use for all purchases and all it takes is a swipe and you’re done. It’s a painless process. The people who worked at the resort were more than pleasant and helpful and this is a destination that all GCA dorks need to go see during his/her lifetime. Sure, this place is at the bottom of the world, but it’s really not that bad of a trip and it not near as exhausting as I thought it would be to travel down there. Just get on a plane and go!
Here are a couple shots of each hole and feel free to comment as you please. Enjoy!
Opening shot
1 green
2 tee
Greensite
Approaching 3 green
Looking back
4 tee
Greensite
Now the turnaround walk to the par 3 5th
Boom!
5 tee
Greensite
6 tee
Approaching the green
Now the tiny yet murderous 7th
The green from the right
8 from the early part of the fw
Greensite looking back
Top of the rise on 9 looking back towards the tee
Green by the clubhouse
Approach to the skyline 10th
Green from the far right
Vista right of 11 tee
Over the rise on the par 5 11th
11 greensite from over by 12 tee
Driveable 12th
Greensite from the left fw
Let the fun begin….the crazy par 3 13th
From the left
Another angle
From 14 tee
Par 5 14th
Greensite from the left
15 tee back by the inlet looking towards Lost Farm
Approach into 15
Don’t miss left or you’ll be left with this look
Looking back
The par 3 16th from way up top
17 tee
Greensite with a far back hole location
18 tee
Approach
Looking back
