Brilliant, breathtaking Barnbougle
A Tasmanian marvel, and a golfing wonderland
No carts. No competitions. No members.
Three utterly breathtaking golf courses.
At Barnbougle, golfers are not greeted by a grand entrance. Instead, inconspicuous gravel car parks and modest, rustic clubhouses accessorise both the Dunes and Lost Farm properties. Here, there are none of the superficial distractions that adorn some other golf resorts. It is because at this place, on Tasmania’s north-east coast, the wonder is entirely in the golf.
Preliminary discussions about a trip to Barnbougle started about two years ago. But could we really justify that? Eight cricketers, with cricketers’ swings, headed to a place that has two courses ranked inside the top fifty in the world (US Golf Digest) and the only short course to feature in Australia’s top hundred?
Of course we could.
As two four-balls were assembled, we ranged from golfers with more cobwebs than balls in the bag, to a 2-handicapper, and a six-marker, recently retired from cricket who shot a 74 pre-departure; a round which prompted him to ponder whether he wasted all those years bowling finger spin...
As a gauge of excitement levels, consider this: Upon arrival at Launceston airport – a ninety-minute drive from Barnbougle – there were four different shadow swings spotted at the baggage carousel from other touring parties. From a golf umbrella to a water bottle and even a rolled-up Jet Star safety card (it advises finding your own Pro-V1 before searching for others’), anything would do as a makeshift club.
On the drive to the course, with no formal competitions playable, we divided our party down city and country lines; set to play nine matches across 90 holes in four days. These would comprise two rounds at the 20-hole Lost Farm course, two at Barnbougle Dunes, and one at the 14-hole short course, Bougle Run.
***
Greeted by a magical expanse of golf that unfolds itself in front of the elevated clubhouse at Lost Farm, jaws dropped for the first – and nowhere near the last – time that afternoon. In pristine conditions, we had the course totally to ourselves.
As we gathered on the first tee for ‘ceremonial tee shots,’ I’ll borrow from
, whose description of his feeling on the first tee at Perranporth Golf Club, matches ours – or at least mine – perfectly:Some needn’t have worried.
After navigating the first, we heard a ball hit the pin behind us.
‘Shame,’ we thought. A good shot deflected off the pin and destined for a bunker.
Cheering and high-fives from the fairway quickly put paid to that idea, as we raced back to the green to find that the tour’s lowest marker had secured an eagle on the first. Remarkably, we found out post round that Steve had snapped his tee shot onto the practice fairway (never fear, Richard), found the hosel and sha**ed it back onto the cut stuff with his second, before slam-dunking a seven-iron in for eagle.
A hot start, the inevitable tops, duffs, and three-putts permeated the round for us all, but here they hardly mattered. We were lost in the awe of Lost Farm. Indeed, a ban was placed on a playing partner from remarking “wow, what a hole,” on every tee, as we busily snapped photos of a course that somehow enhances the steep and stunning dunes in which it lives.
The final shots of the day were played into 18a. An 86m hole, all the morning and early afternoon groups gathered on the balcony to watch. Well-lubricated by this stage, their slow claps, friendly barbs and words of advice served to regenerate nerves that had long since dissipated, lost somewhere in the fescue that borders each fairway.
Some hit the green, others didn’t. But, as the sun set, we all sipped a Cascade lager through beaming smiles after a dreamy day, with three more to come...
Match status: City 1 – Country 1
***
With only one point up for grabs on day two, we spoke in almost hushed whispers about the fact that today’s course – The Dunes – is traditionally regarded as the preferred at Barnbougle.
Slightly older and generally higher rated, this conversation felt akin to cheating on Lost Farm; it had given us all the most memorable experience of our golfing lives less than twenty-four hours ago.
If the first two holes at The Dunes are somewhat of a ‘handshake,’ (a friendly par-5 and a generous par-4), it comes alive quickly thereafter. Characterised by blind tee shots, cavernous bunkers and elevation changes that could leave even a sober golfer dizzy, 3 – 7 make up one of the most remarkable five-hole stretches I can imagine playing.
The third features a blind tee shot; the kind that alone warrants purchase of the club’s beautiful course guide. The Southern Hemisphere’s largest bunker is perfectly placed greenside on the drivable fourth, all before the first of the stunning coastline holes at The Dunes on five and six.
The seventh – Tom’s Little Devil – is just 100 meters long. But, with a green smaller than some dinner plates, a handful of deep and dangerous bunkers to the left, and steep drop-offs right and long, golfers are well-advised to hit – and hold – the dancefloor.
Collectively, we managed it twice in sixteen attempts...
As we trod the line between marvelling at the golf course and trying to play it, Barnbougle’s friendly ground staff gave us a hand this day, too. After dodging our errant tee shots, one offered advice about the best line to take into greens, before marching through the long grass in their snake gaiters to find as many balls as possible for our dwindling supply.
“You always find ‘em on the par-3's,” he smiled.
“There and whenever you gotta carry a tee shot.”
Guilty.
Match status: City 1 – Country 2
***
It takes a special kind of place for golfers to put concerns about their form, the weather, and even drastically depleted energy levels to one side. After all, second to cricketers, golfers are the best at coming up with an excuse.
Here, however, a heavy downpour as we teed off at Lost Farm for day three barely warranted a second thought; wet, increasingly tired and battling thought-riddled swings, nothing would put a dampener on our mood.
Perhaps because of that positive outlook, the showers quickly cleared, and we enjoyed the kind of round where our shoes finished cleaner than they started.
Again, two points were up for grabs, as we played four-ball multipliers. A format that requires both members of a team to play well on a hole to score, it is the ultimate test of team golf. It can be a test of friendships, too, as one Country team found out; one player having the round of his life, and the other – well, not...
Simply superb once again, Lost Farm was a different challenge altogether as the wind picked up; short holes baring their teeth, and longer ones very long for those who remain stubbornly unwilling to hit driver.
Match status: City 3 – Country 2
Not done for the day, we hurried over to Bougle Run as the sun set, poised to play the country’s best short course as an eight-ball.
The remarkable thing about this course, which winds its way across the top of a tall dune perched between Lost Farm’s front and back nine, is that it is almost invisible – hidden from view until you’re on it. Indeed, as we made our way around the delightful mix of twelve par-3's and two short par-4's, we peered down at holes from the Lost Farm eighteen, and wondered how we hadn’t been able to spot any of this course until now. Perhaps, we concluded, that is the brilliance of Barnbougle; you see, and understand it, only when you are meant to.
The round itself was punctuated by a whole host of near aces, none closer than one that hit the base of the pin on the fifth, only to be rejected to a front bunker.
Perhaps that was for the best, because the innocent question asked on the first tee as to whether an ace would count on a short course, was met with a resounding “no.”
We played the penultimate hole peering into a blood orange sunset, and the last in total darkness, now officially on the home straight of our four-day golfing marathon.
***
If the weather hadn’t been a concern on day three, a steaming hangover did its best to intervene on the final morning at The Dunes. A 7:20 tee time, made possible only by the pushing back of the clocks for daylight savings, was more than a challenge. But, with four points up for grabs in singles match play, it was all on the line.
Laughably, the golf started extremely well for many. Holes were halved with pars and even the odd birdie on the front nine made for compelling matches. As for that captivating stretch of holes 3 – 7? Personally, I picked up on all bar one...
As we all started to fade on the back nine, two matches were over on the 14th and 15th respectively, while belated swing tips were sought from broken golfers who figured it’s never too late.
The eighteenth tee was used as a chance to deposit some excess luggage into Bass Strait; the insurance balls that had been retrieved over the course of the trip (Thanks to Spalding, Optima and Top Flite for their support) donated Kramer style into the ocean.
Rumour has it their retrieval from a whale’s blow hole comes later.
Two matches apiece saw City secure a one-point victory, as weary handshakes were made on the eighteenth.
Final score: City 5 – Country 4
***
The deck that extends outside of the clubhouse at The Dunes only has room for three tables. There are not all that many more inside. For us, it was room enough to share lunch, stories and scorecards from the round, and even start some preliminary planning for a 2025 iteration.
But only three tables for a place that commands golfers in such droves and lives on the ‘must-play’ list for many the world over?
It is one final reminder that here, the wonder is not to be found at the nineteenth hole.
At Barnbougle, the wonder is entirely in the golf.