When Barnbougle Dunes opened for play in 2004 it had its share of critics who suggested it was too isolated for the golfing masses to make it a financially viable success.
How wrong they were!
As Barnbougle Dunes proved; if the golf course is good enough, golfers will beat a path to its 1st tee. Such was the early acclaim of Barnbougle Dunes, owner Richard Sattler was convinced a second course needed to be added.
It is 12 years since the 20-hole (yes, 20 holes) Barnbougle Lost Farm opened for play and it has been consistently ranked in the top-five courses in the land by every reputable magazine, website or golfer’s forum that turns their attention to ranking lists. Overseas publications, in the United States and United Kingdom, have found room for both Barnbougle courses in lists of the world’s finest layouts.
Designed by Bill Coore, Lost Farm was quickly hailed “as better than the original Barnbougle”. Not everyone was convinced and, to this day, the 19th hole discussion about what Barnbougle course rules the roost can drag on into the wee hours.
“It’s Barnbougle tradition to play both courses, sit in the Lost Farm clubhouse, eat pizza and debate which course is Simon and which is Garfunkel. It shouldn’t be surprising how often Lost Farm comes out on top,” says Golf Australia magazine Top-100 Courses ranking judge, Adrian Logue.
Fellow judge, Matt Mollica adds: “Lost Farm is a course equal in quality to its older sibling next door.
“Expertly routed by Bill Coore, the course is wide and manageable in any wind. It presents dramatic tee shots, and asks for many thrilling approaches. The variety and quality of the par-4 holes is really something.”
And this from another judge, Brian Walshe.
“Lost Farm is the course I look forward to playing the most,” he said.
“Lost Farm’s holes go to all points of the compass and when there is wind involved in a location like this it means no two rounds can ever be the same.” – Mike Clayton.
“Of all the courses in the Top-100, Lost Farm has the best collection of tee shots set up by great greens that always have you searching for the best angle to attack them from.
“If the measure of a great course is how much you need to think your way around on every shot, then Lost Farm is as good as it gets.”
Even Mike Clayton, who collaborated with Tom Doak on the design of the original Barnbougle course, is in agreeance.
“I think many will see it as being better than Barnbougle Dunes because it offers a greater variety of play as the holes run in different directions,” he said. “Dunes follows the low land between the dunes and this dictated that the holes head predominantly east and west.
“Lost Farm’s holes go to all points of the compass and when there is wind involved in a location like this it means no two rounds can ever be the same.”
Lost Farm covers a strip of coastal farmland – across the Little Forester River that runs beside Barnbougle Dunes’ 15th hole – that is surrounded by dramatic sand dunes that segregate the hidden paddocks from sight of the farm.
Almost a century ago, marram grass was planted in the dunes in an attempt to stabilise them and slow down their movement, as a result of the prevailing coastal winds, onto the adjoining farmland.
Lost Farm derives its name from the land where stock grazed the coastal strip, and would become lost amongst the untamed coastal land. Stockmen would frequently spend hours searching the wild, dramatic dunes in search of the ‘lost’ livestock, who had ventured into the dunes in search of greener grasses. Hence, the area became known as the ‘Lost Farm’.
At Lost Farm there are some very good, some great and some absolutely brilliant holes. There isn’t a weak offering among them and, in time, some of the best holes here will be elevated to the world stage as choice selections.
One of those holes might well be the short par-3 4th, which calls for a tee shot to be hit parallel to the beach out to a small point that overlooks Little Forester River, the ocean and the original Barnbougle course.
The 5th hole is even better. Measuring nearly 400 metres from the back markers, the green is visible off in the distance – sitting hard up against the river bank. The longest drivers in the game, in the right wind conditions, might take dead aim at the green. In fact, Adam Scott has driven the green here by hitting a hard draw out over the river, to the right of the huge dune. But the play for 99.9 percent of the golfing population is left, away from the river, and on a dogleg right fairway that follows a valley around the base of a 30-metre high sand dune before rising to the green sitting among wild bunkers and dunes.
Coore really knows how to create a quality risk-and-reward short par-4 and there are three of them just on the front nine at Lost Farm. The most interesting of them, for mine, returns you back to the clubhouse. It’s a straight 306-metre journey from tee-to-green but there are two distinct playing lines from the tee as the fairway is split – a high narrow strip of short grass to the right and a wider rolling fairway, low and to the left. While the high right side requires a drive of great accuracy, it will leave a better view of the putting surface. The more conservative line to the left, conversely, offers a slightly obscured view of the flag and, therefore, a harder approach shot.
Now the story behind Lost Farm’s 20 holes. When Coore was creating Lost Farm he approached Sattler pointing out a piece of the property between the proposed 13th green and 14th tee, noting it was ideal for a short par-3 across the top of the sand dunes.
Sattler, not one to stick to hard and fast golfing convention, signed off on the creation of the extra hole … as well as another, a 119-metre par-3 that links the 18th green with the short walk back to the clubhouse.
FACT FILE
LOCATION: Waterhouse Rd, Bridport, Tasmania, 7262
CONTACT: (03) 6310 8400 (clubhouse)
WEBSITE: www.barnbougle.com.au
DESIGNER: Bill Coore (2010).
COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Phil Hill.
PLAYING SURFACES: Fescue (fairways, tees and greens).
GREEN FEES: Low season to September 30, 2022, $124 (20 holes), $155 (day ticket), High season October 1 to April 30, 2023, $139 (18 holes), $170 (day ticket)
ACCOLADES: Ranked at No.4 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Courses for 2022; Ranked No.3 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Public Access Courses for 2021.
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