Richard Sattler's Potato Farm
Aka Barnbougle Dunes & Lost Farm, arguably the best value golf on the planet
In hindsight a whistle stop tour to this secluded part of the Northern Tasmanian coast was all too brief. My travelling companion needed to get back to his beloved in Adelaide and in all honesty I was too keen to get to Sydney. I should have stayed a few more days in Bridport and then transferred to King Island to experience the delights of Cape Wickham and Ocean Dunes to boot.
If you like links golf you will love the contrasting challenges that await you either side of the Forrester River, hard against Bass Straight, in what is located, in Irish vernacular anyway, the ‘arse-hole of nowhere’. Just to clarify the previous comment comes from a place of love and respect as opposed to derision.
A southern ocean front rumbled into Melbourne as we headed to Tullamarine airport. Sultry conditions were supplanted by wind, rain, lightning and hail and a 20C drop in temperature… just like that…very odd but quite common to Melbournians. This ensured that all outgoing flights were postponed until the atmospheric static cleared., We finally arrived in Launceston, some four hours late, fretting that the car hire desk might be closed for the evening. Thankfully we were not stranded and hurried along the possum, wallaby and wombat assault course of a road towards our quarry and an anticipatory nights sleep.
Barnbougle Lost Farm
“What’s this?...You stupid Irish...”
Note to all visiting golfers: You don’t need a letter of introduction here.
Making the pilgrimage is sufficient proof that you are a golfer...in Roscoe’s eyes (the resident golfologist….whatever that is!), anyway! My companion on this leg of the journey had not set foot in Tassie for 43 years, and he enjoyed himself so much (seeing the light undoubtedly because he beat me twice) that he will be making the trip “to get his links fix” on a more regular basis.
The Lost Farm clubhouse and well-appointed golfers’ accommodation sits on the spine of a prominent dune, which offers majestic 360-degree views of the property from all the available windows on the upper levels. This counterpoints the more rustic setting of the Dunes Clubhouse and accommodations which are styled after the initial offerings that existed at the Bandon resort in Oregon.
Breakfast with a view @ Lost Farm
Lost Farm is a great introduction to the Barnbougle property. The course extends over 20 holes. There is always a preferred side of the fairway to play from, however Bill Coore allows you a good deal of leeway off the tee due to the fact that there is fairway where perhaps you might expect there to be rough.
The routing, bunkering and variety at play keeps things interesting and the course really is in harmony with its natural surroundings.
The bunkers at Lost Farm are wonderfully naturalised, knitting the course securely to its surrounds
The Lost Farm site is broader and more expansive than the Dunes, its’ wider playing corridors contrasted against the native bush adorned sand hills that contract and expand as you weave your way through the lowland valleys.
Having got stuck down the Golf Course Architecture rabbit hole, since playing Lost Farm, I now have a greater appreciation, and hopefully understanding, for the minimalist design principles that have inspired the routing and challenge that is presented. The scale and variety of the course and its surroundings are an abiding memory in addition to the exquisite bunkering that ties the course to its rugged and wild surroundings.
Alternative playing options abound here at the split fairway on #9
In hindsight, the one regret that I have is that I only played the course once.... I can imagine it is a real grower and I look forward to the opportunity of returning to explore it’s challenges in years to come.
The last vestiges of the 2020 bush fires linger over Barnbougle Beach
Small tip: Buy some bushman’s fly spray (40% deet). You’ll thank me later!
Barnbougle Dunes
“How good is this?”
Sixteen years in getting there, the Dunes course— the Tom Doak and Mike Clayton masterpiece — is sublime and did not disappoint in any way. The clubhouse proved a wonderful resting spot post first round at Lost Farm where a number of carafes of Yalumba Signature red went down a treat alongside advice from staff members Adam, Phil and Joel on how to approach the next day’s challenge at the main event. The Dunes clubhouse is a little less formal than Lost Farm, with a great selection of beverages and a cracking restaurant.
The post carafe drive back through the property should have yielded a picture of a platypus, as it crossed the road in front of our dodgy, top heavy Mitsubishi rental. Alas the evenings booze and my inability to extricate the phone from my pocket in a timely manner, ensured that the picture of a lifetime eluded me and this piece.. more is the pity.
Early the next morning we were joined on our continuing adventures by Bill the caddy. At a remove of two years, I’m still trying to work out why I had to pay for half of his fee, while he carried my opponent’s bag...predictably the aforementioned AT vanquished me again….. quelle surprise!
The tee shot at the short par 4 4th
After a range finding start, you are flung headlong into the dunes from the fourth. The stretch of holes from 4 through 8 are exceptional and include the walk past Reg’s hut on the way to the 5th tee, giving you access to an unbelievable vista back along both Barnbougle and Waterhouse Beaches to the Northeast.
The 7th is known as “Tom’s Little Devil,” often referred to as “the only par three in Australia that doesn’t have a green.” The landing area on the green is coffee table-sized; go at it at your peril as long is completely dead. It’s easy: Hit it short and then chip it in!
Tom’s little devil, a 120 yard par 3 that often plays directly into the prevailing wind
The 8th is a muscular par four with a split-level fairway. A par here will be very hard earned as only a perfectly-placed drive will give you the opportunity to have a shy at the green. Keep the drive left...but not too far left.
The testing approach to 8 awaits for the heroic or foolhardy
Respite arrives as you head inland on the stretch of 9 through 12. This relative calm is shaken to its core from the 13th on, where Tom Doak recreated a green last seen at the MacKenzie designed Sitwell Park Golf Club in the UK many years ago...think three buried elephants under the green and you’ll only start to imagine the picture that presents itself here. Richard Sattler was not a golfer at the time of construction and the design brief extended to simple advice ‘don’t f**k it up’.
The glorious green site on the par 3 13th, a modern reinterpretation of MacKenzie’s Sitwell Park Green
The final five holes run along the Great Forester river and Barnbougle Beach, raising the blood pressure to a crescendo as you close out one of the most memorable links experiences available. Check out the following Jacob Sjoman video for a quick taster of the two links courses at Bridport.
Bougle Run
Although not open during my visit in 2020, non locals may not know of the relatively new 14 hole short course that opened in 2021.
Designed by Bill Coore, but due to Covid-19 travel restrictions built by Riley Johns and John Hawker. This little beauty consisting exclusively of short holes is located on a spine of dunes above the Farm course, which was exposed after a bush clearing fire went astray. The proprietor didn’t realise that the land was so good prior to the accidental vegetation clearance, once this was ascertained Richard Sattler quickly consulted with Coore. The output of their efforts appear to have delivered the ideal end of day oasis to play as a six ball, squeezing the last bit of juice out of the day. Yet another reason to get yourself to Barnbougle at some stage.
Next up we move on to the relative golfing wilderness of Sydney, they have golf, however, in the main it has diverged from the MacKenzie principles held so firmly in other Australian cities. The good news is that is changing with O(C)CM’s revisions at the Lakes and Bonnie Doon’s reinvention not to mention the Hanse and Kruse reworking of the Royal Sydney Golf Club - if ever Woollhara Council can be convinced to grant the club permission to return the site to how it once was back when the first fleet arrived in Botany.
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Hi Shane - that was a wonderful read and such a terrific description of these brilliant golf courses. I need to travel to Barnbougle and Lost Farm again!!!
Hoping Australia opens up again to vaccinated international visitors so that we can come over to enjoy Melbourne sandbelt, King Island and Tasmania!