Adventure Island

If by chance you have decided on a life-long union with a tragic-at-something, you’ll doubtless be aware that one definition of love is compromise - especially when choosing a holiday. Should your beloved be a golf tragic, a holiday on Tasmania’s north-east coast could be seen as a selfless concession to your golfing partner – an hour north-east of Launceston, Barnbougle Dunes Golf Links has been stirring lascivious droolings in golfers since it opened in 2005 and has recently been voted in the world’s top 50 courses by North American Golf Digest magazine.

Barnbougle is a links course sculptured between dunes that rise from Bass Strait and a sprawling farm where fat cows loll. The clubhouse perches on a dune between the 9th and 18th greens and the deck reaches for the nearby beach. But you can keep this next little tidbit to yourself – if you can’t play golf for toffee, there is plenty to do beyond the fascination that comes with this spectacular seaside course.

Barnbougle is short on trees but the wind, the accompanying roar of Bass Strait, and the marram grass make this a course that could put fear into a seasoned golfer. The marram chivvies the length of all the fairways and carpets all the surrounding dunes.

Barnbougle professional Brett Partridge douses the flames that seem to rage about Barnbougle’s difficulties. “I think it’s a false perception,” he says. “There’s 22 acres of fairways, twice the Australian average. There’s a lot of people who go around and don’t lose any balls,” says Partridge who in 1996 was member of the Australian team that won the Eisenhower Cup, the most prestigious amateur golf tournament in the world.

Extinguished conflagrations aside, the record for most balls lost in a round is an astonishing 40. The feat, though, comes without bragging rights. The custodian of Barnbougle, Richard Sattler, claims to have ‘misplaced’ 1500 balls – as the owner of the land the quick-to-laugh Sattler figures the balls, out there, somewhere, are still his. Somewhat appropriately Barnbougle’s a Celtic word meaning ‘warning call’.

I take 10 balls to the first tee. My first shot flies superbly but takes an unscripted left-turn, hangs in the wind before diving into the don’t-bother-looking-for-it marram grass. At this rate, on one of the world’s finest golf courses, I have enough balls for nine hits. 

There are golfers from Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne on the course as well as wallabies, cavernous bunkers and cries of ‘Ohhh, nooo’. The fairways have more bumps than a Sahara camel drive. If you’re not a golfer fear not. There is plenty to do while your mate is hacking into grass looking for golf balls.

“You don’t have to be a golfer to appreciate what has been done at Barnbougle Dunes,” say James Sutherland, one of the Perth golfers, holidaying with his brothers and parents. “It is a work of art, a masterpiece (but) there are good things to do in the nearby towns and countryside, from wineries to historical sites and of course good eating.”  Pipers Brook, Janz and Dalrymple are just some of the nearby wineries. Pyengana cheeses are enroute to the fishing village of St Helens. Just a little further afield is the wildlife bulging Mount William National Park, one of the best parks in Tasmania.

Sattler is a successful businessman but he rolled the dice with Barnbougle. “It was a huge gamble,” he says. “There are very few isolated courses like this in the world and we had to be completely different otherwise we wouldn’t get any attention. (But) we designed a course where your average hack can still have a good time. Barnbougle is set up and managed as a fun place.”

The laid back air around Barnbougle contrasts with the formality usually found at courses of this stature. “I like the fact that the whole experience still has a country feel about it,” offers Sutherland. “The friendly smiles and the general warmth in people’s attitudes to us is a rare thing in today’s commercial world.”

Sattler’s worse case scenario was to let his cows graze over the failed golf course. Within two months of opening, however, Barnbougle was named the number one public access course in Australia. The bad dream is no doubt good for a laugh now.

More Information
Barnbougle Dunes is near Bridport, about an hour from Launceston. Green fees are $88 for 18 holes. There is an all day rate of $110.

The course-side cabins start from $140 per night for two people. There is a restaurant, specialising in local produce, and bar in the clubhouse. 

Ph: +61 (0)3 6356 0094 or check www.barnbougledunes.com

For more information on the north-east of Tasmania check www.discovertasmania.com