Back to earth

Well back to Coolie Tweed anyway.  These are some photos below from my whirlwind visit to Barnbougle Dunes and The Lost Farm which just in case you haven't heard of them are two courses on the NE coast of Tasmania that are literally taking the golfing world by storm.  I only had two play days there thanks to some unannounced flight changes (thanks Jetstar) but they are two rounds of golf I will never forget.  I had played the Dunes before but this was my first visit to The Lost Farm and it lived up to all expectations.  The weather was absolutely perfect and on the Thursday there was not a breath of wind which our host Superintendent said that he had never seen before.  There are many golf websites that will have much better photos than mine so I will leave my collage at these photos.  Interesting to note that  both courses have a local rule -"If your ball ends up in a footprint in a bunker, you are entitled to place your ball at the nearest point of relief no nearer the hole without penalty" - which could be handy at Cool Tweed given the state the bunkers are left in by some of our players.



Track to Dunes no. 5



Dunes green no.10

View from Dunes no. 10

Dunes no. 13 par 3

View from Dunes toward The Lost Farm

The Lost Farm no. 8 green

The drive from Lost Farm no. 5....over the dune!!

Lost Farm no. 14, 251 mtr par 4

So back to reality and if the weather holds this week the shaded tees on both courses will be oversown with a Ryegrass / Creeping Red Fescue seed mix.  The remaining tees will be verti drain aerated which is an aeration that penetrates up to about 10 inches which allows for some air movement and gas exchange.  At this stage the West greens will be aerated in the same manner next week with a smaller diameter tyne and reduced depth of about 8 inches.

Hopefully we have seen the end of the rain and the courses get a chance to dry out a little bit which they badly need.  We have had nearly 6 inches (150mm) of rain in the past 13 days with some rainfall recorded on every day.  But we should count our blessings when you hear that Cairns Golf Club has had 3 and a half metres of rain and a cyclone since October and it is still falling out of the sky up there.