Blog 224 – Bargara

Nomadic_golfer : October 2022

Par 72, 5700m, slope 117 $40

3 par3s 139-159m, 12 par4s 249-404m, 3 par5s 415-516m

This is an interesting, short-ish, sheoak lined course that I unfortunately struck a few days after it received 6 inches of rain and it’s annual coring of the greens. Locals tell me that condition here is usually top notch. The par 72 layout is on flat land a few hundred metres from the beach on this site which it has occupied since 1930, with this routing in existence since 1988.

The layout has only 3 par5s and 3 3s, and a host of short par4s, with 6 of them under 305m which is where you do your scoring here as most of these don’t invoke high levels of risk if you take the driver to them. There are 3 par4s over 385m as balance. It is well bunkered, has a variety of green-shapes that fit well to the hole make-up, with a couple of the super narrow greens on those short 4s appealing to me. Fairways had some couch as a base, with natural broad-leaf intruding and in the rough, while the freshly-cored greens are 328 Bermuda. The course’s main defence is the sand; bunkers are well placed and numerous. And while the trees aren’t prolific/ forest-like, they are relentless.

The 516m par5 6th with mangroves threatening down the entire right side, the 159m par3 14th to an elevated green protected by a rock-filled creek cutting across 15 metres short of the green, were the 2 most memorable holes for me, The pick of the short par4s was probably the 279m left-to-right 10th. The fairway narrows dramatically as you approach the green, so there is some real risk in having a crack here. The opening hole, a 355m left-to-right par4 is also a ripper, and my aesthetic highlight, with some attractive shrubbery bordering the tee and the vista for the approach dominated by sand.

Unluckily for me, I didn’t see it at its best but this is a fun golf course, with plenty of features, and would be a much different proposition in its normal well groomed state..