BRYCE GORHAM (LEFT) AND DAN MAHAR ARE OVERSEEING THE GOLF PRECINCT REDEVELOPMENT AT COUNTRY CLUB IN LAUNCESTON
Two decades after Barnbougle put Tasmania on the global stage to help trigger a tourism drawcard market, golf continues to be a major attraction for both tourists and locals. And while some of the best ranked courses in the country are on the state’s doorstep, it is the development of “entertainment hubs” which will continue to keep the ball rolling. W hen Barnbougle Dunes opened its doors to the world in December 2004, it was hard to envisage the impact it would have putting Tasmania front and centre as a golfing destination. The spectacular links- style layout quickly rocketed into the top few courses in the country, and kickstarted what has been a golden period for the sport in the state. Fast forward 20 years and Tasmania has three of the most widely perceived top five courses in the country – the Dunes and neighbour Lost Farm as well as the majestic Cape Wickham on King Island, which opened for play in 2015. Throw in King Island’s second stunning 18-hole offering Ocean Dunes, the 14-hole Bougle Run and both Tasmania Golf Club and Royal Hobart in the south, which are all ranked in Golf Australia’s top 100 courses, and there is a week’s worth of premium availability for even the most fanatical golfer. Yet there
is still more to come for the game’s enthusiasts, with Mathew Goggin’s Seven Mile Beach course nearing the point of allowing players onto the turf, and the Country Club in Launceston in the midst of a massive redevelopment of a new 18-hole reconfiguration which is expected to be open for play in 2026. “It’s definitely snowballing now,” Country Club’s head of golf operations Bryce Gorham says of Tasmania’s standing as a golfing destination. “With Barny having those two courses, the par three course and another one in the pipeline and then Mathew Goggin with his Seven Mile and Five Mile in the pipeline, then you’ve got King Island added to those and then us, it’s a destination now for a very specific type of golf with the links styling. “But I still believe we’re untapped in the world of golf trips and all that type of stuff, and then adding ours with the different genre of golf course with a Parkland sort of feel, and having a very big fleet of carts, which those other courses won’t have, it puts us in that different category of almost luxurious golf where you could sit back and watch your screen and get your GPS tracker out, and have food delivered to you out on the course, versus the ruggedness of the links style.
10
Tasmanian Hospitality Review Oct/Nov Edition
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online