Travel to the Tasmanian coast to see the golf course at Barnbougle Dunes.


JOHN STARK: 'Linksland' is the old Scottish word for the earth at the edge of the sea, tumbling, duney, sandy, covered by beach grasses.

When the light hits it and the breeze sweeps over it, you get every shade of green and brown and always, in the distance, is the water.

PETER GEE: Scottish professional John Stark's definition of the sandy margins between sea and farmland, where the game of golf originated.

27-year-old Greg Ramsay was imbued with the game from an early age on the family property Ratho at Bothwell, home of Australia's oldest golf course.

Hotelier and farmer Richard Sattler, on the other hand, never cared much for the game and still feels uncomfortable on the course, even though he owns the land this one's built on.

PETER GEE: Richard, when your cattle and sheep were grazing here did you envisage anything like this?

RICHARD SATTLER: Never envisage anything, I couldn't believe a golf course like this.

I always believed golf courses were out in flat paddocks and this would be the last place, if there was any chance of a golf course, that it would be built.

It's a beautiful setting sitting up on the dunes, looking out over the beach.

As far as golf goes, no, still stunned.

PETER GEE: But you, you always saw something like this, did you?

GREG RAMSAY: Yeah, actually I rang up Richard and asked for a look around his dunes for the prospect of a golf course and Richard didn't actually return my calls.

He thought it was such a mad idea.

Fortunately, eventually we got together for a look and as soon as I saw the land here I was thrilled.

It's got great potential and it's turned into, hopefully, a great golf course.

PETER GEE: After the fourth green it's up onto the giant dunes above Barnbougle Beach and the uninterrupted 20km sweep of Anderson Bay.

Waiting for us on the fifth tee was one of the course's co-designers.

PETER GEE: What about this?

I mean, you're responsible for the design of it, anyway.

MIKE CLAYTON: Well, partly with Tom Doke we've managed to build this thing out in the middle of seemingly useless sand dunes on Richard's property.

And I played it yesterday, it was the first time I'd played it, and it was, it's an amazing place.

I think people are going to have a lot of fun here over the years.

PETER GEE: And a lot of fun we proceeded to have.

The combination of links layout and late-autumn afternoon weather cast a hypnotic spell.

Use the prevailing westerly wind to blast over that pyramidal dune jutting into the fairway or sneak one around the side of it?

Depending on your ability of course, the choice is yours.

Using the contours to get your ball ever closer to the hole is what links golf is all about.

That, and the walk. At Barnbougle Dunes you'd have to be playing pretty badly to spoil that.