Making its mark: With great golf – including its iconic “Gallipoli” hole – live shows, fine food and three choices of accommodation, cluBarham offers everything you need for a memorable weekend on the mighty Murray River. 

The Murray River is littered with so many appealing golf courses that it can be difficult to stand out from the pack. Factor in the similar design styles and terrain, and you have a healthy collection of very good golf courses but none that are truly great. Which is just fine. Not every golf course can be Royal Melbourne or Pine Valley, just as not every movie can be “Citizen Kane” or “The Godfather”. All any golf course can do is make the most of its site given the resources and opportunities at its disposal.

Constant evolution and enrichment is a theme of the golf course at Barham, which these days goes by the name cluBarham Golf & Sports and falls under the banner of the broader cluBarham group that also includes the Barham Services Club and Comfort Suites cluBarham Golf Resort. What began as a sandscapes course more than 100 years ago is today a layout reaching its peak – and with further room to improve.

The Ross Watson design is currently undergoing a series of enhancements at the hands of Centreline Golf Design’s Ben Chambers, who was behind the recent impressive upgrade of St Michael’s in Sydney. Part of the project involves replacing the cluBarham greens. A new first green was unveiled last spring with more course upgrade work – most notably the third hole and 18th tee complex – to be completed in the coming months. Soon after will come renovated greens at the second and eighth holes. Meanwhile, Chambers also installed Bunker Drain lining as part of the new works on the first hole and will do so for the bunkers on the third and seventh holes.

The greens are slowly becoming more uniform, as the small, flattish, old surfaces are renovated into larger greens and with more contours.

“The main excitement with the remaining holes is really about getting a consistent feel and style throughout the course,” Chambers says. “I was involved at Barham more than 20 years ago under a Ross Watson design, shaping works on what is now the 10th, 11th, 12th and 18th holes and then later, the 13th and 15th green complexes. These holes and their design were intended to provide the overall template for the rest of the course.

“Over the years, there’s been some work done on the front nine that doesn’t complement the earlier works, particularly the bunker style. A lot of the old greens are small in size with not a lot of interest or strategic merit. So, the opportunity to redesign the holes on the front nine and the remaining holes on the back nine – to get them to reflect the holes that were built years ago – will not only be exciting but very satisfying given my original involvement.

“When all our design ideas are complete each hole will reflect a similar design philosophy and consistency. The course will have a far improved flow and will provide a much better experience from a playability perspective.”

The putting surface at the long par-3 sixth hole is a good example of the ‘new’ greens, where the large target features a couple of subtle shelves. Other greens feature a tier or a false front. Many are angled or are much larger than appear from the fairway due to a front bunker obscuring some of the target.

“Strategic contouring with longer grades that can feed the ball towards the hole not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of the greens, but also contributes to the overall playability and memorability of the course,” Chambers says. “I wouldn’t consider the contouring bold but more strategic, given the location that the player is playing from in the fairway, etc. I am always looking at that best area to play from to get the best angle into the green to use green contouring to your advantage.”

Many greens are protected by a single bunker, which gives lesser players a clear option to steer clear of the sand. However, several holes – such as the par-5 11th and short par-4 18th – lean heavily on extensive bunkering schemes.

Without question, the most famous bunker – not just at cluBarham but along the Murray – is the yawning “Gallipoli” bunker on the 14th hole, a broad, deep pit benched into the hillside in front of the raised putting surface. Coupled with the fact it’s a narrow hole lined by box gums along both sides of the fairway, and it’s a daunting proposition. Tales abound in club lore of multiple swipes being required to extract balls and ‘soldiers’ seemingly lost within its realms. No wonder the 14th carries the No.1 stroke index.

For those familiar with the course but for whom those hole numbers seem awry, the club switched the two nines a few years ago to let the round build to a stronger crescendo. Indeed, the better holes now fall towards the end of the round. It’s a course of two distinct halves, as the front nine is more open, weaving between trees and past vegetation that don’t scream “Murray River”, before the second nine delves into a landscape of gums and billabongs. While most of the billabongs are utilised within the layout for aesthetics more than to come into play, at certain points on the back nine – such as the 16th and 17th holes – the small bodies of water are squarely in play.

The layout calls for a fair bit of point-to-point golf – where the path forward is defined by the various hazards – yet for the cavalier golfer, there’s scope to take on daring carries and reap the rewards. Strong iron play is rewarded, as was the case when Kyle Michel won the 67th staging of the cluBarham Border Open in September. The Victorian captured the longest running event on the PGA Pro-Am Series circuit by reaching 13-under in the 36-hole event, defying windy conditions with a stellar approach game in a closing 64 that included birdies on three of the layout’s four par 3s.

A TOTAL DESTINATION

Club manager Sienna Voglis says cluBarham hasn’t marketed itself strongly in the past. The club sits within the middle of the best-known Murray courses, giving it a geographic advantage but perhaps diminished awareness, especially along the golf-rich watercourse. Now, especially with on-site accommodation in the form of new two and three-bedroom, two-bathroom, self-contained units set flush against the golf course, cluBarham is firmly in the picture. Throw in a sister venue down that road that offers bowls, bistros, live shows, music and more, and you have a genuine destination in a town of 1,600 people.

What’s most exciting, however, is all that lies ahead. Roughly $1.2 million has been earmarked for the remaining course upgrades and a clubhouse renovation. After that will come the installation of a new irrigation system to ensure the playing surfaces are in peak shape all year. More immediately, cluBarham will serve as a pre-qualifying venue for this month’s NSW Open along the river at Murray Downs.

Standing out in a crowded stretch of golf courses is not easy to do. Yet as cluBarham has shown, you can draw attention by making a concerted effort to improve a facility with a deep history and enviable foundations. 

THE DETAILS

cluBarham Golf & Sports
Where: Moulamein Rd, Barham NSW 2732
Phone: (03) 5453 2971
Web: clubarham.com.au