Barnbougle Dunes

A split-level fairway at the 3rd means you earn a double benefit by hugging the right: a flat shot down the length of the green rather than uphill and across it

A brave tee shot at the 4th will most likely yield an eagle putt if successful in carrying the immense drive bunker as the green gathers from almost anywhere directly over the sand

A view of the 4th green from its back right

The brilliant par three 5th, viewed from forward and left of the tee to show how the green is tucked behind the dune on the right

Successfully challenging the pyramid dune down the right unlocks the choice angle into the bunkerless green, its left side tucked behind the tall dune

No hole I have played packs more challenge into each metre than the 7th at Barnbougle Dunes. The small green slopes towards the chipping area at the right, making it a tough proposition to hit and hold from either the tee or the deep greenside bunker

One of the more subtle holes on the course, the 10th is still a fine hole, rewarding the golfer who favours the bunker-strewn left-hand side of the fairway

Safety awaits to the left, but who can resist having a crack at the 12th green from the tee?

This view from the tee cannot to justice to the size and scale of the internal undulations within the green - the pockets are twice as deep as they appear in this shot

This picture from behind the 13th green (courtesy Bryan Izatt) does a much better job of showing what you're faced with should you leave your tee shot anywhere other than the section of the green where the pin is cut

The progressive challenge and reward of the drive bunkers at the 14th are the strength of the hole

Especially if playing from the back tee, the 17th green is a real challenge to hit and hold in two shots

Course name: Barnbougle Dunes
Location: Bridport, Tasmania, Australia
Four Word Course Review: Relentlessly thrilling natural golf

I've played better golf courses than Barnbougle Dunes - not very many, mind you - but I doubt I have played one with more shots as unique and fun - the type of shots you look forward to playing the minute you step onto the 1st tee.

Almost from the outset (the first two holes have great greens but are quite sedate otherwise) you're faced with shots you could play all day with a broad smile on your face, trying different routes to the hole - and the challenge would be completely different and just as fun the following day with the pin moved to a different section of the green.

The 3rd is a bold risk/reward drive and pitch par four with a split-level fairway and the added punishment of an appalling angle to the tiny green if you stray to the lower left-hand side of the fairway.

It would be a highlight of most golf courses, but here it's just the first taste in an incredible five-hole stretch.

Next comes an even shorter par four - a hole where anyone who can carry the ball about 210m is likely to have a good shot at eagle on the boomerang-shaped punchbowl green and anyone who takes the shot on and falls short faces a recovery from a gigantic cave of a bunker, from which bogey becomes a good score.

Following a life-affirming walk along the top of a seaside dune to the 5th tee, you're faced with another punchbowl green, this one on a downhill mid-length par three and yet again imagination is key to working the ball close, with all manner of slopes and ridges to be used on and around the green.

Things are slightly more subtle at the bunkerless par four 6th, where a drive that takes on a pyramid dunes earns a prime angle to the plateau green, before the fascinating 110m par three 7th, a chipping area below the right-hand side of the modest green and the bunker to top all vicious bunkers to the left. It's one of the few holes you'll find where even good plays might regularly be aiming away from the green with a gap wedge in their hand. Par might be unlikely from the right, but from the bunker - with the green sloping against you - it's nigh on impossible.

The pace slows for the controversial split-fairway 8th hole, which leaves many players doubting there's a realistic way to find the green from any distance, before a terrifying tee shot at the 9th (especially from the unofficial back tee to the left of the 8th green!) that makes way for a fun approach where you're again invited to use the slope of the land to work the ball towards the hole.

Not only does every hole on the front side get your attention on the set shots - tee shots and approaches - the greens are as interesting and thrilling to recover to as you'll find anywhere, especially at the 1st, 4th, 5th and 7th. Pure fun.

Heading away from the clubhouse again for the second loop of the figure-of-eight routing, first up is a well-bunkered par four bending left and climbing to a dune-top green reminiscent of the corresponding hole at Brora, the green draped naturally sloping toward the tee.

The par five 11th and 14th holes both offer most of their interest on very different but equally well-bunkered drives. While the greens may not be among the course's best, they are both unlike any other among the set.

That pair of three-shot holes bookend a strong candidate for the best back-to-back holes in Australia.

The driveable 12th snakes right along the top of a towering dune and like the 4th is easily driven by virtue of the short length and greenfront slopes, but any miss, especially one to the right, is heavily penalised. Adding to the challenge is a green that feels the size of a dinner table, but seemingly with 13 different tiers! There's risk in attacking the green from the tee, for sure, but at the same time you don't want to lay too far back and have more than a flick for your second shot.

The 13th hole is a poster child for everything great about Barnbougle Dunes. It might be the wildest green in world golf, a sea of bowls separated by steep slopes that can either be the golfer's friend or foe. In my three plays to date theose slopes have worked my ball to within a foot of the hole and taken what I'd thought was a good shot and worked it 60ft away into guaranteed three-putt territory the following day. It's remarkably advenurous golf most certainly not designed to be played with a card and pencil (I loved writing down '2', it tore me apart to record a '5' after hitting the green from the tee!).

The great risk and reward of many shots on the course make match play the game to play: a well-executed risk can win you the hole, but an error when going for broke won't ruin your day.

Turning for home at the eastern end of the course, the 15th is a drive and pitch hole built around its centreline drive bunker and gorgeous dune-top green. It wasn't among my favourites when I was on site, but in hindsight is among the three or four holes I most look forward to playing again.

The 16th is likely the weakest of the par threes, somewhat like the 5th but a far less interesting hole, while from the back tee the 17th is among the brawniest two-shotters of the bunch, doglegging right around a massive beachside bunker before an approach to a green somwhat like the 15th in its raised nature with few good places to miss.

Like the front nine, the back ends with a slightly blind drive on a substantial par four, but where the 9th green is set on a high-point the 18th is in a slight bowl, angling from left to right. If it's a disappointing finish, that's only because what has gone before is so outstanding.

The sheer abundance of thrilling golf shots on offer at Barnbougle Dunes is hard to match anywhere, in large part due to the amazing land on offer and no doubt also not doubt significantly because the designers weren't shy about building holes as bold as the land they're built on.

When you add to the list of attributes the $130 all day greenfee, this has to be one of the best value courses on the face of the planet and one where the adventurous, fun-loving golfer can have as much fun as his imagination will allow.