1. Bandon Dunes--Old Macdonald & Bandon Preserve 7/11-12/2014

When I planned this trip, my first objective was to complete two buckets lists.  Long time readers of these emails may recall that back in April, I had three outstanding bucket lists:

1.  Current (2013) Golf Magazine Worldwide Top 100: At that point I had completed 93 of 100.

2.  Current (2013 for GD and GM, 2014 for GW) USA Top 100: There are 144 that are in one or more of the three top 100's.  I had played 136.

Again, please note that I do not think that I should include all 200 of Golf Week's Modern and Classic Top 100's...so I merge these lists each year (based on the numerical score given for each course) and my Golf Week Top 100 is the top 100 from this merged list.

3.  Every course that has EVER been rated among the top 50 by any of these three magazines since these ratings started.  There have been 164 courses in this category, and I had played 157.  One track no longer exists (Sutton Bay, SD, which reached #37 in GW in 2005, but unfortunately, subsequently slid into the Missouri River...its replacement has not reached these ratings heights).  Hence, I had 6 more to play to finish this bucket list (tough to play a track that no longer exists).  

After my trip in May and my trip to MI and ON in late June, Bucket list #1 had been finished, BL 2 had 6 left, and BL3 had 4 left (note that because of overlap, I only needed 7 courses to complete BL 2 and 3).

With my play at Rock Creek Cattle Co (MT) on 7/9...see my email of 7/15...BL3 was completed, and with my playing Shooting Star (WY) and Huntsman Springs (ID) on 7/10 (see another email dated 7/15), I was left with only the new Doak course at Dismal River (NE) to complete BL2.

The morning of 7/11, I was booked on a flight from Salt Lake City to North Bend, OR (about 35 minutes north of Bandon Dunes...if you do not know what Bandon Dunes is, this email should not have ended up in your mailbox), switching planes at San Francisco...scheduled to leave SLC at 6am and arrive North Bend about 11:45am.  However, just before going to sleep the night of 7/10, I rec'd an email from United Airlines advising that my SFO-North Bend flight was cancelled...and that I was switched to a flight arriving North Bend at about 2:45pm.  This meant that my round at Old Macdonald was in jeopardy if the new flight was late.  

I immediately went to the Ethiopian Airlines website, to see what flights they had from Salt Lake City to North Bend, OR, since they had saved the day on my round the world jaunt.  However, their flights on this route were fully booked, and while they offered to bump another passenger given my frequent flyer status with them, I decided that would not be "fair"...so I called United and was able to switch to an 8:30am SLC departure (allowing me to sleep later) and also called Bandon Dunes and advised them of my new travel plans and switched my play to approx 4:30pm (sunset was at 9pm).  

However, due to runway repairs/construction at SFO, both of my flights on Friday were delayed, and I ended up landing at North Bend at about 3:45 and arriving at Bandon Dunes around 4:45.  Called Bandon and again rescheduled my tee time to 5:10...and finished the round (after joining a twosome and then getting held up by a foursome) at 8:50pm, just before sunset.  BTW, if you are planning a trip to or thru SFO this summer, be prepared for delays due to this runway work.

Old Macdonald

OM opened in 2010...it was designed by Tom Doak, along with Jim Orbina and with consulting help from George Bahto (who sadly passed earlier this year).  6,944 yards..par 71.  Sits just east and north of Pacific Dunes.  I remember playing Playing Pacific Dunes prior to OM's construction, and looking down at the raw land just east of holes 14 and 15...and remarking at how many great holes one could see laid out in the dunes.  Doak and company certainly found them. 

Ratings history:

--USA--Golf Digest.  Debuted at 49th in 2013.

--USA--Golf Week.  Currently #21 (merged list) having drifted down after debut at #10 in 2011

--USA--Golf Magazine.  Currently #45 after debut at #43 in 2011

--Worldwide--GM.  Currently #88 after debut at #74 in 2011.

Talking to other raters and "certifiables", it seems that there is either a deep love for OM of a strong hate for it.  Haven't met too many who are in-between.  Put simply, put me in the strong love category.  As you have probably gathered, Macdonald and Raynor are my favorite architects.  I love their use of angles (especially Raynor's) and the simplicity of their designs...which always included adaptations of many of the great holes of Great Britain, such as The Road Hole, Redan, Alps, Sahara, Cape (which some claim originated w the National's 14th and others say originated with North Berwick's #2), Eden, Long, Short, Biarritz (originally from France...highly unusual source of such a notable contribution), Punchbowl, etc.  Some of have said that the holes are not good copies...but they were never intended to be copies...but rather adaptions (as were CBM's and Raynor's).  So yes, some of the great Biarritz's are uphill (Fisher's Island, Mid-Ocean, Sleepy Hollow, and Yale with a raised green) but many are flat (The Creek, Old White, Yeamans Hall) and how about Fox Chapel (downhill).  And yes, #7 is not an adaptation of anything, but what a hole (and remember...CBM and Raynor created some great holes such as #4 at Lido).  Finally, it is 100% true that you get a good quantity of "bad bounces" at OM.  Get over it...golf is a simulation of life and one gets lots of bad bounces in life...part of dealing with life is dealing w bad bounces (or course, "progressives" seek to build huge governments to protect us all from bad bounces...with the net result of creating bad bounces for everyone on almost every shot).  And funny, how we always seem to recall the bad bounces but never the good ones.  That said, let me tell you what happened to me on #7...

The greens at OM are huge, hide most of the remaining dinosaur skeletons on the earth, and are very very difficult to play.  But, me thinks that they are playable and fair, once they are "learned".  Perhaps the issue is that OM is a resort course.  At a club, the members play the layout regularly and slowly learn its nuances.  That is certainly more difficult at a resort...especially Bandon with 4 great courses to play, but as we used to say in Jamaica, Queens, "tough darts in the big league arena"  or "TD in the BLA".   file:///Users/apple/Desktop/Thailand%20053.jpg

OM's condition was perfect...all fescue and very very firm and fast...just perfect especially for its design.

Favorite holes and others worth commenting about:

#1---perfect starting hole (pic) 341 yards with a Principal's Nose bunker just in front of the green and a green that reminded me of the #1 green at Yeamans

#3--"Sahara"---375 yards...drivable for long hitters.  Blind drive up and over huge bunker to top of hill...then straight downhill to fairway sloping down and to the right and a green sloping every way in every direction...note fall off to front right section of green in pic

#5--"Short" 160 yards downhill off elevated tee to wild wild green (part of double green)...very easy to 3 putt...and possibly 4 putt.  very different than most CBM/Raynor short designs...see pic

#7--363 yard uphill par 4 to infinity green with slope off in back to horrific bunker (I can testify to that) and Pacific Ocean below cliff beyond that bunker.  overwhelming and exhilarating hole...very difficult with any wind (rarely is not wind)...a site that screamed for a hole such as this

#8--downhill 181 yard par 3 Biarritz...with front "ledge" being part of green (many Biarritz's have the front ledge and hollow in front of the green)...fun hole especially after 7

#9--dogleg right 401 yard par 4 with bunkers extending down right side of fairway...forcing drive to left side of fairway to have proper angle to green

#10--slightly uphill 465 yard version of Road Hole (17th at St Andrews)...very tough but wonderful wonderful adaptation that i reach in 2 and parred (from 440 yards and with the wind)

#12--downhill 237 yard adaptation of Redan Hole (most copied hole in world...originating at North Berwick's glorious 15th.  less of an angle to green than at N Berwick and certainly longer (237 vs 190 at N Berwick).  what fools you here is how the front left of green angles away from you making for a longer carry

#15---uphill short par 5 (535 yards)..heading to northwesternmost corner of layout...just north of 7th green and 8th tee...huge huge blowout bunker sits about 80 yards short of green ready to gobble up any misplaced (or even slightly misplaced..since fairway slopes to right toward this monster) layup...see pics of tee shot (below) and 2nd shot (on top)

I am attaching a picture 6 (par 5...picture is of pot bunker just over the green...fun fun fun to photograph, not to be in).

As I said, I love this track.  It is simply glorious.  Did not score very well, but was hitting the ball pretty well...oh, those bad bounces and impossible greens...

Bandon Preserve

Early Saturday morning 7/12 I was up for breakfast and set for a 7am tee time on Bandon Preserve...the real reason for this diversion to Oregon on this trip.  Designed by Coore & Crenshaw, completed in 2013, Preserve is a 13 hole par 3.  For those of you who have been to Bandon but not in the past year, it sits in the former gorge to the right (or just south) of Bandon Dunes' 17th hole, or behind and to the right (or just north and west) of Bandon Trails' 1st tee.  The land slopes down toward the ocean and the 9th hole faces directly toward the ocean and must afford spectacular views...except on this morning the fog made the ocean view barely visible (see picture of 9th hole and look carefully at background).  Being a 13 hole par 3 layout, Preserve has never been rated, but do not kid yourself, this track is great fun, a real challenge, and a wonderful way to hone one's short game.  I could see spending a day there playing it 3-4 times.  Holes range from 63 yards to 150 yards from the back (40 to 119 from front tees).  A must play.  And I am proud to report that I beat my age..,despite a horrendous lie in a bunker on 6 (see pic).

As I was playing it, I could see a hole along the southern edge of Bandon Dunes that went uphill doglegging right with a sharp cliff on its left and a green sitting on top of a ledge.  I thought to myself, "what a wonderful hole" and then tried to figure out what hole it was.  In fact, the green was the 16th at Bandon Dunes, and the fairway was #17, which is downhill and doglegs left.  Just another example of how special the land is at Bandon...great holes waiting to be "discovered" all over the property.

After Preserve, made a mad dash over to the newly opened Punchbowl, a massive (100,000 sq ft or 2.3 acre) 18 hole putting course near the first tee of Pacific Dunes designed by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina.  Similar in nature to The Himilayas putting course at St. Andrews, this is another wonderful addition to Bandon.  As I had to catch a plane, I was only able to quickly take a few putts to get a feel, but again very special.

Bandon in General

This was my 5th visit, and I never tire of the place.  Four world class 18 hole courses, the par 3 Preserve, The Punchbowl, and one of the finest practice ranges in the world.   But for all the spectacular golf, what makes Bandon the best are its staff and the ambiance of the whole place.  Excellent food and accommodations, but nothing over the top...their motto says it best "Golf as it was meant to be...".  

Just think about it...two men have made a fortune building businesses and having fun doing it...fun that most men would love...and both are from Chicago.  One obviously is Mike Keiser who conceived of and developed Bandon Dunes.  Who is the other??