Bandon - 4 Top 100?

[PuttLeftHitRight]

How is it that Bandon manages to get 4 courses into the GD Top 100?

Are they actually that nice or is there some kind of influence at play here?

[geauxtigers777]

How is it that Bandon manages to get 4 courses into the GD Top 100?

Are they actually that nice or is there some kind of influence at play here?

Have you ever played them? I assume no. They are truly unbelievable courses. I actually think Bandon Dunes suffers from being on site with the other 3. It is a remarkably beautiful course. The views from Pac dunes are difficult to replicate.

[duffer987]

[PuttLeftHitRight]

How is it that Bandon manages to get 4 courses into the GD Top 100?

Are they actually that nice or is there some kind of influence at play here?

Have you ever played them? I assume no. They are truly unbelievable courses. I actually think Bandon Dunes suffers from being on site with the other 3. It is a remarkably beautiful course. The views from Pac dunes are difficult to replicate.

 

Yes, I've never been. Just judging by the pictures I've seen and they all look the same. So I found it odd that 4 courses in the same place made it in.

Do the courses all look the same when you are there or do they have a unique feel to them?

[Manbearpig13]

Despite being at the same location, every course has a slightly different feel. Trails is one of the most unique courses I have ever played. World class views, world class layouts, and world class course conditions are recipes for world class golf. Absolutely deserving of their Top 100 rankings.

[Rohlio]

They are all that good...

 

With the exception of having relatively less impressive #18s on all 4 courses, they are each unique and magical.

[mallrat]

IMO, it is amazing how 4 courses in such close proximity and even using many of the same design principles can be so different. Bandon and Pac Dunes have the most overlap but are still incredibly different. Now i’m Very much in the minority but Pac is my least favorite on property. Trails is my favorite course anywhere and Old Mac is some of the funnest golf one can play. That said Trails, IMO, is the only course there that you could pick up and drop anywhere else and it would still be just as good.

 

Once you go you will realize there is just something special about even being there. It is a golf resort, not a resort with golf. Everyone is there for the same reason. The amount of amenities is perfect and the guest service (except for late check outs) is second to none.

[ebrasmus21]

OP - go to Bandon and die a happy man. You’ll see.

[spud3]

How is it that Bandon manages to get 4 courses into the GD Top 100?

Are they actually that nice or is there some kind of influence at play here?

 

Yes, they're that good.

 

And it's even more impressive when you consider that they are 3 of the top 10 and 4 of the top 15 public access courses in the country.

 

Just go.

[dpark]

Actually, no, the courses aren't that good. Don't go. Stay away. Save your money. Go play Pebble or Pinehurst instead.

 

You're welcome. (an Oregonian who doesn't want any more competition to play the finest golf facility in North America)

[mci711]

It is simply golf heaven.

[PuttLeftHitRight]

All right it seems like everyone agrees. I just had to be sure. I'm always skeptical of rankings published by a for profit magazine.

[Schley]

Wonderful courses and worthy of it's billing IMO. All the best minimal architects there except Gil Hanse. Doak x2, c&c, David mclay Kidd.

[Edaw68]

Wonderful courses and worthy of it's billing IMO. All the best minimal architects there except Gil Hanse. Doak x2, c&c, David mclay Kidd.

Supposedly Hanse is doing the next course, on the land where the sheep ranch is.

[mallrat]

I believe C&C are doing Sheep Ranch. I know it’s not Hanse. From my understanding he has something else going on.

[Edaw68]

I believe C&C are doing Sheep Ranch. I know its not Hanse. From my understanding he has something else going on.

I stand corrected

[ryu123]

Golf Digest is ‘for profit’?

 

Not sure Conde Nast agrees.

[ebrasmus21]

I believe C&C are doing Sheep Ranch. I know it’s not Hanse. From my understanding he has something else going on.

 

So Sheep Ranch will be the 5th course? Or is it to remain semi-private? I don’t really know much about it - we tried to play the course but couldn’t get anyone with connections to take us out.

[duffer987]

I believe C&C are doing Sheep Ranch. I know it’s not Hanse. From my understanding he has something else going on.

 

So Sheep Ranch will be the 5th course? Or is it to remain semi-private? I don’t really know much about it - we tried to play the course but couldn’t get anyone with connections to take us out.

5th full course. C&C will use the Sheep Ranch property + some extra adjacent land to fashion the new 18, without any need to leave in place any of the greens that were already out there, so it will be a totally new course.

They've been burning off gorse and had the real-life Tonka trucks out there since Nov.

 

I'm really keen to see their take on links golf. Trails, Streamsong, Cabot*, We-Ko-Pa, etc... have given us a taste of their thinking on it, but this should be there first proper 18 holes of links golf, along with the potentially concurrent Coul project.

 

*I got the sense - having not played it - Cliffs is more like a downland/headlands track, than what we typically think of as a links course.

[raynorfan1]

If "location" is the thing...the Monterey Peninsula has 5 top 100 courses that are basically adjacent to one another:

 

Cypress Point

Pebble Beach

Spyglass Hill

MPCC Shore

MPCC Dunes

[ebrasmus21]

I believe C&C are doing Sheep Ranch. I know it’s not Hanse. From my understanding he has something else going on.

 

So Sheep Ranch will be the 5th course? Or is it to remain semi-private? I don’t really know much about it - we tried to play the course but couldn’t get anyone with connections to take us out.

5th full course. C&C will use the Sheep Ranch property + some extra adjacent land to fashion the new 18, without any need to leave in place any of the greens that were already out there, so it will be a totally new course.

They've been burning off gorse and had the real-life Tonka trucks out there since Nov.

 

I'm really keen to see their take on links golf. Trails, Streamsong, Cabot*, We-Ko-Pa, etc... have given us a taste of their thinking on it, but this should be there first proper 18 holes of links golf, along with the potentially concurrent Coul project.

 

*I got the sense - having not played it - Cliffs is more like a downland/headlands track, than what we typically think of as a links course.

 

Expectations are high. Hope they deliver!

[duffer987]

If "location" is the thing...the Monterey Peninsula has 5 top 100 courses that are basically adjacent to one another:

 

Cypress Point

Pebble Beach

Spyglass Hill

MPCC Shore

MPCC Dunes

Indeed.

 

Shinny - NGLA - Sebonack... you wouldn't even need to take a shuttle to get from one to the other. You'd be playing one big 54 hole course. Maybe if you add Southampton you'd at least want a golf cart to ferry you down.

But of course the Monterey and Long Island Golfing Industrial Complex rigs the rankings, I hear they are really not that good as they look terrible on TV and all the same online.

[Schley]

If "location" is the thing...the Monterey Peninsula has 5 top 100 courses that are basically adjacent to one another:

 

Cypress Point

Pebble Beach

Spyglass Hill

MPCC Shore

MPCC Dunes

Indeed.

 

Shinny - NGLA - Sebonack... you wouldn't even need to take a shuttle to get from one to the other. You'd be playing one big 54 hole course. Maybe if you add Southampton you'd at least want a golf cart to ferry you down.

But of course the Monterey and Long Island Golfing Industrial Complex rigs the rankings, I hear they are really not that good as they look terrible on TV and all the same online.

 

Don't forget about Fishers Island, Maidstone, Friars Head, even Bethpage and Garden City.

[ryu123]

Any time anyone doubts the quality of the Bandon courses, particularly some one who hasn't set foot on the premises, I cite Matt Ginella in the April 2010 Golf Digest issue, when he quoted David Fay, former executive director of the USGA:

 

"If someone gave me tee times at Pebble Beach, Cypress, Spyglass and one of the two

courses at Monterey Peninsula Country Club versus the same deal at Bandon -- four

courses in two days -- it's no contest: I'd take Bandon hands down, and I think I've seen

just about everything there is to compare it to. I love everything about the place."

[duffer987]

If "location" is the thing...the Monterey Peninsula has 5 top 100 courses that are basically adjacent to one another:

 

Cypress Point

Pebble Beach

Spyglass Hill

MPCC Shore

MPCC Dunes

Indeed.

 

Shinny - NGLA - Sebonack... you wouldn't even need to take a shuttle to get from one to the other. You'd be playing one big 54 hole course. Maybe if you add Southampton you'd at least want a golf cart to ferry you down.

But of course the Monterey and Long Island Golfing Industrial Complex rigs the rankings, I hear they are really not that good as they look terrible on TV and all the same online.

 

Don't forget about Fishers Island, Maidstone, Friars Head, even Bethpage and Garden City.

Oh sure agreed! Just that those 4 are physically all right beside each other. As close as any bespoke resort. From the far end of Southampton GC to the far end of Sebonack and the beach is only 2.5 miles.

[Matt J]

Personally, I like Old MacDonald and Chambers Bay better than Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, and Bandon Trails. I will admit that I have never caught Bandon Dunes or Bandon Trails when the weather wasn't vile. I think there's a certain nod that goes to Bandon because it's a purist's vision and one the industry wants to encourage. Keiser is the acolyte of traditional golf. The experience is not like anything else anywhere in the USA.

 

Those lists are kind of a joke. I think the more courses you play and the more courses on the list you play the easier it is to see that it is marketing and very little else.

 

Did not know that the final decision had been made to use Coore for the Sheep's Ranch property. I think it's the best piece of land of the four courses... I really hope they don't move a lot of dirt, the talk of the Tonka trucks scares me. Gil Hanse must be pissed.

[Schley]

Personally, I like Old MacDonald and Chambers Bay better than Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, and Bandon Trails. I will admit that I have never caught Bandon Dunes or Bandon Trails when the weather wasn't vile. I think there's a certain nod that goes to Bandon because it's a purist's vision and one the industry wants to encourage. Keiser is the acolyte of traditional golf. The experience is not like anything else anywhere in the USA.

 

Those lists are kind of a joke. I think the more courses you play and the more courses on the list you play the easier it is to see that it is marketing and very little else.

 

Did not know that the final decision had been made to use Coore for the Sheep's Ranch property. I think it's the best piece of land of the four courses... I really hope they don't move a lot of dirt, the talk of the Tonka trucks scares me. Gil Hanse must be pissed.

 

C&C combined with Keiser won't allow too much to be moved I'm sure. Gil Hanse has had his share of jobs and recently been very fortunate with the amount of work he has received. I personally would have liked him to get the job so we can have all the best modern minimalist architects with a course there.

[ebrasmus21]

It is simply golf heaven.

 

Agreed. That’s the best place to put it.

[mci711]

If "location" is the thing...the Monterey Peninsula has 5 top 100 courses that are basically adjacent to one another:

 

Cypress Point

Pebble Beach

Spyglass Hill

MPCC Shore

MPCC Dunes

 

I think what makes Bandon special and what the OP is getting at is that Bandon is 1 resort and open to the public. That is quite an achievement. Of course there are great locations, like you mentioned, also the Hamptons etc. But that is quite different.

[duffer987]

Personally, I like Old MacDonald and Chambers Bay better than Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, and Bandon Trails. I will admit that I have never caught Bandon Dunes or Bandon Trails when the weather wasn't vile. I think there's a certain nod that goes to Bandon because it's a purist's vision and one the industry wants to encourage. Keiser is the acolyte of traditional golf. The experience is not like anything else anywhere in the USA.

 

Those lists are kind of a joke. I think the more courses you play and the more courses on the list you play the easier it is to see that it is marketing and very little else.

 

Did not know that the final decision had been made to use Coore for the Sheep's Ranch property. I think it's the best piece of land of the four courses... I really hope they don't move a lot of dirt, the talk of the Tonka trucks scares me. Gil Hanse must be pissed.

 

C&C combined with Keiser won't allow too much to be moved I'm sure. Gil Hanse has had his share of jobs and recently been very fortunate with the amount of work he has received. I personally would have liked him to get the job so we can have all the best modern minimalist architects with a course there.

I've mentioned in some other Bandon threads, that it would have been great to go to a regional designer instead of one of the usuals.

It's unfortunate John Harbottle passed away a few years ago, he would have been an excellent choice. I'd have liked to see Bunker Hill Design get it as the named architects, as opposed to possibly just being out there anyway on the shaping crew.

But if a big name firm was being chosen C&C makes me happy :) Although Phillips would have been a neat choice, being able to apply his links experience in North America for once.

 

In the end though, pretty much no one cares - myself included - as long as it's an enjoyable course.