Here I am looking and dreaming over my old tattered Bandon Dunes Yardage Booklet and I go through the theoretic advantageous lines of play and I've come across a lot of holes that, in my memory were doglegs but when I examine the pictures many just aren't so. They're quite ingenious holes. Perhaps I'm just catching onto something that is obvious to y'all. Gosh, I'm so slow I couldn't stop quick.
!!! (What follows here is tedious to read if you haven't played it and probably moreso if you have. I suggest that you may just go to the last paragraphs for the question. Thank you.) !!!
#1 feels like a dogleg but just bends and one doesn't need to carry a corner. But staying right edge gives better approach.
#3 " " " " " it can be attacked straight on for shortest route.
#4 doglegs unless you're a big hitter with Summer prevailing wind at back
#5 That treacherous par 4 1/2 can be attacked straight on
#7 Straight but huge swale front right suggests to dogleg it from left.
#8 Straight at it.
#9 Slow lazy bend - keep right side for
#10 Straight for it for shortest route
#11 Prime example of a straight dogleg with trouble left on tee shot but for best approach must be flirted with for best approach as the green slopes away from and right to left. The eye says dogleg for safe play but mind says go straight at it.
#12 Dogleg par 3 to avoid sodfaced bunker left center. I saw a 5ish handicapper take at least four strokes to get out.
#13 Strange but exhilirating par 5. It's bigger than we are. Go left, then go left again; some kind of vortex phenomenon will find your ball right fairway.
#14 From the white tee it's almost straight. Anything short or long is fine if it's on line and not in those little bunkers "just large enough for an angry man with his niblick".
#16 Tom Huckaby's favorite hole in the world - after I explain to him why.
Can go almost directly at this hole two ways: with the big stick or playing lower tier right edge. It's a short hole but looks like a dragon. Its breath has burned me many times.
#17 Has that big bite on the right edge but that's for you big hitters to worry about. A brilliant green from any angle. Safe route is slight dogleg left but the pin placement must be considered where to come in from for best scoring potential. There are the newer hooded bunkers left fairway to keep you honest but there's also the far left from the service road (I've discovered the hard way.)
#18 I haven't seen the new 18 but I understand it has wider fairways and has more visibility. If so, this winding snake of a hole was already playable nearly straight til the approach.
These are not suggestions, merely possibilities.
Sorry, I had intended to speak of only a few holes; particularly the 4th, 10th, 11th and 16th.
Those that have played this course know how the wind and land features entice and antagonize the mind.
I guess why I brought this up is the course holes do not look straight at all and most of the fairway centers are doglegs but, for the proficient driver or course manager, there is a lot of strategy to consider. Staying to the inside bends seems obvious to even the beginner but we all know that shakable confidence of ball placement will double dare some into prudence for choosing the safe line. It's almost like the architect David Kidd is saying "Right here, if you dare" over and over but gives the fat fairways for the likes of me to keep me from throwing my bag into the Pacific.
Any other slants on this course or any other layout that constantly bends the straight holes or straightens the doglegs just by virtue of where you choose to go?