Half decade of good fortune

[Michael Dugger]

I have been lucky to play many of the best golf courses in my region over the past five years.  Below are some of my favorite pictures from these adventures.  I hope you all enjoy...

Gotta love Bandon; deer wandering outside our Chrome Lake rooms.  



Nothing beats a fried egg in Bandon's A-hole.



My buddy Chris dubs Langdon Farm's short 6th "Army Helmet."  



Here is the one shot 17th hole at Eastmoreland.  Some around here hold this course in a little higher regard than might be warranted.  This green is always in terrible shape, but you cannot dispute there is a certain "wow!" factor involved with the inward nine holes at this old Egan design.



Below is one of the holes on the back nine at Black Butte Big Meadow, in Bend, OR.  They have two courses here, one by Robert Muir Graves and one by "Bunny" Mason.  Playing underneath mammoth Black Butte, as shown in the picture, is pretty cool.



Here two golfers prepare to tackle the wall of grass which makes up the driving challenge at the 9th at Pacific Dunes.



What I love about this image is one player is smiling, holding his putter and a beer as he approaches the epic 13th at Pacific.  Another, has his head hung low venturing off to find his ball in the gunk right.



I was blessed to play Fazio's Pronghorn course on a perfect fall day.  This is the first hole, just a sign of the fantastic things to come.



Like this hole, the par 3 16th, notice the tee was not entirely grown in yet.



Another view of the 13th, is there a better place on the course than the 13th green?



I had my second Fazio experience at Aldarra this past winter.



Below is the short one shot 8th hole at Camas Meadows.  There is some good golf to be found on this course.



Here two more of my golfing companions tackle Bandon's copy cat Devil's &$# hole bunker.  Newbies to the resort seem to think this is an original name.  It irks me.



This is the 4th at Heron Lakes Great Blue.  I recently learned Kyle Phillips was the "Jay Blasi" of this project.  



Here is a hole at Redtail, what was formerly Progress Downs in Portland, OR.  



This is the 17th at Chambers Bay.  What a course!



This is Aspen Lakes in Sisters, OR.  Gotta love the unique red sand bunkers.  It is quite the golf course, quirky at times, but beautiful.



More Aspen Lakes.  Designer William Overdorf chimes in here from time to time.  I had some more pictures of this course but lost 'em when my windows crashed.  These don't really do it justice.....



Below is Harbottle's Juniper GC in Redmond, OR.  I can't say enough good things about this course.  With a more dramatic set of par 3s, I would speak of this course in the same breath as those at Pronghorn.



Below are two more I took at the Chambers Bay outing.  The scale of this course is massive.





Here is a view of the "Three Sisters" mountain range and Broken Top from Juniper GC.  It was kinda hazy that day but what a view!



Here is where a hooked drive on the 18th at Pacific Dunes comes to rest.  And John Kavanaugh once wondered what made this hole very good?



Here is a green complex from one of the holes at Eagle Crest.  This is the Ridge course, which was designed "in house."  It is a solid layout, in my opinion, they have at Eagle Crest.  Play it!



And lastly, the Sheep Ranch.  This is looking north, from pretty far south.  Notice how the coast line bends up to the left.  The Sheep Ranch isn't linksy like Pacific Dunes, but more Pebble Beach like, with epic cliffs over ocean.
 

[Kalen Braley]

Thanks Michael....that was very awesome....

Brought back some great memories of Pacific Dunes...

[Jordan Wall]

Michael,

What a view of Aldarra's 14th.
The background is so different than when I have ever seen it.
Its a great hole.

As for the rest of the pictures, they're all great.
I had quite the pleasure meeting with you and hope to further a discussion of gca with you next time we see each other, when hopefully I have played more of the course you have showcased.

Cheers,
Jordan

[Dan Herrmann]

Thanks for the pictures. Brings back some good memories of my 9 years in Oregon.

It's a shame if Eastmoreland isn't being properly maintained.  I played a day after the USGA Publinx and it was in better shape than any private club I every played in Portland (and I think I played most all of them).

Amazing how much more golf there is out there now.  When I lived in Beaverton, I needed to join a club out by PDX airport because there just wasn't much out on the western side of town.  Boy, how things have changed!

I'm really intrigued by Juniper.  I love Redmond, and a good course there would be wonderful.  

[Patrick_Mucci]

Michael,

Those are nice photos.
What kind of camera do you use.

Where do they get the red sand from ?
Is it native or imported ?

[Michael Dugger]

Michael,

Those are nice photos.
What kind of camera do you use.

Patrick,

Thank you.  Believe it or not I took most of those pictures with many cameras.  I had one stolen.    I have friends who let me borrow theirs.  I shoot for at least 5 million mega pixels, that way you can crop them in photoshop and still get a decent resolution.  Turn off the digital soom ALWAYS.  But zoom in as much as possible for better quality.  I would not own a digital camera that was not Sony or Canon.  I have been let down with the performance of everything else I've ever owned, but keep in mind these are mostly less than $1000 digital cameras.  

Where do they get the red sand from ?
Is it native or imported ?

I suspect the red sand is native, as many of the highway in this region look similar.  It's pumice, I believe, there is a rich volcanic history in the central oregon area.

But of course William Overdorf would be the man to ask, like I mentioned, he chimes in here from time to time....

[Patrick_Mucci]

Michael, et. al.,

What's the best method for capturing internal puttting surface contours ?

Is there a prefered time of day or optimum angle for making the contours stand out ?

[Dan Herrmann]

Patrick,
About 30 minutes before sunset or after sunrise is usually great for emphasizing contour.  Ideally, a day with low humidity (like tomorrow in PA/NJ) is wonderful.

A digital camera is fantastic because you an take a ton of pictures and ignore the bad ones.  In the old, silver-film days, you'd need to pay to develop and print (assuming you didn't have a darkroom, which was expensive enough).

Play with filters too.  I've had some good luck with a polarizing filter.  Got some great shots at ANGC with that setup - just past dawn on a low humidity day with a polarizing filter and a Sony camera.

But have fun and try things

[Joe Hancock]

5 million mega pixels?....wow.....

[PThomas]

nice Mike thanks

and re that spot on Pac Dunes 18, I was just about in the same place...played out backwards toward the tee, hit a 4iron for my 4th to 5 feet ...then missed the par putt

[TEPaul]

Are those things in the face of the bunker in the third photos actually wooden sleepers?

[Garland Bayley]

Tom,

The face of that bunker is concrete. Duffers beware!