A Fan's Photo Tribute to Pacific Dunes - 18th hole commentary now in progress

[Tim Bert]

I know the course has been discussed to death, but I don't recall seeing a detailed photo essay of the course.  Ran's profile of the course is quite detailed.  He does include several photos, more so than on some of his other profiles, but I'm talking about several pictures per hole.

I love the course, and I've got 200 photos from three different trips burning a hole in my pocket.  Going through them to decide what to post here is a nice way to re-live the course for me.  I thought some that have never been and experienced the course live might enjoy this exercise as well.  This is intended to be much more of a photo tour than a review of the course.  Please consider when you read my limited comments that all of my trips have taken place in the summer months and I've always been faced with the prevailing summer wind from the north.

I'll be posting one hole at a time.  Feel free to pile on with your own favorite photos of the current hole if you'd like.

Without further ado...  the best public golf course I've ever played.

Hole #1

The 1st is a quirky and potentially uncomfortable start for the first-time visitor (I speak from experience.)  I just didn't have a good feel for where I wanted to hit the ball and how much club I wanted to hit when standing on the tee.  One thing is for sure, you don't want to be in the massive dune to the right.  I was embarassed to find myself there my first time around after trying to start the round with a "safe" 6-iron.  I felt a bit of redemption on my 2nd trip when one of my playing partners put the ball in the same spot and had equal difficulty in extracting the ball from the sand mounds back to the field of play.  It's not a pretty place to play, but it really shouldn't come into play in the first place.

After repeated plays, I really enjoy the hole and I'm much less intimidated standing on the first tee.  In general, the hole is a bit underwhelming compared to some of the other par 4s on the front nine, but consider the company!  The green can be tricky to read and feels much smaller than most of the greens to follow.  Its setting carved into the surrounding dune is a nice start to the round.

All-in-all, a good start to a great experience! 

From the back tee


The view from the slightly less intimidating middle tee


Dont miss the tee shot to the right


The approach from the middle of the fairway


First look at the green


The green from behind


New addition - I found this one that shows the nice contours of the 1st fairway on the approach

[John Sheehan]

Tim,
Thanks for posting - brings back some good memories.  That green complex is quite extraordinary.  I last played there over a year ago and the memories were starting to get a bit fuzzy. This brings it all back.  I'd swear that greenside bunker appears to be eroding before my very eyes.  So natural, so ruggedly beautiful.  Looking forward the next in your series.  Great idea to break them out like this.

[Jim Johnson]

Great idea Tim, thanks for sharing!

[Scott Szabo]

Tim,

Thanks in advance for the upcoming posts.  As someone who has not had the privilege of a trip to Bandon, I look forward to seeing a hole by hole.

Scott

[Phil McDade]

Tim:

I'll add my thanks as well. A guy I met at Lawsonia last fall was spending his retirement going through the (GD?) list of the top 100 publics, and said -- by far -- PacDunes was the best he'd played so far, and he was about halfway through it.

[Tom Huckaby]

Great idea!  This will be a lot of fun.

So, regarding hole 1... some dislike this hole... not me.  I love it.  It's a quirky beginnng to a pretty quirky golf course - and I use that as a term of affection and admiration.  I find it in this way to be the perfect introduction - it smacks you right away that we're not in Kansas any more, Toto.

Love the humps and bumps and the difficult pitches they inevitably leave...

TH

[Dan Herrmann]

Can one play the back tee up on the dune anytime they want now?

IIRC, it requred a shot over the 'clubhouse'.

[Mark Pearce]

Forthose of us who don't know Bandon, can you tell us what the length of the hole is?

[tlavin]

One hole at a time?  Do you drink your beer by the teaspoon?  Start pouring, Tim!

Having said that, Pac Dunes is my favorite public course as well.

[Stan Dodd]

Tim,
My affection for PD runs deeps.  I look forward to your tour.  I have been around PD 8 or 9 times and it grows in my view with each play.  I was fortunate last time to play with 2 time Cal Am Champion and it impressive to me how well the course hold its challenge for the 8 handicapper as well as the scratch player.  I have played in sunshine, fog, drizzle, rain, sideways rain, sleet and a gale and all that was in the same round.
I get much the same feelings at PD as I do playing Cypress Point...joy, mystery, thrill, fun and let's do it again.
Thanks for posting this.

[Tom Huckaby]

Forthose of us who don't know Bandon, can you tell us what the length of the hole is?

370 from the black tee
304 from green (most common)
287 from gold

My affection for PD runs very deep also; and it's also grown each time I've played it.  Man I'd love to get up there again.  Keep the tour moving, Tim! 

 

[Matt OBrien]

I felt the same discomfort last week when I was there. Maybe it was the 3 hours of sleep I was running on but besides that I guess i was too tired to think and hit a bunt driver down the middle and got lucky. The second time I played there I knew to stay left but I found myself in the 7th fairway. I think its a great opening hole.

[Patrick Glynn]

Tim - great post. Really takes me back! Can not wait for the rest of your post.

[Kalen Braley]

Dan,

The way back hidden tee isn't a shot over the clubhouse but you do hit it over the 18th green.  IIRC it plays at 400+ from this tee.

Tim,

Good pics, and they still don't do that hole justice.  The undulations and humps and bumps in that first fairwary are very cool.  And if your anywhere in the right half of it, its a totally blind shot into the green.

Very good opening hole!!

Edit.

Just checked the distances on google earth.

401 - Hidden tee
371 - Back tee
302 - Middle tee

[Tom Huckaby]

Kalen - that would jive with the distances I posted, which are from the on-line scorecard.

I've never played from the hidden tee though I have gone up and seen that tee, admiring the view... I have hit from the 370 tee a few times, and it works from there.  From the hidden tee is a VERY long carry to reach the fairway, isn't it?  Google-earth that if you would be so kind.

TH

[Kalen Braley]

Kalen - that would jive with the distances I posted, which are from the on-line scorecard.

I've never played from the hidden tee though I have gone up and seen that tee, admiring the view... I have hit from the 370 tee a few times, and it works from there.  From the hidden tee is a VERY long carry to reach the fairway, isn't it?  Google-earth that if you would be so kind.

TH

Tom,

I've never scrambled up there to take a look, but I do recall looking up there when I was playing 18 and thinking my god what a opening tee shot that would be.

The carry to the "fairway" isn't all that bad because it starts at the bottom side of the dune as the picture shows.  This carry is about 205 yards.  But being down there is not where you want to be on this hole as you know. To carry to the part of the fairway where you want to be on top of the duneline, its a good 260-270 yards.  So into the prevailing wind would indeed require a mighty blow to be in any kind of decent position for the approach in.

[Tom Huckaby]

Kalen - thanks.

This hole plays pretty much dead into the prevailing summer wind... so that 205 could even get problematic!  I think it's a good thing that tee is hidden.  That is one heck of a shot to expect on a first tee.  But on the other hand, for today's big bombers, well... it might provoke some fear... which is a good thing.

TH

[Kalen Braley]

Kalen - thanks.

This hole plays pretty much dead into the prevailing summer wind... so that 205 could even get problematic!  I think it's a good thing that tee is hidden.  That is one heck of a shot to expect on a first tee.  But on the other hand, for today's big bombers, well... it might provoke some fear... which is a good thing.

TH

I would think so.

Even playing from the 304 yard tees into that wind, you know that even a slight fade to the right side is going to end up in that dune and then your looking at a big number to start the round.

Its a very intimidating opening tee shot for sure, but there really is a lot more room up there than it looks. 

[Tom Huckaby]

Heck yeah - it's a tough shot from any tee.  But one does soon learn that one can go VERY far left and still be alive.  Avoiding the dunes on the right is paramount.  I just feel bad for those whose prevailing shot is left to right.  I'd add an emoticon here, but I don't want to be accused of using literary crutches.

TH

[Kalen Braley]

Heck yeah - it's a tough shot from any tee.  But one does soon learn that one can go VERY far left and still be alive.  Avoiding the dunes on the right is paramount.  I just feel bad for those whose prevailing shot is left to right.  I'd add an emoticon here, but I don't want to be accused of using literary crutches.

TH

Tom,

Lol...your memory is good **sigh**.  But I'm working on it.  By next year this time I'll be crushing em long like the silver fox and working the ball right to left.   

[Mike Demetriou]

Tim, I leave in less than 7 days - HURRY UP AND POST THE REST!

[Tim Bert]

Sorry guys, but this is an evening pet project, so it will be done slowly.  The goal is to allow for anyone interested to post additional pictures or commentary of the hole in question throughout the following day.

I'll be posting one hole per evening, and there may be a few days I have to take off in the middle of the process.  The anticipation kills me more than you guys, and I'm the one with the photos. 

I'm glad some of you are enjoying the concept.  Carry on!

[Tom Huckaby]

Tim - just giving you a hard time - I think this will be a great way to do it - just like George Pazin did re Oakmont.  Very, very cool.

I have zero pics but of course I can always offer comments.

TH

[Mike Benham]

Dan,

The way back hidden tee isn't a shot over the clubhouse but you do hit it over the 18th green.  IIRC it plays at 400+ from this tee.

Note:  Posted without permission from the R Simper Collection, February 2007


My only regret on the first hole was my brainless strategy of hitting driver, dead cold with the first swing of each morning.

[Jim Colton]

I love the idea of the photo essay.  The pictures of the 1st bring back fond memories of my first round at PD where I knocked it to a foot on the 1st, the perfect start to a 5-birdie round (thanks to #13 I still shot 78).