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Anthony Gray

14 at Pacific Dunes
« on: January 23, 2011, 09:20:47 PM »


  One of the most scenic holes on the planet.Did it always exsist?Are there any preconstruction photos?

  Anthony

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Michael Dugger

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2011, 10:13:58 PM »
It is a decapitated dune. Lopped off the top
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Kyle Henderson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2011, 10:37:50 PM »
From my trip in 2008...
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Jeff Taylor

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2011, 10:40:47 PM »
Dammit Kyle, you get it right every time.
JT
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Bill_McBride

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2011, 10:57:11 PM »
It is the hardest easy looking par 3 in the world.  The bunkering is diabolical.  The wind is sneaky because of the surrounding dunes.
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Alex Miller

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2011, 01:40:57 AM »
I had to hit 5 iron here in my one visit, about 40 yards extra club. Little F*#%er!
« Last Edit: January 24, 2011, 01:47:08 AM by Alex Miller »
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Ivan Lipko

Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2011, 02:24:17 AM »
I believe for the scenic beauty it is comparable to this one (from this web-site) :

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Jeff Doerr

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2011, 10:25:57 AM »
Quote from: Kyle Henderson on January 23, 2011, 10:37:50 PM
From my trip in 2008...


Kyle, truly one of the best I've seen of 14. Thanks, Jeff
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"And so," (concluded the Oldest Member), "you see that golf can be of
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Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +3/-1
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2011, 02:15:25 PM »
Quote from: Michael Dugger on January 23, 2011, 10:13:58 PM
It is a decapitated dune. Lopped off the top

It's a decapitated dune with a bunch of work at the bottom left of it.

When we first found the site for #13, we took Mike Keiser out to see it, and he asked right away how we would get back into the rest of the golf course.  I hadn't really thought about it, but sort of assumed that we would play down into the land where the sixth hole at Old Macdonald is today ... but then Mike asked if we could play a par-3 along the dune tops so we could still see the ocean from tee and green.

We ran with that idea; but it took a lot of work because that dune ridge was VERY sharp and VERY high off the ground.  The green now is maybe ten feet lower than the top of the ridge it was built from, but when we had just done that part, it fell off almost as deeply to the left as it did to the right!  I imagined people going back and forth over it for an hour and then giving up.  So, we made a big cut behind the thirteenth green, to get a road back around to it, and we brought all the sand around and built all the features to the left of #14 green (the bunker, the little dunes that hold it up, etc.), and we raised the lowest area to the left around six feet, too, so that you would have some chance of playing back onto the green from that side.

Don't miss right, we couldn't do anything about that side without spoiling the beauty of what God put over there.
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Will MacEwen

Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #9 on: January 24, 2011, 02:40:25 PM »
Quote from: Bill_McBride on January 23, 2011, 10:57:11 PM
It is the hardest easy looking par 3 in the world.  The bunkering is diabolical.  The wind is sneaky because of the surrounding dunes.

Bill, that is the perfect description.  I have played the hole probably 15 times, sometimes in benign conditions, and I imagine I have had very few routine pars.  My eye can never find a natural bailout, and I guess that is unsettling.

Kyle - nice work with the camera. 
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Kyle Henderson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #10 on: January 24, 2011, 04:22:08 PM »
Thank you for the kind words, fellas. The light that late November evening was pretty spectacular. My dad and I were among the first groups out for the morning and the last to come in after sunset. I hope to return some day soon.
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"I always knew terrorists hated us for our freedom. Now they love us for our bondage." -- Stephen T. Colbert discusses the popularity of '50 Shades of Grey' at Gitmo

Dan Herrmann

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #11 on: January 24, 2011, 04:46:48 PM »
Threads like this are why I love GCA.com.  Thanks!
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Doug Wright

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #12 on: January 24, 2011, 04:55:52 PM »
Quote from: Tom_Doak on January 24, 2011, 02:15:25 PM
Don't miss right, we couldn't do anything about that side without spoiling the beauty of what God put over there.

No kidding! I'd played the short 14th many times over the years and always thought of the 14th and the following par 5 15th as a fairly easy stretch at Pacific Dunes--until this past fall, when I missed short and right and ended up down the dune/hill in a bunker that borders the 13th fairway. Though not as daunting as a shot from cavernous bunker to the left of Pacific Dunes #6 green, this blind shot must be played over a lot of other bad stuff including the dead? tree you can see in Kyle's photo and the greenside bunker to reach the green. Unspoiled beauty indeed!  

« Last Edit: January 24, 2011, 04:57:52 PM by Doug Wright »
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Jeff_Mingay

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #13 on: January 24, 2011, 05:05:12 PM »
Yeah... beautiful photo, Kyle; of one of the prettiest holes at Pacific Dunes, in my opinion.

Tom D.'s description of the hole's creation is yet another reason his possible book on the "making of Pacific Dunes" will be very interesting, and important to the history of golf course architecture.
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jeffmingay.com

Mike Hogan

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #14 on: January 24, 2011, 06:45:56 PM »
Here is another shot.

Bunker on right is deeper then it looks.
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Carl Rogers

Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #15 on: January 24, 2011, 07:24:24 PM »
Quote from: Tom_Doak on January 24, 2011, 02:15:25 PM
Quote from: Michael Dugger on January 23, 2011, 10:13:58 PM
It is a decapitated dune. Lopped off the top

It's a decapitated dune with a bunch of work at the bottom left of it.

When we first found the site for #13, we took Mike Keiser out to see it, and he asked right away how we would get back into the rest of the golf course.  I hadn't really thought about it, but sort of assumed that we would play down into the land where the sixth hole at Old Macdonald is today ... but then Mike asked if we could play a par-3 along the dune tops so we could still see the ocean from tee and green.
....
Tom,
If you did not build that hole, where would you have built the substitute and what would it have been?
« Last Edit: January 25, 2011, 07:12:04 AM by Carl Rogers »
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Pete_Pittock

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #16 on: January 24, 2011, 10:12:38 PM »
The original routing map after Mike Keiser signed off on the course has it as a blank space with a generic hole drawn in as a place saver. The hole looked great  today in nearly windless with blue sky weather.
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Carl Nichols

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #17 on: January 24, 2011, 10:16:09 PM »
Unbelievably beautiful par 3 (and a great pic, Kyle), but perhaps not even the most beautiful on the course.
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Tim Book

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #18 on: January 24, 2011, 11:25:18 PM »
Hitting into the left bunker on 14 on my initial round at PD left a scare.  Kind of like touching the stove.  Never ever ever again!  What a fantastic little hole.
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Duncan Betts

Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #19 on: January 24, 2011, 11:31:14 PM »
Quote from: Bill_McBride on January 23, 2011, 10:57:11 PM
It is the hardest easy looking par 3 in the world.  The bunkering is diabolical.  The wind is sneaky because of the surrounding dunes.

Nope, I think the 7th at Barnbougle takes that prize.  Although it doesn't always look easy.
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Kyle Henderson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #20 on: January 25, 2011, 01:46:54 AM »
Quote from: Carl Nichols on January 24, 2011, 10:16:09 PM
Unbelievably beautiful par 3 (and a great pic, Kyle), but perhaps not even the most beautiful on the course.

Which other(s) did you have in mind...









« Last Edit: January 25, 2011, 01:48:47 AM by Kyle Henderson »
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"I always knew terrorists hated us for our freedom. Now they love us for our bondage." -- Stephen T. Colbert discusses the popularity of '50 Shades of Grey' at Gitmo

Garland Bayley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #21 on: January 25, 2011, 03:03:20 AM »
Quote from: Kyle Henderson on January 24, 2011, 04:22:08 PM
Thank you for the kind words, fellas. The light that late November evening was pretty spectacular. My dad and I were among the first groups out for the morning and the last to come in after sunset. I hope to return some day soon.


I'm wondering if late evening sun near the winter solstice illuminates holes traveling south in a special manner that you might also see with late evening sun near the summer solstice illuminating holes traveling north. I wonder if Aidan is following this thread.
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"I enjoy a course where the challenges are contained WITHIN it, and recovery is part of the game  not a course where the challenge is to stay ON it." Jeff Warne

Carl Nichols

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #22 on: January 25, 2011, 08:55:42 AM »
Quote from: Kyle Henderson on January 25, 2011, 01:46:54 AM
Quote from: Carl Nichols on January 24, 2011, 10:16:09 PM
Unbelievably beautiful par 3 (and a great pic, Kyle), but perhaps not even the most beautiful on the course.

Which other(s) did you have in mind...











I'm partial to 10 . . . .
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Carl Rogers

Re: 14 at Pacific Dunes
« Reply #23 on: January 26, 2011, 03:03:51 PM »
Have there been any aces at 14, 10, 11 & 17 at PD?
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