[Bill Shamleffer]

The Making of Pacific Dunes  $50.00  $40.00

https://www.doakgolf.com/product/the-making-of-pacific-dunes/

Description
From the day he first set foot on the property, Tom Doak knew that the second course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort was the project he had spent twenty years training for.
In The Making of Pacific Dunes, Doak shares his experience in building the course from that first day, explaining how he found each hole and put the routing together, and what his crew did and didn’t do to build this ‘distractingly beautiful and unfailingly challenging golf course’.
Doak’s own journal entries, sketches of greens, and memos from his client, Mike Keiser, are combined with stunning photography [before and after] to supplement his recollections of how the course was built, and what it’s meant in the twenty years since it opened.
If you have played Pacific Dunes – this book will enhance your memories of it.  If you are going to play Pacific Dunes, you need this book to heighten your awareness and insight of how to play it.

[Tommy Williamsen]

[PCCraig]

Well - certainly an easy decision. Just placed my order. And it's out and available now?

[Tom_Doak]

Well - certainly an easy decision. Just placed my order. And it's out and available now?

The book is at the printer and we should have them to start shipping the last week of June.


Incidentally, that cover photo was taken by me when I first saw the site of the 13th hole.  We came into the site from the road down to the beach, and got to 13 via what’s now 14 tee.  I asked Jim Urbina to stand in the fairway (that’s him in the red jacket) while I paced off the distance back to the obvious site for a tee.


Also, I got to play there yesterday morning!

[Peter Pallotta]

Tom - that cover photo and your description remind me of an experience I have with my son. He's an avid rock climber and boulderer, and when I go out with him to the 'boulder forest' all I can see are these huge smooth-faced monoliths that sternly say 'you shall not pass!' But what my son sees instead are dozens of tiny cracks and subtle footholds and various 'routes' by which he can climb unaided up and over these monoliths. I've watched him staring at a hundred such boulders now, looking for possible routes and then tackling them over and over until he can climb up and 'top out' -- and I *still* can't 'see' what he sees.
In a similar vein: you're a fine writer and an even better communicator, but one thing I don't think you or anyone else can truly share/communicate is what you are able to 'see' with someone else who really can't. I look at that photo and that hill and Jim standing there and there's nothing at all 'obvious' to me about it; all I can imagine there is a rustic log-cabin with a little fire pit nearby!

[Tom_Doak]

Peter:


Mostly what I saw was a space 400+ yards long, narrower at both ends but +/- 75 yards wide.  I think most people would have recognized that one. 


The lucky part was that I knew the guy who owned it. 😉

[JMEvensky]

Peter:


Mostly what I saw was a space 400+ yards long, narrower at both ends but +/- 75 yards wide.  I think most people would have recognized that one. 


The lucky part was that I knew the guy who owned it. 😉

I'm with Peter. You could put me, and maybe Peter too, exactly where you were standing and there's no chance I would see a finished golf hole. Or, more likely, I'd see a different/worse golf hole.


You, or any other course architect, being able to see a good finished golf hole is what differentiates you from the rest of us who see an open field and start mentally designing holes. We could design a golf course--it just wouldn't be any good.

[Terry Lavin]

In my years of being involved in course renovations all the while playing “new” golf courses like Dismal River, Sand Hills and all of the Bandon courses, my main takeaway is that great architects have PhotoShop vision. They can look at something already in existence and see how it could be better presented. They can look at a plot of undeveloped land and gradually see an amazing golf course.


That is art, plain and simple, despite all of the dirt!

[Pete_Pittock]

I had to roll under a barbed wire fence to get that view. I could see that there would be a world-class hole would be there, but little beyond that, other then they would have to sand-cap the hardscrabble surface.

[Tom_Doak]

You, or any other course architect, being able to see a good finished golf hole is what differentiates you from the rest of us who see an open field and start mentally designing holes. We could design a golf course--it just wouldn't be any good.

Well, I had 18 years’ experience at that moment, and certainly I agree that a novice putting together 18 good holes is unlikely.


But if you couldn’t see that 13 at Pacific Dunes was going to be great, as Pete did, maybe it’s best that you’ve kept golf architecture as a hobby. 😉

[Bob_Garvelink]

I cant wait to get my copy and I made sure my wife is aware for a bday present   I am really looking forward to this read


On a side note I will be taking my first trip to Bandon in mid June this year and I cannot wait.  I have heard that there has been a lot less rain that normal for this time of year.


Tom - Were the courses in pretty good shape considering the dry spring (at least that is what a buddy has told me about lack of rain)

[Tom_Doak]

Tom - Were the courses in pretty good shape considering the dry spring (at least that is what a buddy has told me about lack of rain)

Old Mac was in excellent shape.  Pacific Dunes very good, but a few more divots from all the winter play.  The Sheep Ranch is a little rougher after 45,000 rounds in its first year; there are a couple of greens that could use a week off!

[Dave McCollum]

Tom,

There appears to be a fire burning in the background of the cover photo.  One of those brush fires that just happened?  Might help those having difficulty seeing the future if the same happened to the foreground.


I look forward to reading your latest. 


 

[Tom_Doak]

Tom,

There appears to be a fire burning in the background of the cover photo.  One of those brush fires that just happened?  Might help those having difficulty seeing the future if the same happened to the foreground.
 

Dave:


The photo was taken in March, 1999.  While I was working on the routing for Pacific Dunes, another crew was clearing and burning gorse up at The Sheep Ranch.  But they dug it up in pieces and burned in piles, instead of setting the ground on fire.  They actually seeded the whole property that spring, sans irrigation, which made it much easier for us to work on routings in 2000-01.

[Garland Bayley]

Peter:


Mostly what I saw was a space 400+ yards long, narrower at both ends but +/- 75 yards wide.  I think most people would have recognized that one. 


The lucky part was that I knew the guy who owned it. 😉

I'm with Peter. You could put me, and maybe Peter too, exactly where you were standing and there's no chance I would see a finished golf hole. Or, more likely, I'd see a different/worse golf hole.


You, or any other course architect, being able to see a good finished golf hole is what differentiates you from the rest of us who see an open field and start mentally designing holes. We could design a golf course--it just wouldn't be any good.

The picture on the book cover doesn't show the biggest feature of the golf hole (yes, it's bigger than the dune). Perhaps a little wider view would have given you an inkling of what could be there.

[Tom_Doak]

The photo does wrap around the dust jacket to the back cover.

[Ian Andrew]

Did you change much from the first the version you put together around the time of Dream Golf ?

[Tom_Doak]

Ian:


Yes, it’s similar, but with much better pictures and graphics - Sara did a great job putting things together.

[Dave Duevel]

Just finished reading. Very well done, and incredibly thorough. The topo map on pg 27 with the Kidd and Doak holes overlapping was neat. Fun to see the different ideas with the same piece of land.


Hoping for more "The Making of..." books in the future.

[Ronald Montesano]

That's "original sheep ranch" for you neophytes and ne'er do wells. Not the current sheep ranch.

[Brad Engel]

Recently finished going through my copy as well, found a number of interesting nuggets throughout my read! I highly recommend it as it was a quick and easy read with tons of pictures like topo maps, previous iterations of the routing and construction photos. As I was reading it, I truly felt like I got a glimpse inside of Tom’s brain as he was designing and building the course.

General Architecture:

• I learned that golf course design is way more of a team effort, including the owner, than I would have ever imagined, especially once they are in the field.
• Golf course design is truly an artform, especially for architects like doak. He said they only referenced the original plan a few times once they actually started working.
• I was amazed at how architects can see both the big picture of a property to figure out flow/pacing, but then get down to the tiny details like the strategy for how players will use specific tiny knobs on/around the greens and in fairways. This was especially true for how they can “see” green sites. Looking at the pictures, they weren’t obvious to me!
• It might be obvious to others, but I was not aware that courses aren’t usually built in sequential order. For instance, Pacific Dunes started with 10th and 11th holes because they were the ones closest to the existing irrigation system at Bandon Dunes.

Pacific Dunes:
Routing:

• Doak’s early routing had to be changed because Kaiser gave Kidd 50 acres of newly purchased land to reroute a portion of the front 9 at Bandon Dunes (holes 5-8)
• They originally wanted to build a dramatic downhill par-3 like the 7th at Pebble where the 4th hole is now

Inspiration/Comparisons

• Doak believes the Pacific Dunes combines the aesthetic of Royal County Down (grasses, gorse, blowout bunkers) with the routing pacing of Portrush
• As they were building it, the analogy they used was Pebble Beach:Bandon Dunes and Cypress Point:Pacific Dunes. Lofty expectations indeed!
• For those that have played Doak courses, you’ll recall he is a big fan of good short par-4s. This is driven at least in part because some of his favorite courses like St. Andrew’s, Royal Melbourne and Crystal Downs all have them. Two of the best examples at Pacific Dunes are the 7th and 16th holes.
• The inspiration for the 3rd hole was the par-5 5th hole at Shinnecock.
• When he found the 16th green, it reminded him of the 10th at Riviera or the 9th at Cypress Point

Construction:

• They intentionally stopped construction a few months in and had to restart due to dry, windy weather
• Excavators were used instead of bulldozers when constructed the bunkers so they could be more delicate and not disrupt the surrounding vegetation
• To appease Keiser, Doak significantly toned down the greens compared to his previous courses and instead focused on the contours around green to provide intrigue and difficulty.
• In order to account for prevailing seasonal winds, they had to do a number of things around the greens to accommodate extreme conditions such as adding run up areas in front of greens for when they would play downwind.

Random Nuggets:

• The caddies used to have a “Par Pool” where they all put a $1 in every round and if everyone in their foursome made a 4 at the 16th, the pot would pay out to that group. The pot was up to thousands of dollars, not sure if anyone ever won!
• During construction, they gave many of the bunkers names (ala St. Andrews). You’ll need to read it to find out what they are!

[Robin_Hiseman]

Just finished reading my copy this morning. It was every bit as enjoyable as I thought it would be and a very personal insight into the creation of the course.


I am very glad that I took the effort to travel to Bandon from the UK back in 2007 and got to play PD three times in quick succession. This book has helped to bring back some vivid memories of that week. I was there at the end of April, before the summer winds set in, so didn't see the holes in their anticipated guise. I think the wind was pretty much down all week as I recall. You don't have to have been there to really enjoy this book, but it certainly makes it better for having played it.


Great job Tom and thanks for putting this out there for all of us to enjoy.

[Dave Duevel]

These Golf Digest drone videos are consistently some of the best media out there today. The best ones, in my opinion, are the course tours that are narrated by the original architect. The newest video out is Pacific Dunes, and Tom does the play-by-play. It is a great complement to his newest book, and a must watch.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=032ePISToJs

[David_Elvins]

Tom,


Congratulations on a great book, for what its worth I have no problem declaring it my favorite golf book of all time.  Thank you.


My favorite feature in the book was the pre-construction photos but I did note that they were not ubiquitous throughout.  Was this for balance or did they just not exist for every hole?


How often do you take photos of a site before a course is constructed? And what have you used these photos for?

[Thomas Dai]

What a splendid video by Golf Digest that DD has linked above. Thanks.
The course looks simply amazing and having the GD video narrated by Tom D himself is an extra bonus.
Only wish technology had been around at the time that would’ve let us hear MacKenzie speak about Royal Melbourne or the Jockey Club or ANGC etc or Colt talk about Sunningdale or Portrush etc or Fowler talk about Saunton or Westward Ho or Walton Heath etc.
Atb

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