What if Bandon only had one course?

[Brian Moran]

I recently returned from a second trip to Bandon and came away with a better appreciation of each course. Having played each a few times now, I can see how any one of them could be someone's favorite. That's what makes Bandon special, is that all courses exude great design and not one can be considered the "signature course", akin to Pebble or Pinehurst No. 2. Sure, you may have some that detest the wild greens at Old Mac or love the exhilaration of hitting shots along the ocean at Bandon, but no course ranking is consistent among all guests. No trip is complete without seeing all of them.

The original Bandon Dunes was obviously routed with the subsequent courses in mind. The resort wouldn't have been viable with just one course, however, my recent trip made me wonder: how good could Bandon have been if a great architect used the best land possible for just one course?

Very amateurishly, I came up with a routing on my way home from Bandon that used the idea behind Cypress Point's routing - combining forest, dunes, and ocean. I've attached it below, but know the qualms of attaching images here. It incorporates holes 1, 2, 16 (in reverse), 14, 15, 4, 18 at Trails before heading across the green to the 10th green at Bandon, proceeding with 11, 12, 16 on that course, a driveable hole from the 17th tee to about the 14th green, before turning back to the dunescape that lies on and beyond the current Preserve (I noticed on a run down to the ocean both how large and cool the property west of the preserve is).

Where would you have routed a course if you were tasked with building one fantastic course on Bandon's massive property? Do you think that such a feat could have made the resort viable or as successful?

[Ronald Montesano]

a curiosity

[Tom_Doak]

The original Bandon Dunes was obviously routed with the subsequent courses in mind. The resort wouldn't have been viable with just one course, however, my recent trip made me wonder: how good could Bandon have been if a great architect used the best land possible for just one course?

Brian:


It doesn't sabotage the premise of your thread, but the original Bandon Dunes was not routed with the subsequent courses in mind.  When David Kidd started his routing, Mr. Keiser owned the land for most of Bandon Dunes and Bandon Trails, but nothing north of the 3rd fairway at Bandon Dunes . . . including the 5th green and 6th through 8th holes of the original course.


When they were halfway through the construction of the first course, the landowner to the north went bankrupt, and Mr. Keiser was able to acquire that property.  David Kidd suggested that Mike let him start over and build a course all along the coast, but Mike decided to save a lot of that land for future golf, though he did let David re-route his front nine to its current form [which was a significant improvement, I think].


And that's how I wound up with the best part of the property to build Pacific Dunes.


Also FYI, when they started talking about the U.S. Amateur, there was a proposal floated to play the event on a composite of Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes, because that would look even better on TV.  A proposed routing that was sent to me was going to have the 13th at Pacific for the 18th hole.  I volunteered that I wouldn't recommend that, because it kind of suggested that neither course was good enough to host the event.  Bandon Dunes was built long, just in case they were ever to host such an event . . . and during the planning of Pacific I used to tell Mike that Pacific Dunes didn't need to be that long, because if they ever had a big event it would be on Bandon Dunes.  So, it was fine with me for them to just use Bandon for the US Am, instead of trying to split the baby.

[Michael Chadwick]

Brian, I'd like to see your proposed routing, but it doesn't seem to have attached properly.


I recommend you upload the photo on Flickr, then click the arrow button on that site to share the photo, and select the BBCode set to medium 800 x 533. That'll generate a link that you then copy. Once pasted into GCA, the image will appear.


Or, you can PM me and we can swap it via email and I can post it for you.