If Bandon had a Par 3 course....

[Michael Dugger]

There are three sets of styles in the layout; i.e., three holes of each style of Bandon's three courses.

  Mike Dugger, please relinquish photos upon your return.

Slag,

You know I'll do my best  

[Michael Dugger]

 Also, is the new #1 on Bandon Dunes ready for play? Any comments?

Hopefully I'll get some picture of it for y'all this Sat.

[ceHufnagel]

i just got back from an four-day excursion to bandon dunes.  

i played pacific dunes on wednesday.
bandon dunes and pacific dunes on thursday.
bandon trails and the sheep ranch on friday.
and 36 on pacific dunes on saturday.

needless to say – it was an amazing experience.  and i am tired and a little sore.  the weather held for the most part and the course conditions were pretty amazing given all the rain they have had this winter.  the trails course was the only on which showed some issues with draining.  i was amazed at how firm pac dunes was!

on the two topics at hand – this is what i heard...

they are still deciding what to do with the short game course adjacent to the south range at the practice center.  at this time, it is closed for public use – but will be used by local area high schools for practice sessions.

as for #1 at bandon dunes, the new hole (alternate green) is not yet complete, but should be ready for play by june/july of this year.  this new green will be the one primarily used for resort play, but the original green will be used for tournaments.

apparently there is also some serious dialogue about a fourth course at the resort – adjacent to the land to the northeast of the 14th hole at pacific dunes.

my foursome stayed in one of the grove cottages – it was the perfect set-up for a golf trip.

i will try to post more about my trip along with some questions i have for the resident experts on this board.

chris

[Brad Tufts]

Is this where the Sheep Ranch is or no?  Any rumors as to who would be involved in course #4?  

T-minus 6 days and 20 hrs until I leave to go out there, so we will have to ask around or something.

This course will certainly be the object of quite a bit of publicity and interest from the golf cognecenti, so that should be fun.  And of course the greatest question: Are they going to call it Pacific Trails?  That won't confuse anybody will it....

[Mark Arata]

What was the reason for the change to the Trails 1st green?

[ceHufnagel]

brad– no. the sheep ranch is on a piece of property north of the bandon dunes resort.  you can get a good glimpse of it from the 13th hole at pac dunes.  if you do a search on this website – there are multiple threads on the topic along possible routings and aerial shots of the property.  enjoy your trip.

mark– the change to the #1 hole is at bandon dunes, not bandon trails.  i believe the change is due to the expansion of the infrastructure that supports the resort – i.e. mckee's pub, parking lots, etc. – that run down the right hand side of the 1st fairway.  i believe quite a few tee shots we hitting the new buildings and going way right off the no. 1 tee from either stray shots or people trying to cut the dogleg a little too tight.  the new no. 1 will run straight-away from the tee box.