Gene "Bunny" Mason Passes

[Pete_Pittock]

      Gene "Bunny" Mason, club pro, teaching professional and course architect, died Sunday night at the age of 81 from effects of a stroke earlier in the week. His first head pro stint was at Salem (OR) Golf Club, later at Columbia Edgewater CC, where the practice area par 3 course is named for him. He took up golf course design and did both courses at the Black Butte Resort, which have since been remodeled, He remained in a teaching capacity at that facility. Also designed Oregon courses  Awbrey Glen, Crooked River Ranch, Eagle Crest, Persimmon and others. He was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Section PGA Hall of Fame 29 years ago.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Columbia Edgewater. May he rest in peace and condolences to the family.

     He did a good job routing courses on difficult properties.

[Michael Taylor]

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

[Bill_McBride]

Sorry to hear that, Peter.  Bunny Mason was a very nice guy, I met him and chatted several times when I was a non-resident member at Columbia-Edgewater.  Actually, it's the par 3 course that he designed and is named for him ("The Mason Course").

I never did ask him what he was thinking when he designed the first hole at one of the Black Butte courses, a par 5 with a mandatory lay up off the tee.

He told me that he designed one of the first courses in Bend, and the then mayor told him the Bend golf market was "over built."  How many courses are there in that Bend-Redmond area today?

[JohnV]

Bill, the hole you are thinking of is on the Glaze Meadows course.  4-iron-9-iron-9-iron is the best way to play it.

Every course of Bunny's I saw had some strange hole or routing to it.  He was quirky to the extreme at times.

[Bill_McBride]

Bill, the hole you are thinking of is on the Glaze Meadows course.  4-iron-9-iron-9-iron is the best way to play it.

Every course of Bunny's I saw had some strange hole or routing to it.  He was quirky to the extreme at times.

That's the one.  Everything else was quite nice!

[Garland Bayley]

Quirk is what you call it eh?

Persimmon par 4 9th, and 18th.

Driver, 7 iron chip, gap wedge on both.

 

[Pete_Pittock]

Most of the properties he was given for designing a golf course were of dubious terrain and scrimpy acreage with Awbrey Glen and Persimmon leaping to mind.  There are some odd, or unconventional, holes that resulted while routing 18 holes but I would be among the last to fault Bunny (except for Glaze Meadow par 5 1st), and maybe he was trying to identify golfers who could move the ball in both directions. The last OGA tournament I worked at the glaze had numerous players reach the green in two. He certainly identified a lot of players who can't. I prefer to remember him for Awbrey Glen #13 http://www.awbreyglen.com/Club/Scripts/Home/home.asp

Black Butte Big Meadow is a course I enjoy playing when in good nick, and it has a good views and routing that accentuates them.
I think the Eagle Crest course he built was the original Resort course.

Garland: Persimmon 9 and 18 are a drive and a long iron/fairway wood for short hitting me, you need to work on accuracy and self-confidence .

Bill: I will revise the CECC, excuse me I am working multilple 14 hour days at the Oregon Am.

[Bill_McBride]

Bill: I will revise the CECC, excuse me I am working multilple 14 hour days at the Oregon Am.

No problem.  The practice area and 1 and 9 of the par 3 course are side by side, but the club's website refers to the "Short Game Practice Facility and Par 3 Mason Course."

http://www.cecc.com/sites/courses/layout9.asp?id=509&page=28523

The club calls their main course "The Macan Course."   

Where is the Oregon Am this year?

[Pete_Pittock]

Willamette Valley in Canby, a good parkland course which had slipped under my radar as a recommend to drop by for a round. Defending champion (at Bandon last year) is medalist.
A repeat final from last year is still possible. Today was first day of match play, the one extra hole match ended at the 19th (48 matches).
(Jinx).

[Garland Bayley]

...
Garland: Persimmon 9 and 18 are a drive and a long iron/fairway wood for short hitting me, you need to work on accuracy and self-confidence .
...

You probably play a set of tees further back them I do, being a lower handicapper and all. I can hit my drive off the tee to 7 iron range. But, although I have tried, I cannot hit shots well enough or accurately enough off of that down slope to carry the nearly 100 yard hazard fronting each of the greens. So it is chip down to the flat area in front of the hazard and wedge in. Almost everyone I play with plays it that way.

I suspect think that course would be better played backwards.

[Tim Nugent]

Why do so many get their panties in a bunch when a par 5, that might be reachable in 2, is better played with a layup - even if that layup is with a short iron?  People rail against "predictable" or "cookbook" routing schemes but then have issues with this.  Sure, Pete could go for it in 2, but the risk may be more than he wishes to undertake.  Afterall, it's a par 5, not a par 4.
This is just like all those idiots complaining about #14 at PB because greedy players kept trying for it in 2 and had disasterous results.  However, everyone that was able to hit the green could have just as easily put it in the front bunker and a doable birdie instead of a 6.

[Garland Bayley]

Why do so many get their panties in a bunch when a par 5, that might be reachable in 2, is better played with a layup - even if that layup is with a short iron?  People rail against "predictable" or "cookbook" routing schemes but then have issues with this.  Sure, Pete could go for it in 2, but the risk may be more than he wishes to undertake.  Afterall, it's a par 5, not a par 4.
This is just like all those idiots complaining about #14 at PB because greedy players kept trying for it in 2 and had disasterous results.  However, everyone that was able to hit the green could have just as easily put it in the front bunker and a doable birdie instead of a 6.

What are you talking about and why did you mention Pete?

[Craig Van Egmond]

Bunny was a true Northwest original.  During my time there I played 4 or 5 of his courses and there was always something cool and something that made you go WTF?  Never the less, I always enjoyed his courses and he certainly made you think, may he rest in peace.


I found this autobiography...

http://www.sisterscountryhistoricalsociety.org/People/BunnyMason.htm

[Bill_McBride]

Bunny was a true Northwest original.  During my time there I played 4 or 5 of his courses and there was always something cool and something that made you go WTF?  Never the less, I always enjoyed his courses and he certainly made you think, may he rest in peace.


I found this autobiography...

http://www.sisterscountryhistoricalsociety.org/People/BunnyMason.htm

Craig, great find!  The story he told me about the growth of golf in Bend is the same as he told me.  I joined there in 2005 and he wrote this in 2006, so it was fresh in his mind when we were talking.

He was really a nice, unassuming guy.

[Bill_McBride]

He also makes a joke about the first hole at Glaze Meadow!

"When you design a golf course you can expect to be examined by every hacker who owns a set of clubs. The first hole at Glaze Meadow has had me pilloried in all the halls of the land. To this I say, 'A golf ball goes where you hit it.' Golf is not a straight line game."