I whole heartedly agree with that. Florence as a town doesn't need Sandpines. It's the other way around. I'll vouch for the dune buggy rides and other fun stuff to do there like hang our at the Grape Leaf eating stinky cheese and drinking fine grape juice. Most of my family love the fishing, so much so we stay in this really cool family-run resort with these cool fishing cabins on Siltcoos. they know the Naccarato/Lenow family so well, that they worried how to break the news to us when they had to come and tell us that my Father, who missed that particular year--had a heart attack.
All of the people of Florence are simply the finest people you would ever want to meet, and not much different then the people who live and work at Bandon Dunes. The majority of them, usually small business owners who recognize my entire family when we come back for our visit, which have drastically been reduced in the last years when the my family moved back to LA after 34 years of being in Oregon.
They also watched the Sandpines project sprout up in front of their eyes in great hopes that it would bring more commerce and create more jobs. It didn't.
No florence doesn't have a bad name because of Sandpines, but it is a great missed opportunity to create something special. I can only think that when the designer of Sandpines sees the success of Bandon Dunes, just shrivels up in pain knowing they took it for granted--because they did.
It's really simple too. come back, redo the course and create some interesting stuff that I know he is capable of doing and let the world know about it. I can only hope something like that would gather the attention of those who wish to visit the entire Oregon Coast, knowing that they can stop here, stop there and stop even further up near the Washington border for GREAT golf.
What a great thing that would be. A golf trail in Oregon that is as groundbreaking for Golf as Lewis & Clark's was for the discovery of the West coast.