some pics of Bandon Trails recently fell into my lap.  If the
picture numbers are hole numbers then these are correctly
identified:

#1:

#2:

#3:

#4:

#5:

#16 (from green):

#17:

#18:

Scott,

You beat me to it. I just spent the last 20 minutes uploading my BT photos from a month ago to Mystic. I basically have the same shots that you posted.

Is it just me or does the 18th at B. Trails look a lot like the 18th at Sand Hills?

Here is what I took during a tour with Dave Z., who is very involved with this project for C&C.



#2 from tee



From #2 tee across the valley



#3 from tee



#3 green



#4 green



#5-Which is just awesome



#17

#2 looks like a text-book in visual deception, depending on where you stand on the tee:

Stand to the left and your view of the green is impaired, but you also have the visual of the 3rd hole and almost a skyline green.


Stand in the middle and you begin to see more of the green and a small sliver of area fronting the green, but the background changes.


Stand to the right and the run-up area reveals itself, but the angle of the dunes almost changes your thinking on the type of shot to hit:



Definitely looks like a course that will take a few dozen rounds to notice all the variations.

The 17th is stunning.  STUNNING.  Could easily be mistaken for a Paul Turner pic of another Colt unknown.  The green site immediately brings to mind the 5th at The Eden - perhaps my favorite short hole in the world.  

Does anybody out there have room for one more in their group next year?

Mike  

How can the courses at Bandon be considered great when 2 of the 3 don't even measure up to the modern 7000 yard requirement for greatness?

I'm looking forward to getting out there next year sometime and these pictures make me want it even more.

For architectural (man-made) "lines" melding impercepitibly into natural site "lines" it doesn't get much better than that. That's Coore and Crenshaw. They can hide their "hand" as well or better than anyone.

Jim,

Of course you can't read too much into photos when it comes to perspective and distances.  At least I can't.  The texture of the contrasting native grasses and plants looks wonderful.  But, they also "appear" very much involved in punishing the slightly off line, like the photo of the 17th.  Where is there room slightly off the green on what appears to be a mid iron par 3?  Same with very short 5th or bunkers to the side of a long par 3 2nd... as photographed.  Is there recovery there, even if you find a slightly mishit ball.  Perhaps this is really a course where only very accurate ball strikers need apply...  Different horses for different courses.  It seems to me that the different peeks at the LZ and up stream to the green from the tee depending on where one stands on 3 has a bit of the same element as the 9th at Sand Hills.  That is certainly a good thing.

There appears to be a great deal of artistry of construction there, which has its own appeal.  I hope that the golf is also enjoyable and beckons one to play again and again.

The 17th is stunning.  STUNNING.  Could easily be mistaken for a Paul Turner pic of another Colt unknown.  The green site immediately brings to mind the 5th at The Eden - perhaps my favorite short hole in the world.  

Mike  

Mike

I love the 5th at the Eden too, but I don't think anybody is going to ace the 17th at BT with a putter (as was done last year at 5 Eden).

Talk about the "ground game"..............!!!!!!!!

The 5th/8th tee is my favorite spot in golf.  What an ingenious use of the small dune upon which the 8th is sited and in which the 5th is saddled.

Mike

Fully agree, Mike. Anybody who comes to St. Andrews and does not play the Eden has missed out on one of the most special little corners of the world of golf.

Doug Larson compared these pics to Hidden Creek w/more elvation change and I have to fundamentally disagree.

Can anyone name a greensite at Hidden Creek where imminent danger lurks as closely as it seems to on pics of many of these holes?

Bandon Trails seems to be more Pine Valley, Pine Barrens, Tobacco Roadian type of stuff where greens sit in little nooks and crannies behind wooded outcroppings and jutting dunes that affect visibility, preferred angles, and also are more psychologically compelling and frightening simultaneously.  

The only greensite I can think of at Hidden Creek that is similar is perhaps the pitched 3rd shot (assuming layup) over the sandy quarry on the 3rd hole.

In fact, in my opinion, the lack of any adrenaline pumping approach shots (save perhaps the brilliant short 11th) is why I'm not as high on HC as some others here.  Yes, you can easily take bogey and not know why but you'll rarely do worse than that (unless you have my short game ).

Scott,

Many thanks, these pics are appreciated a lot. What an overall complex there now is! And although we may lament the popularity removing the chance for a secluded and private getaway, this is just the type of 54 hole complex the tree house would have begged for a few years ago to show the masses. I like it. Joe Public goes somewhere where he pays top dollar and doesn't feel the need to see fountains or deeply green grass in summer.

There is hope!