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Chris_Clouser

Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #25 on: October 22, 2004, 04:55:08 PM »
As scary as this is I had two thoughts in my head when scrolling through those pictures.

When I saw the 17th I yelled, "That's the 5th at Royal Melbourne!"  Did anybody else think that?

The other thought and this is scary was as I saw the first.  I thought it looked eerily similar to a photo I saw one time of Pelican Hill.

I know, the blasphemy of it all.   ::)

But I'm debating with the wife right now if I can squeeze out a trip to Bandon next year to play all of the courses for the first time.  This makes me want it even more and will make the pain even worse if it doesn't happen.  
« Last Edit: October 22, 2004, 04:55:46 PM by Chris_Clouser »

Jimmy Muratt

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #26 on: October 22, 2004, 04:58:32 PM »
Here is a somewhat recent article that I found regarding Bandon Trails with some interesting comments from the Superintendent and also Ben Crenshaw.  It's interesting to read Crenshaw's comments on the short par 4 14th, it sounds like quite a hole.  Has anyone seen it while there?


By Dave Berner, Associate Editor

BANDON, Ore. (Aug. 13, 2004) – There’s something that’s been keeping Ben Crenshaw up at night.

“He told me he feels like a little kid thinking about it,” says Troy Russell, superintendent of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort superintendent and the man in charge of the new course taking shape at the most talked about resort in golf. A course so anticipated, few outsiders have been permitted to see the construction process and pictures are a no-no.

“This is the hole, the 14th. Pretty dramatic, isn’t it?” Russell as he step through ancient dunes, around brush and up a hill to a crudely shaped tee box. Below is a stunning view.

“It’s a downhill, down wind, short par-4 and Mr. Crenshaw says he just loves this hole,” says Russell. “He says he lies in bed and thinks about it.”

The hole is roughly about 300 yards and sits on a seaside venue that will just knock you out - huge ocean dunes, pine and hemlock forests, and land that dips and tumbles in all directions all around. The fairway on the 14th rolls down over a slight ridge and the green sits precariously on a steep grade. It’s a striking hole and one that so many players will try to reach in one. It’s risk-reward with a lot of risk and undoubtedly when it’s complete will be one of many memorable holes at the new Ben Crenshaw-Bill Coore designed Bandon Trails golf course at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on the Oregon coast.

A first-hand look
At the spot where the future tee box will sit for No. 14, someone has placed a golf mat with an artificial rubber tee on the sandy ground.

“We’ve had a few people on the design team hit a ball from here just to see where it lands,” says Russell.
 
And that’s sort of where things are in the construction of Bandon Trails. The hole routing is done and the holes have taken shape; many of the greens are built and some are in the process. Ten holes are being seeded and the crews are mowing eight. The official opening is expected in the spring of 2005.

“The plan was always to have four 18-hole courses and one nine-hole. Now, we’re getting the third,” says Marla Taylor, executive assistant to the Bandon Golf Resort’s general manager.

Bandon Dunes, designed by Scotsman David McLay Kidd and Pacific Dunes created by Tom Doak, are getting a load of accolades. Some say the two courses are better than Pebble Beach. And the resort is simply a magical place; a golf purist’s nirvana. And Bandon Trails appears it will fit right in. Although there are more elevation changes and more vegetation on this newest of the courses, the traditional greenskeeping will keep the fairways hard and fast and force golfers to play the game on the ground, just like both Dunes courses.

Bandon Trails will also be a walking-only course with professional caddies available and will have a traditional nine-out/ nine-in routing. It will have its own clubhouse and a new lodge is anticipated a little north of the course to accommodate the throngs that will be coming to this remote and still rather sleepy town of Bandon.

The first tee has one of the best views on the entire property.

“You can see Bandon Dunes from here, Pacific is over there, and there’s the ocean, the main lodge, and all the more forested areas,” says Russell as he points out the natural beauty throughout the resort. “And this hole, a 365-yard par-4, looks menacing, but it’s not. It’s a good opening hole. The course starts out as a handshake then turns into a knuckle sandwich at the end. There is a big finish here.”

The course starts close to the ocean on the dunes and works its way east into more wooded areas giving some of the course a feel of a very famous venue on the east coast.

“I went to Pine Valley to get a look at No. 16 there to help understand what we wanted to do on the 11th hole here,” says Russell, who grew up on an Oregon dairy farm and now believes he’s one of the luckiest people in golf.

“I helped build Bandon and Pacific, and now this,” says Russell. “I couldn’t be happier.”
 
He keeps repeating how the 16th, 17th and 18th are going to be “smash-mouth golf”.

“These three holes are going to be something,” says Russell, arriving at No. 16 where a new crew member is hand-watering the green.

“I think this course is the most beautiful of them all,” says Kamil Rosales, 23, a native of Nicaragua with two college degrees and a passion for golf architecture. He came to Bandon just to be a part of this project and work the resort.

“A lot of people want to be a part of this,” says Russell.

The 16th is a big par-5 and 17 is a long par-3 that can stretch out as much as 200 yards. But 18 is the killer.

“Take a look at this,” says Russell with a grin pointing to the dunes and the slight uphill climb. “It’s 440-yards into the wind. Par-4. This is that knuckle sandwich I was talking about.”

High anticipation
“I can’t wait to see how it lays out. Just to get a feel for the differences in all the courses,” says Allen Reese, a senior caddie at Bandon and a scratch player.

Allen is an Oregon native who can’t believe his home has become golf’s new Mecca.

“It’s so cool to be part of all this,” says Reese.

Certainly Crenshaw and Mike Keiser, owner of Chicago-based Recycled Paper Greetings Inc. and the Bandon resort, are jacked-up for the new course. But it’s not hard to find a buzz about Bandon Trails all around the place in every corner. Even with two of the world’s best courses already right out the front door.

Anticipation? It’s fevered. The resort is already taking tee times for the June 1, 2005, opening and the construction crews are working six days a week to get it done.

The verdict
It’s impossible to have a fair evaluation when the course is still an “in-progress” project. But considering Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails has lots of incredible karma around it. However, this also means it has to live-up to some pretty high standards, like the youngest child in a very competitive household.


Michael Wharton-Palmer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #27 on: October 22, 2004, 06:00:56 PM »
Thanks for the photos, the course looks like it is a worthy addition to the wonderful Pacific and less spectacular Bandon courses.

For those who have played Formby, the pictures of Trails had some form of resemblance, as it does with some of the holes from Woodhall Spa.

It appears as though Mr Crenshaw has another treasure to add to his increasingly impressive resume.

After some rather shaky starting projects, Mr Crenshaw has truly started to flourish in his adopted field.

Again thank you for the photographs.

DPL11

Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #28 on: October 22, 2004, 07:21:24 PM »
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 ;) ).


Mike,

Perhaps I didn't go into enough detail about the similarities, but it had more to do with bunker styling than anything else.

Maybe when you get there, you will see some of the same.


douglarson

Michael Plunkett

Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #29 on: October 23, 2004, 12:29:46 AM »
great stuff, scott. Hoping 2005 is the year to play the Bandon's. When will this course open?

Nyk Pike

Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #30 on: January 27, 2005, 10:15:05 PM »
Bandon Trails is scheduled to open June 1st, 2005. Reservations can be made but I think a majority of the first day is booked. Final preperations are being made and for those that were fortunate enough to play the preview know it is as good as it looks. The drive on 4 is great. The diagonal ridge that runs across the hole intimidates from the tee. The short 5th is unbelievable. The green is some sort of mutant birraitz (sp?), and the hole can tip out at 140 yards. 18 is a bear, especially into the typical summer Bandon breeze.

Hope to see many of you here this summer.

Keep the blade square-
Nyk

Mike Hendren

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #31 on: January 27, 2005, 10:36:00 PM »
Nyk,

Are you really a Liger?  Did you vote for Pedro?  

Mike
Two Corinthians walk into a bar ....

John Kirk

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #32 on: January 27, 2005, 10:39:25 PM »
Just curious...is Nyk Pike the same Nyk who works in the Pac Dunes pro shop?  If so, hello again, Nyk.  No firm plans to get down there yet, but I'll be there sometime soon.

Cheers,

John

Tom Jefferson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #33 on: January 28, 2005, 12:09:08 AM »
douglarson;
In the interest of accuracy, the photo you posted and labeled '4 green' is actually #15.  They are similarly sited, tucked into slopes and contained by native vegetation, yet 15 is perhaps more sheltered from the north wind.

the pres

Doug Wright

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #34 on: January 30, 2005, 04:04:53 PM »
I just returned from a visit to Bandon this week and we stopped on our way out to look at 17 green and the tee shot at 18. The 17th green and greensite is terrific, with a false front AND back (nice chipping area long), pin positions galore and nasty greenside bunkering. It's hard to tell how much room around the green there will be--not sure they've finished clearing all the nasty stuff bordering the green. The greenside edges of the right bunker had all sorts of bad brambly stuff in it too--don't know if they intend to keep it that way or clean it up some.

The tee shot on 18 looks very intimidating, a big forced carry uphill that would be really tough into the wind as I suspect it may often be, dunes on both sides of what looks like a wider fairway than it appears from the tee.  

All in all the course looks rough and rugged. An employee there who worked on Bandon Trails said it will definitely be more difficult than the two existing courses. He said although there is plenty of width, the greens and surrounds are where it gets tough.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2005, 04:09:18 PM by Doug Wright »
Twitter: @Deneuchre

Adam_F_Collins

Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #35 on: January 30, 2005, 08:57:26 PM »
For architectural (man-made) "lines" melding impercepitibly into natural site "lines" it doesn't get much better than that.

Agreed. I notice that, for a tree-lined course, there is no sense of a "swath-cut-through-the-forest". The fresh-cut, bare trunk look that so many new courses have when routed through forest is one of the ugliest an most obvious signs of construction, which often takes many years to fade.

How was this avoided at Bandon Trails? Were the holes at Bandon routed through areas which already had natural clearings?

Matt_Cohn

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #36 on: January 30, 2005, 10:38:59 PM »
So I'm not overreacting...I'm just posing a question for discussion.

Is Pine Valley's #1 ranking safe? Not necessarily from Bandon Trails...but maybe. I mean, (probably) the best living architects with a site that looks to be as good or better than Pine Valley's.

So can any course ever overtake Pine Valley at #1? Could Bandon Trails? If it could happen in the future, then under what conditions would that happen? I mean...if not Crenshaw and Coore at Bandon Trails, then where?

TEPaul

Re:Photos of Bandon Trails (now showing: the larger versions!)
« Reply #37 on: January 30, 2005, 10:54:01 PM »
Matt:

Where the hell have you been pal? Haven't seen you on here in ages.

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