USGA Public Linkses (women's and men's) at Bandon Trails & Old MacDonald

[Ronald Montesano]

Absolutely a dream scenario, from an architectural perspective. The most exposed course and the most enclosed course at this resort will host simultaneous WAPL/APL championships next week.

Here is a link the USGA's official blurb on the topic:

http://www.usga.org/ChampEventArticle.aspx?id=2147497661

My suspicion is, Trails will be recognized for the masterpiece that it is.

[PCCraig]

Excuse me if this has been explained before, but why are they using the courses that they are?

[Garland Bayley]

Excuse me if this has been explained before, but why are they using the courses that they are?

Best guess is that since the USGA has used the other two before, they are trying these two on for size.

[David_Tepper]

And a tip of the cap to Mr. Keiser & the Bandon Resort for making these 2 courses available to the USGA for these events.

[Ronald Montesano]

Pat_Craig...is that said with trepidation, remorse or pure curiosity?

[Kris Shreiner]

David,
+1 !

Cheers,
Kris

[Scott Weersing]

I am already looking forward to Golf Channel coverage on June 30. It will be fun to see where they put the hole on some of the holes at Old Mac.

[PCCraig]

Pat_Craig...is that said with trepidation, remorse or pure curiosity?

Just curious.

[Ronald Montesano]

I would second the other guy, then, with the need to expose the four courses to championship play, to determine future amateur events. They now will have had a Curtis Cup, a WAPL, a MidAm and an APL. There is not doubt that Bandon could host a Women's Am and a Men's Am down the road. I think that the Men's Am would need to be on Old Mac, as the others tip out at 6700...

[Terry Lavin]

It seems to me that Old Macdonald and Bandon Trails are the best tournament courses of the four at the resort.  Trails is incredibly demanding off the tee and on the green.  An incredible examination of golf.  Old Macdonald just might be the longest course at the resort and you need length to challenge great amateur golfers these days.  When you throw in the unbelievable amount of hole locations on those vast greens, you can just imagine how challenging they can make Old Mac with the green setup.  The original Bandon Dunes course is probably too short and Pac Dunes probably is a bit too easy.  For them, that is.

As for Mike Keiser, I know him well.  He is an incredibly modest man, but I can tell you that there are very few people in the game more generous than Mike.  Hosting this event is just another manifestation of his matchless grace.

[Mark Johnson]

totally agrees.   Trails was my favorite course at the resort (was there before Old Mac was totally open.)

[Steve Kline]

Excuse me if this has been explained before, but why are they using the courses that they are?

Best guess is that since the USGA has used the other two before, they are trying these two on for size.

Bandon Trails was used in the 2007 Mid-Am qualifying rounds.

[Steve Kline]

I think that the Men's Am would need to be on Old Mac, as the others tip out at 6700...

That may be what they tip out on the card at but there are lots of other back tees. Just last week on Bandon Dunes I played the black tees. And, almost none of the tees were as far back as we played it in the 2007 Mid-Am.

[Tom_Doak]

Steve:

There are other places they could go back on Old Macdonald, too, but I doubt they are looking for more than 7,200 yards for the Public Links Championship.

I thought the format was extremely interesting ... both the men and the women will play one qualifying round on each course.  Then, they'll play the first round of matches on Old Macdonald; the second round at Bandon Trails; and the third and subsequent rounds at Old Macdonald.  It's an interesting way of finding a champion who can survive both courses, which place very different demands on the golfer.  I don't know who came up with that idea, but it was someone at the USGA, not someone at the resort.

[Ronald Montesano]

I'm glad that was elaborated...is the format listed on the PubLinks sites? I could not find it, after more than a cursory search. It is a unique way for two unique events to be simultaneously decided.

[Ian_L]

Steve:

There are other places they could go back on Old Macdonald, too, but I doubt they are looking for more than 7,200 yards for the Public Links Championship.

Tom,

Not to get too caught up on yardage, but an intern at Bandon told me recently that all the courses can be extended to 7,500 yards, which surprised me (especially Pacific and Trails).  Any idea where your courses could top out?