Sheep Ranch - Yardage Chart, Map, Scorecard, Photos

[Chris Bevan]

Long time GCA listener, first time caller.  I've enjoyed reading GCA over the years and now thanks to Ran for letting me post.

I'm from Medford, OR.  Just a short 3 hour drive from Bandon.  I have had the opportunity to play all 4 main courses and this past weekend, finally got the chance to play the Sheep Ranch.  I recall that in an old post on GCA, Tom Doak said that his original intention for the Sheep Ranch was not a scorecard (like the one they give you when you play) but a "mileage chart" that showed you the distance from each green to every other green.  Well, in anticipation of our trip, I took it upon myself to make that "mileage chart", as well as an accurate map of the entire layout.

I will post the "Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch" scorecard that they give you when you drive in, I will post my "mileage chart", my map of the layout, and also some photos from our day.  I hope you enjoy!


The scorecard they provide (the official scorecard, if you will):



"Front 9" routing:



"Back 9" routing:



My map of the Sheep Ranch layout, showing greens, "fair grass" (light green), and "unfair grass" (darker green):



My "mileage chart" showing distance from center of every green to center of every green:



Some photos:

"First Tee" area to the right of "I" green looking out at Sheep Ranch and "H" green:



"H" green with ultralight plane and Old Mac/PD coastline in the background:



"E" green showing huge hump on left side of green:



Yours truly playing 135 yard shot over chasm from "J" green to "E" green.  One of the great shots in golf:



Cape hole with tee area next to "E" green playing long over cliff and gorse to "C" green.  Our target was the sliver of fairway in the distance:



"I" green.  The first green closest to parking area:



View to the left from "first tee" towards "A" green with "B" and "M" greens in the distance towards Old Mac:



Yours truly playing 250 yard "par 3" from "H" green to "F" green:



Last but not least, one more shot of "E" green showing the drop down the cliff to the beach below.  One of the great green sites anywhere:




That's all for now.  Please, please, feel free to print the mileage chart and map if you would like to use them at the Sheep Ranch.  I can tell you that they are very accurate and work very well in the wild.  I can't wait to get back to the Sheep Ranch to uncover more of its mysteries.  It really is a magical magical place and all the praise is absolutely deserved.

Cheers!

[Matthew Mollica]

Sensational Chris. Thanks so much for posting this. I dream of visiting the Sheep Ranch one day, and really appreciate your post.

[JLahrman]

Looks like a really cool place; I was just at Bandon a couple of weeks ago and looking up to the Sheep Ranch from Old Mac is intriguing.

Any reason not to play courses based on words you can spell out? It's combination golf and Boggle!

KICK ME, DICKHEAD

HEADACHE

Bonus points if you can spell out your name: MIKE, MAC, JAKE

[Emile Bonfiglio]

Welcome Chris, great first post! Been to Bandon many times never made the trek over Whiskey Run Road to play the sheep ranch, but this inspired me! If you are ever in Portland, hit me up and we can golf!

[Tim_Cronin]

Tremendous!

[Wade Whitehead]

How many acres does the Sheep Ranch occupy?

WW

[MCirba]

Chris,

Welcome...terrific first post and thanks for sharing one of my favorite places on the planet.

[Tom_Doak]

How many acres does the Sheep Ranch occupy?

If I remember correctly, it is on about 105 acres.

[astavrides]

cool. ive never seen pics of it. Looks like almost no one was there. I didn't know there was a scorecard. If they give it rating and slope, I'll definitely go play it. Half-joking. I would definitely play it anyway, but I do wish it had a slope and rating.

[Matt Bielawa]

Wow, looks amazing.

[William_G]

the ultimate match play course where the winner of each hole picks the next hole/green

just more oceanfront golf in Bandon

Thank you Chris

[Tom_Doak]

I would definitely play it anyway, but I do wish it had a slope and rating.

The other point of having a "mileage chart" instead of a scorecard is that it doesn't give you anyplace to keep score ... you just play, whether in a match or for fun.

[Peter Pallotta]

Welcome, Chris.

From these photos, I get the same vaguely disoriented feeling I got when I first saw pictures of the Old Course.

It's as if the trickster gods of golf granted me my wishes, but only in order to highlight my limitations: "You wanted naturalism, Peter -- well here it is. Now you try to figure out where to hit the damn ball".

I have to admit: I'm feeling a bit like Scott Hoch right now, but without his talent. An ATM machine, golfing-wise, but more than a little deficient in both poetry of soul and imagination of spirit!

Peter

[Thomas Dai]

Great first post Chris.

The place looks like great fun. Bit like being 10 yrs old again and knocking it around with a few mates on some open ground.

atb

[John Cowden]

Thanks for the post and the photos, Chris.  Both of my visits to SR have been with hickories.  Very cool. 

[Chris Bevan]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

A few more things of note from our trip:

1. Yes, we had the place to ourselves.  Three of us.  It's almost unreal playing in that much space with no other golfers around.
2. We did not use the scorecard or the routing they provided.  Rather, as is the tradition, we picked greens and just played.  The only scores that were written down were the tally of skins as that is the game we played.  My friend Mike won and the skin total was something like 17-8-7.  I believe we ended up playing 32 holes.  We played that the most recent skin winner picked the next hole, so when a hole was pushed, so was your opportunity to keep choosing the next hole!  Sometimes when there were several pushes in a row, we would just all collaborate on the next hole.  Standing on the edge of a green, looking out in the distance at all the little yellow flags, and pointing and saying, "should we do that one?  what about that one?"  So much fun.
3. I have heard in some of the various forums that "the Sheep Ranch is flat".  Not true.  The Sheep Ranch is absolutely not flat, and in some places was very NOT flat.  The approach to "G" green is up a hill, almost similar to the approach to hole 1 at BD.  The approach to "B" green also has quite the slope up the hill, similar to the approach to 13 at PD.  The "A" green also sits up quite high.  I found myself in the back bunker and the entire green is skylined above you.  Very beautiful.  The long "par 3" shot from "G" to "F" is just a monster downhill shot straight at the ocean with the wind whipping from right to left.  Also, coming back into the home green, "I" green, the approach is straight up a hill, with a gorgeous waste area/blow out protecting the front of the green.  The green is hidden on a shelf with the putting surface protected from view until you walk up the slope to see where your ball ended up!
4. I don't know how you would ever give the place a slope or a rating.  I suppose you could give a chosen routing a slope and rating, but so much of slope depends on how a scratch golfer plays a hole versus how a bogey golfer plays a hole and works with bunkering and landing areas, etc, and there is just no way to do that with the SR.  It also just would not do the place justice at all.  There are so many holes to choose from.  On any number of holes you could also choose alternate fairway (fair grass) routings from tee to green.
5. The greens, fringes, and fair grass were in EXCELLENT condition.  The greens rolled as true as anything on the main resort courses.  (we also played PD and BD on the weekend)  On that note, the "unfair grass" was terrible.  As it should be.  
6.  There are fewer trees and towering dunes on SR, and it sits on entirely exposed coastline, so the wind is definitely more prominent.
7.  They are very different experiences, but all three of us that played agreed that the Sheep Ranch is as good a golfing experience as anything on the main resort.  If you love the game, it is as magical a day of golf as you will ever have.  The beauty and genius of the sheep ranch had us laughing and smiling and grinning like fools from the time we got there until the time we left and I'm still smiling about it now.
8. I know we did not find all the great holes out there.  That's why I need to go back.  To keep discovering the place.
9. We all halved our sets.  I carried D, 3i, 5i, 7i, 9i, 56 for any bunkers, and putter.  I never noticed I was missing clubs.  It really makes you think, with a heavy set of clubs, and more options to choose from on every shot, and working trying to be so exact with yardage rather than playing by feel and sight, maybe you should be playing with a slimmed down set of clubs no matter where you play.

[Jim Hoak]

How many of you created a course in your backyard growing up with buried tin cans as holes?  I was fortunate enough to have a big enough yard to do that.

[Michael Essig]

My son and I played SR last week.  Had the place to ourselves; just the two of us.  To echo Jim's remarks, the course and greens were in excellent shape, so don't think you are playing out in someone's pasture.  They were mowing the greens when we got there, and the greens roll perfectly true.

Architecturally, it really is an interesting place.  For example, playing to the "D" green from "C" green, a 209 yard par 3, there is a big upslope in front with the green sloping away from you.  So, long iron downwind to a green which slopes away from you; I think you get the picture.  But if you played to the same green from the opposite direction, I to D, or H to D, or G to D, or F to D, the green is at fairway level and the ground game becomes available.  So, depending upon the direction , the green functions and plays completely different.

Also, the course has very few bunkers, but I didn't miss them one bit.  Generously-sized greens with sweeping undulations and greens running at a very comfortable speed, I loved the surfaces and the shapes. 

When we got hungry for lunch, we played two holes back to our car, and sat greenside of "I" overlooking the course and the ocean.  It was about as good as you can get when it comes to a golfing experience.

PS.  SHHHH.  Don't tell anyone. 

[Carl Rogers]

I can hardly wait to see what the Confidential Guide will say about it.

Does the Sheep Ranch represent the pre-curser to the out of the box golf with little or no water (that may become inevitable in many parts of the world)?

[Brett_Morrissy]

Thanks Chris.

What do you think the most challenging element is about playing to almost any green from almost any direction? I am sure there were or are some unique design elements that were required in the design. Tom has probably already discussed previously, but Chris, was anything obvious to you?
Limited grenade bunkering would be one I imagine.

[Tom_Doak]

I can hardly wait to see what the Confidential Guide will say about it.

Does the Sheep Ranch represent the pre-curser to the out of the box golf with little or no water (that may become inevitable in many parts of the world)?

Volume 3 is about 18 months away!

If The Sheep Ranch is a model for the future, remember that model is for very limited play as well as very little water.  They usually have to close the course for a while in the summers because any real traffic on the fairways would burn them up.

[Garland Bayley]

...

My "mileage chart" showing distance from center of every green to center of every green:



...

OK! There you have it. 144 golf holes! Real hundred hole hike material. Now what's the routing?

[Tom_Doak]

Would G to M, playing the full length of the course, be a par-8 or a par-9 at 1380 yards?

That is just over half a mile.  And the tough part is that green M is not oriented back toward the north at all, you have to come into it from the east.

[Tim Bert]

Would G to M, playing the full length of the course, be a par-8 or a par-9 at 1380 yards?

That is just over half a mile.  And the tough part is that green M is not oriented back toward the north at all, you have to come into it from the east.

I think it is closer to a full mile than a half mile. 1760 yards in a mile, right?  That's more like 4/5.

[Garland Bayley]

Would G to M, playing the full length of the course, be a par-8 or a par-9 at 1380 yards?

That is just over half a mile.  And the tough part is that green M is not oriented back toward the north at all, you have to come into it from the east.

I think it is closer to a full mile than a half mile. 1760 yards in a mile, right?  That's more like 4/5.

Yep, it's more like 4/5 of a mile as opposed to 3/2 of a half mile.