Americans should feel very fortunate to have such a quality facility on their doorstep which for mine now has four World Top100 calibre courses.
- Old Macdonald
- Pacific Dunes
- Bandon Trails
- Bandon Dunes
Put simply,
Old Macdonald (OM) is “the best” Doak course I have seen and could very well be the best course built since Sand Hills.
It sits right up there with the other “template” style courses I saw in the USA by CB Macdonald (NGLA) and Seth Raynor (Fishers Island). However unlike them - you don’t need to have influential connections to see it – simply a keenness to travel to Oregon is all it takes. OM sits equally among those mentioned above in that no hole feels forced on the land though one could argue that the site at Bandon is no where as good as those in the NY region.
Listed as a tribute to the father figure of golf course design in America - CBM - the routing takes you out to the ocean then comes back inland only to take you out again before finishing back where you started the journey. The site is not blessed with enough land close to the ocean like Pacific Dunes and Bandon Dunes to have a few holes parallel to the water instead Doak and Urbina (D & U) only touch it twice with elevated greensites before taking you back down onto the flatter parts of the course.
D&U are “conventionally unconventional” with regard to the routing which has three P3’s on the F9 and only one P5 whereas the B9 has but one P3. Interestingly no more than two consecutive holes run in the same direction and I noticed the fact that all the P3’s face different points of the compass - I wonder if that was intended ?
The P3’s consist of an “Eden”, a “Short”, a “Biarritz” and a “Redan” all personal favourites of mine. I also like how D&U have put their own slant on some “template” style designs incl. their unique “Redan” and “Biarritz” but more about them later.
I will try and give a guide as to what I saw based on my two viewings of the course and taking into account notes that have been published on GCA before re: “Tom Doak’s: Hole Descriptions.”
Holes:
1st = (P4: 340yds) “Double Plateau” an interesting P4 start with a very wide fairway similar in style to the 11th at NGLA. Tom Doak is listed as saying “This is my favourite opening hole that we’ve ever built”. High praise indeed !!
View of the green
View from the green looking back at the fairway
2nd = (P3: 190yds) “Eden” P3 has a deep revetted bunker at the front right and like the 11th at TOC – over the back leaves one very difficult shot back within which to try and save par.
3rd = (P4: 335yds) “Sahara” a short P4 over a ridge. The short line to the right requires only something like a 150yrd carry but also leaves a longer shot in. The riskier left side requires one to flirt with a very large tree but one may be able to get really close to the green if they take such a line and are successful. Similar in scale to the 5th at NSW re: the ridge – hit it far enough and you get a massive runoff on a left to right camber down towards the green and the view from the plateau across the layout at OM is quite breathtaking.
Drive with ridge
View of greens and surrounds
View from behind the green
4th = (P4: 510yds) “Hogs Back” is listed as being inspired by the 17th at Lundin Links and is a long P4 in a natural valley of sorts. A definite half par hole for mine with a lovely little rise to a plateau greensite that is well protected by strong fallaways and a false front.
5th = (P3: 160yds) “Short” is obviously the shortest P3 on the course and whose precedent is the 6th at NGLA. This hole has a massive greensite that is shared with the 10th and lovely little internal zones within the green.
6th = (P5: 590yds) “Long” is a great rolling P5 that I’m led to believe will play directly into the prevailing summer wind. The “Hell Bunkers” on the approach shot dominate the view and are certainly a hazard to be avoided at all costs and are particularly well placed. The greensite is superb and other than the shot over the cross bunkers there is no need to get aerial on this hole. The precedent is of course the mercurial 14th at TOC.
Approach re: Hells Bunkers
View of green and Pacific Dunes in background
