Wednesday, June 2, 2010

...and "Old MacDonald" had a HEE HI HEE HI HO!

Hi de hi de ho. So now it's official. Bandon Dunes in Nowheresville is now the preeminent "public" golf resort in the U.S.A. Perhaps it used to be Pinehurst via sheer volume of fine courses. Perhaps it used to be Pebble Beach, because of tradition and because it had one more course (4) than B. D. (Del Monte is one of Pebble's 4 courses but not many know it.) But no more. Bandon Dunes now has tradition. Old MacDonald has been there forever, hidden. With the addition of Old MacDonald on 6/1/10, which as I've said before will make an immediate impact on the "Top 10", the remote Oregon resort is on top. Have you seen 4000 year old Barrier Canyon Art? Or the Archaic rock art twice as old? I have that kind of awe for this new course.
The only problem? The "public" is in quotations. None of the resorts mentioned are actually public. They only want the upper crust, as evidenced by their pricing structures. The public doesn't play at them. Boo Hoo.

THOSE MAGIC MOMENTS AT B. D.:
Bandon Dunes; 4th. green (and first vision thereof) inclusive to 5th. tee, 3rd. tee, 16th. tee (glad they didn't put the clubhouse there), 17th. tee
Pacific Dunes; 2nd. tee (great hole), 18th. tee (back tee), 3rd. green through 4th. green (windsurfers and pelicans coasting into 30 mph winds if you are lucky), 11th. hole
Bandon Trails; 1st. tee (good ocean view-very few on this great course), 2nd. tee (ditto), 13th. tee, 14th. tee (awesome view at an awesome hole)
Old MacDonald; 7th. green (see B. T. 1st. tee) inclusive to 8th. tee, an overall clean atmosphere and experience with fantasy greens (it's puzzlingly scoreable)

By the by: Great courses have 4 great finishing holes. B. Trails has 7.

SURVEY SAYS: Hardest 1) Pacific Dunes (Tricky), 2) Bandon Trails (Tough), 3) Old MacDonald (4 very long par 4's), 4) Bandon Dunes (They cut a lot of the penal original gorse out) 
AND SAYS: Favorite 1) Bandon Trails (Compares well with C & C's Sand Hills course in Nebraska) 2) Bandon Dunes (A soft spot for the original course) 3) Old MacDonald (Great aura, not a lot of views) 4) Pacific Dunes (Tricky, but #1 public course)

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