THE DEVILISH FOURTEENTH AT BANDON TRAILS (COURETSY OF LARRY LAMBRECHT)
During my February trip to Oregon, I played Bandon Trails for the first time. I am huge admirer of the architecture of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw so I was very much looking forward to see what they had conjured up from the dunes and forests of the Oregon coast. Bandon Trails is yet another excellent Coore/Crenshaw design that I believe is the second best on the property. The light was flat, so the video (after the jump) is not the most dynamic, but it does give a good feel for the course.
Bandon trails is not without its faults. I was not a fan of the seventh or sixteenth holes, which to me were just long slogs uphill, made pretty by Jeff Bradley’s always excellent bunker work. The controversial fourteenth seemed a little severe both in the slope of the landng area and around the green. But the course’s incredible set of par threes and a number of strong par fours more than overcome these few holes’s shortcomings. The fourth hole with its large diagonal ridge running through the fairway, seems like it would be a blast to play over and over again, trying to fugure out the right line off the tee depending on the conditions.
When you go to a Coore/Crenshaw course you normally see something you have not seen before, whether it is a wild green contour or a different way of attacking a land form (like the fourth hole). You also see things that are familiar such as their bunker style, or particular green complexes. It seems that they are aware of this trait, as they tried to mix it up a few times during the round. Veterans of Coore Crenshaw courses will think that they have the third hole figured out, as it appears to be one of their patented horseshoe greens that wraps around a front, central bunker. Instead the central bunker is at least sixty yards short of the green. The Coore/Crenshaw team’s attention to detail is certainly at the top of the field.
The addition of Bandon Trails adds a depth and variety to the golfing experience at Bandon Dunes. The increased traffic has cost the Resort some of its original charm though. When I first traveled there in May of 1999, I felt like I was going to the end of the world in search of a magical place. To me the journey can be an essential part of the experience, and Bandon while still difficult to get to, has lost some of its sense of place. Don’t get me wrong, magic can still be found on the golf courses which are unparralled in the resort golf world, but the overall size of the operation has compromised some of the intimacy of the resort.
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