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More on Mark Wahlberg and "The Kingdom"

Monday, May 31, 2010 Comments
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A few weeks ago Golf Digest Senior Editor Craig Bestrom met up with Mark Wahlberg at TaylorMade's The Kingdom in Carlsbad. Wahlberg (pictured above), who claims he's a 15 handicap, was prepping for the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge--four average golfers playing Pebble Beach from the back tees in U.S. Open conditions. You know all of this by now, but it's Wahlberg, Drew Brees, Wayne Gretzky and Peggy Ference, the reader you picked to represent the true "average golfer." The other three, let's face it, are far from average.

When Bestrom came back with some video of Wahlberg's day at The Kingdom, the luxe club-fitting and swing-analysis setup across the street from TaylorMade's Carlsbad headquarters, he and I sat down and cut this video:


Friggin' Wahlberg--the guy has the life and has had quite a career, right? From boy band when boy bands weren't a cliche (New Kids on the Block and then Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch), to underwear model (Calvin Klein) to Eddie Adams in Boogie Nights (aka Dirk Diggler) to everything-else-is-a-bonus . . .

As for The Kingdom, I was there a few months ago. What used to be strictly for research and development (and off-limits to the public) is now open for a select number of reservations each week. For $5,000 you get the motion analysis technology by TaylorMade (that's the MATT system where you dress up in the black suit covered in little white sensors and swing in front of six cameras). They analyze the results and directly compare your swing to one of 170 tour players who have been through the TaylorMade program. You also get a lesson with Jim Flick and leave with a bag, shoes, a shirt, two dozen balls, a duffle bag and 14 clubs custom fit to your swing and swing speed. 

"Our general philosophy is not to change the way you're doing it, we don't try to change your swing," says Alan Stone, one of three custom fitters at The Kingdom. "We try to take the way you're doing it, fit you to the right equipment and help you do it better."

You usually have to book one to three months in advance and although $5,000 sounds like a lot, if you add it all up and factor in the time, Flick's expertise, a custom fit set of clubs, including a custom fit putter, it's actually a pretty sweet deal.

Tour players such as Sergio Garcia, Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis visit The Kingdom on a regular basis. Mike Weir comes through with his swing coach a few days a year. When I was there I saw Jeff Sluman hitting balls at the end of the range. Dustin Johnson, with his 125 mph swing speed, nearly broke the whole operation. Actor Will Smith rented the facility for a day in early 2009 for his wife, Jada. It was just the two of them and Smith gave her the day at The Kingdom for her birthday. (She wanted to do something with golf.) When George W. Bush came through he was scheduled to be there from 1:00 to 4:00 but didn't leave until 6:30.

"It's why it's called The Kingdom," says Stone."It's a playground out here, and it's hard to leave."

Here's a link for more about The Kingdom. Not to put any ideas in your heads, ladies, but it would be the ultimate birthday or Father's Day gift for that special man in your life.

--Matty G.

(Photograph by Getty Images.)

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Ambush No. 28: Cuscowilla in Georgia

Thursday, May 27, 2010 Comments
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Last week I met up with Jeff Pittman, 10 friends and his oldest son, Brad Pittman. "Just think of Brad Pitt," said the younger Pittman. That was his tip on how to remember his name. Clever(ish), but I opted to think of Angelina Jolie.

You'll read more about why this group of Alpharetta-based buddies goes to Cuscowilla (80 minutes east of the Atlanta airport) . . .

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. . . where they stay (cabins on property) . . .

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. . . where they play (a Coore/Crenshaw course) . . .

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. . . and how much they pay for three nights and five rounds in the August issue of Golf Digest. We also shot a video, which will be posted the same week their story hits the newsstands.

Jeff (far right) runs the show; Brad wasn't the star of a lot of good movies ("Se7en," "Fight Club," "A River Runs Through It," to name a few):


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And then there's Jackie Smith, who's father, Jack, did actually compete in the first Nascar race ever (1949) and is a member of the NMPA Hall of Fame. 

Your wives will appreciate this one . . . Jackie is proof that a man will start to look like his headcover:

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Jackie's wife won't appreciate this one: Jackie, one of the more colorful characters of this group, said, "The last time I was ambushed was by my mother-in-law." 

(Sorry Jackie--too good a line not to use on this blog . . . and don't be surprised if it also ends up in the magazine.)

As "victims" of the 28th Ambush, this group received four bottles of wine, TaylorMade hats, Srixon balls, two boxes of Excalibur cigars, SunDog Eyewear and Jeff received a TaylorMade bag for sending in their itinerary.

Do you and your group want to share your buddies trip with six million monthly readers of Golf Digest? If so, click here to send in your itinerary and tell me why your trip is unique. 

--Matty G.

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Pinehurst No. 2A: Breakdown Of The Update

Monday, May 24, 2010 Comments

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An update on the progress of the renovations at Pinehurst No.2, which are being done by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. (I met Coore at Bandon Dunes a few weeks ago--the man defines nice.)

Coore and Crenshaw have been brought in to dust off Donald Ross. Here's the start of a letter they wrote to "Pinehurst Members and Guests" . . . 
 
It has been our pleasure since February 2010 to embark on an important renovation project on Pinehurst No. 2. You will see some of these efforts as you play No. 2, and we want to take this opportunity to explain the background, goals and elements of this project.

Click here for a link to the complete letter and a lot more about the update . . .

Here's a video saying a lot of similar things that are in the letter:
 

"It is, without question, a masterpiece," says Coore, referring to No. 2. "It's like a work of art that has gathered a little dust." (Sounds like some of my friends.)

Here's some more of the letter:

Both of us have known and revered the No. 2 course for many years. We have deep admiration for Donald Ross, his design style and how those elements and the spirit of golf are manifested in this wonderful golf course. In our golf course design careers, we have attempted to build golf courses that make the best use of the natural terrain with minimal earth-moving; that challenge the player’s mind in addition to his golf skills; and that are fun to play without being riddled with harsh hazards that exact a painful toll on a golfer if he’s having a bad day.  No. 2 is certainly on a pedestal in those regards. 

While Pinehurst No. 2 has been the site of two successful U.S. Opens in recent years, the feeling among many in golf was that No. 2 had simply become too encumbered with lush green grass and that the fairways had become too narrow. 

Payne Stewart (1999)--successful. Michael Campbell (2005)--I'd make some changes too.

Bunkers were no longer accessible because balls would be trapped in four inches of thick rough before reaching the hazard. There was no width to play, no room to work the magic angles that were such a part of Ross’s strategic concepts in designing the course. You knew if you missed a fairway your only option was to hack the ball out of the thick rough; gone was the element of surprise and whether you might draw a good lie on the firm sand or perhaps be stuck behind a tuft of wire grass or a patch of pine straw. Thus the decision was made to restore much of that essential character to No. 2. 

Finally, a clear explanation as to why No. 2 wobbles my walk and pokes holes in my spirit.

We were given the high honor by officials at Pinehurst to coordinate this project. The lengths of the holes and the greens are remaining essentially the same. What will be different is that the fairways will be returned to their original dimensions and the areas beyond them will evolve back into their natural state. 

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Click here for a bigger version of the image above, which is the before (L.) and after (R.) of No. 13 (the hole on the right) and No. 14 (the hole on the left).

As you make your way around No. 2, you’ll see some areas that have been stripped of Bermuda grass and will be returned to a natural state of hard-pan sand and wire grass. You’ll see some other areas of the old roughs that are thinning and browning; this is where we have simply turned off the water. This is not a lack of maintenance attention or budget. It is by design and it’s part of the master plan.

We are already seeing a lot more of less water on golf courses all across the country, but in most cases, I think it does have to do with budgets. 
 
The result in a year or two--this is a process not easily contained on a time-line--will be a course with more texture and contrast, that will have no sharp edges and no straight lines. We believe it will look as if Donald Ross found a great piece of gently undulating ground and simply “laid” a golf course on top of it. The course will play more as it was originally intended--firm and fast and maintained with significantly less water than before. 

Love firm and fast. It reminds me of the bowling lanes in Brooklyn and the women I meet in Manhattan.

The fairways will actually be wider than before, but the overall footprint of the course will have significantly less maintained turf. 

Donald Ross is not alive and can’t tell us what to do. 

Try listening to the wind. You have to think Old-Man-Ross sleeps in the trees of No. 2.

All we can do is use our understanding of this golf course and our understanding through research of what it was like. We are fortunate to have excellent aerial and ground photography from the 1930s and ’40s on which to base our decisions. We will take all of this perspective and try to come closer to what it once was. It’s an honor to be here and we appreciate your patience as we work to restore one of the true treasures in the game of golf.

I agree, it has grown on me. As I travel the country playing a lot of repeat products, it's No. 2 that sticks out as one of the most unique experiences I have ever had on a golf course anywhere in the world.

Cordially, 
  
Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw

Any interest in playing golf at Pinehurst? Click here to check out the Father's Day Special (June 18-21). 

For $795 per person, the package includes:

--Three nights accommodations at the Carolina Hotel
--Two rounds of golf - Pinehurst No. 2 with caddies and Pinehurst No. 4
--Opening Night Reception & Dinner with James Dodson as Master of Ceremonies
--Saturday evening dinner--remembering Harvie Ward
--Exclusive Saturday & Sunday U.S. Open VIP Room Access--featuring multiple big screen televisions, putting contest, afternoon snacks, interactive games, etc.
--Daily breakfast buffet in Carolina Dining Room

Sweet deal with about a $565 savings per person. 

I went to a Duke/UNC basketball game at Duke with Dodson last year, he's the author of Final Rounds, which is a tribute to his father and golf. 

The buffet is top two in all of golf and right now I can't think of any that are better.

For your information, they start aerating No. 2 on Wednesday (May 26), so they'll close down through June 1. If the Coore/Crenshaw project (going three holes at a time and only working on the rough right now) drastically affects play, you might get a break on the green fee. Maybe.

--Matty G.

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More On Golf In Wisconsin

Friday, May 21, 2010 Comments

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I love these sheep that roam the Straits course, but in a cool, I'm-almost-in-Ireland-or-Scotland, sort of way. If you're not planning on playing or watching golf in Wisconsin this year, I'll question your love of the game. (Not really, but there is a whole lot of good going on.)

Here's all that I know about golf in a state with three courses on Golf Digest's list of America's 100 Greatest (Straits, Milwaukee C.C. and River at Blackwolf Run) and four courses on America's 100 Greatest Public (all four courses at the American Club).

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Of course the PGA Championship is at Straits (pictured above) in August. You might have read my Away Game about the American Club this month.

In the story I mention the new bunker that Pete Dye put IN the sixth green. The paragraph about the bunker from my story: 

The Straits, especially in calm conditions and from the appropriate tees, can be considered fun. (Keep that between us, or designer Pete Dye might make it harder.) Dye, with his cantankerous charm and propensity for the impossible, recently added a head-deep pot bunker in the middle of the sixth green. "I compare it to the bunker at the Road Hole of the Old Course," says Kohler. "It makes the easiest hole [355 yards] at the beginning of the round more interesting."

Here's one version (you can barely see the new bunker because of the shadow, which is so dark because the hole is so deep):

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Here's another version (yes, that's my ball and yes, it took me three to get out):

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You might have read my bit on Blackwolf Run in this week's Golf World. They're running a pretty good deal and you get to play the original Championship layout, which was used for the 1998 U.S. Women's Open and it will be used again when the ladies come back in 2012: Through June 6 (you better hurry), play BW Run for $144, plus cart or caddie ($60 per bag, plus gratuity). The price goes up to $230 on June 7.

And you might have read my previous blog about my round with the Terry Wakefield, the owner of The Bog. A Palmer design, The Bog has an odd name, but gives good value ($95 in peak season) and it's close to the Milwaukee airport.


Ron Whitten, the architecture editor at Golf Digest, is just back from Erin Hills, which is still the favorite to get the U.S. Open in 2017. (The USGA will announce the "winning" venue at Pebble Beach in June.) Whitten, who was one of the original architects of Erin Hills, parted ways with Lang at one point (there's more on that in the GW story that I linked to). 

Whitten came back on the design team with Dr. Mike Hurdzan and Dana Fry after Andy Ziegler bought Erin Hills last fall. "It feels like I never left," says Whitten, who reports the course is getting healthy. (It was in bad shape last summer. Real bad.) 

According to Whitten, the cart paths have been removed at Erin Hills, the new grass is growing in, the fairways are in great shape, they have filled in a lot of (Lang's) bunkers and they are about to break ground on a maintenance shed. A few weeks ago Jim Reinhart, a board member, told me that Erin Hills is still on schedule to reopen for play in August ($160, walking only).

--Matty G.

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Whales, Ducks and Bears: A Wild Week In Golf

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 Comments
First, a golfer saves a whale, George Costanza-style:

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After I wrote a blog about Jeff Gibson's heroics (here's a link to that story), a news coordinator from the Golf Channel e-mailed me today asking me to forward him the pictures. Gibson is going global. 

Then I get word of big Leonard Davis, offensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys, who came to the rescue of some little ducks that couldn't get out of a bunker. (We've all been there.) Here's a link to the video of Davis, the 6-foot, 8-inch, 350-pound forklift to a fluffy pack of stranded ducklings:

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcdfw.com/video.


And finally, click here for the story about some bear cubs having fun on the greens at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler resort in Canada:

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Not since Nicklaus have we seen such an attack by a bear on innocent flagsticks.

Would you believe the type of whale that Gibson saved was a Gervais' beaked whale, AND the publicist for the Fairmont who's quoted in the story about the bear cubs is Lynn Gervais?

Like I said--a wild week in golf. Let's just hope we don't get word of a Tiger escaping from his cage.

--Matty G.

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WSJ Reports On Golf's Big Problem: No Kids

Sunday, May 16, 2010 Comments


Randy Newman may have been on to something back in 1977 - “Short People” have got no reason to live. The Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Futterman doesn’t go that far, but his piece in Saturday's edition points out that short people (and short hitters) barely have a reason to play golf.

Futterman is the latest to point out the side affects of a few decades of focus by golf’s moneymen: brawny architecture, exclusivity, property flips, corporate outings and inflated green fees. Futterman says golf has done everything to neglect its future--kids.

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The scariest number for the golf business has nothing to do with how many days Tiger Woods will miss from the bulging disk in his neck or exactly how many mistresses he may or may not have taken up with.

It's this: According to the National Golf Foundation's most recent participation report, the number of golfers age 6-17 dropped 24% to 2.9 million from 3.8 million between 2005 and 2008.


Futterman, 40, has three daughters (ages 11, 8 and 4) and lives in New York. He admits, “I’m not a very good golfer, but I love golf.” In the process of Futtermnan’s fatherly duties he noticed a growth in tennis, a sport that has made adjustments to court sizes for kids.

Then his 8-year-old expressed interest in golf. “I think the driving range is boring for kids,” he says, "there's nothing to play. And I didn’t know where to find the closest pitch-and-putt. That’s when I realized there’s no way my daughter ends up playing golf. It’s a matter of opportunities.” 

I wondered if Futterman came across any courses that are doing it right. He reports the participation numbers are up for the First Tee Program:

The First Tee, the national program aimed at introducing younger players to the sport, has been exploding. There are now 200 First Tee Chapters in the U.S., which oversee the operation of clinics at 700 facilities and training programs for some 400,000 kids. Another 1.6 million will take up golf in elementary school gym classes The First Tee has developed.

And Futterman said Dan Van Horn, president of U.S. Kids Golf, told him that he has been able to get roughly 800 courses across the country (public and private) to put down PGA Family Tee Markers. 

The family tees generally condense a course from 18 holes to nine holes and 6,500 yards to 1,900 yards. Kids and parents are set up for a successful experience instead of one of frustration and failure.

My recent travels have taken me to Bandon Dunes and Hershey, Pa. Bandon owner, Mike Keiser, put down a version of family tees at Old Macdonald, the new fourth course opening on June 1. And I couldn’t help but notice one of the busiest courses in Hershey was the short course, Spring Creek, where kids can play nine holes for $5. Spring Creek has six par 4s, three par 3s, two sets of tees and tips out at 2,125 yards. Most rounds take less than an hour.

--Matty G.

(Illustration for WSJ by Kyle T. Webster.)

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The Ambush Is All About Value

Friday, May 14, 2010 Comments
Ambush_21.jpgIt didn't take us long to realize that you, the alpha trip planners (aka lead sled dogs, bell cows, or selfless suckers) are the experts in planning the best buddies trips. Even if the group is spending what seems to be a lot of money, a good trip planner has secured great value for the masses. If that's not the case, the first year of the annual buddies trip might be the last. At the very least, there might be a new selfless sucker the next year -- someone who is sure they can do a better job of finding the perfect combination of frugal, yet fun. (It's more work than you think and is almost always taken for granted.)

If you've noticed a trend in the story lines of the Ambush, yes, it's a celebration of the "fellowship" that Mike Hendren (third from the right in the photo above) speaks about in the most recent Ambush video from Florida.
 

But the Ambush story lines are always about the bargains: $550 per man for two nights of lodging, two home-cooked breakfasts and dinners, and four rounds of golf (lunch included) is what Hendren secured his group an hour north of Tampa. This was the 13th year of The Other Senior Tour -- eight guys getting together for some golf by day, college basketball by night and sharp personal digs regardless of the time of day or night.

Here's a link to Ambush No. 21, "From whiskey to fiber." Ambush No. 27 is coming out in next month's Golf Digest. (Ambush Nos. 22-26 were the five groups we featured in the ultimate guide to buddies golf in Myrtle Beach, which appeared in the May issue of the magazine.)

I'm in the process of picking Ambush No. 28. Among others, I'm looking into the Straw Dog Invitational at Palmetto Dunes sent in by Lawrence Peterson of Macon, Ga. Or Michael Speer's group from Canada going to Boyne Highlands in Michigan, playing for the coveted "blue vest." Northern Michigan is also where the 22nd year of the Fitton Follies Golf Extravaganza is taking place. (They have their own website: www.fittonfollies.com.) At the sixth annual Masters Golf Trip in North Dakota (five sets of brothers), yes, they play for a green jacket, and the winner gets to pick the menu the next year, but he also has to plan the whole trip. I'm also considering the guys in Cuscowilla, on Lake Oconee in Georgia--who are playing for The Fanny--an old McGregor 3-iron mounted in a block of wood. Why The Fanny? Jeff Pittman of Roswell, Ga. explains: "One of our guys was hitting his approach on a par 5 and he bounced one off a circulation fan, which was located on the edge of the trees. It ricocheted the ball to about three-feet from the cup. Instead of making double or triple bogey, he made a birdie."

A fanny with that kind of action rarely leads to a birdie, almost always leads to a big bill.


Have a great weekend.

--Matty G.
 
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Travel Trouble: A Whale Of A Tale

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 Comments
In an effort to save par we've all doffed a shoe or two to hit the impossible shot out of the water. Last year Henrik Stenson famously took it to the next level when he stripped down to his boxer briefs at the WGC-CA Championships. Last Saturday Jeff Gibson doffed nothing (not even his glove) and he wasn't in the water off the back of the sixth tee of The Links at Lighthouse Sound in Bishopville, Maryland to save par -- Gibson was saving a whale.

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Gibson, from Berkeley Heights, NJ, was playing in a church group outing with 11 friends. One friend was Ashley Cooper, of Summit, NJ. "There was a 30-mph wind and we were playing the back tees, like idiots," says Cooper. "I looked down off the back of the sixth tee and saw what looked like the fin on the bottom of a surfboard. I started to call 9-1-1, Jeff jumped down and started helping the whale."

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Cooper says they could see three other fins in the water, circling in the distance as though they were waiting for their friend. "It was like Free Willy," he says. "I can't make this stuff up."

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After about 10 minutes, Cooper says Gibson's efforts were successful. The Gervais' beaked whale, which are extremely rare and get as big as 17-feet, was badly cut up from his struggles on the beach, but swam back to his friends in the Assawoman Bay.

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"Jeff climbed out of the freezing water to wild applause," says Cooper, "and then he stepped to the tee and ripped a 280-yard drive in soaking wet clothes and golf shoes."

As for the course? I got Cooper's review of the 4.5-star Arthur Hills design (2000): "It's gorgeous. It's built on 1,000 acres and there's a 1/4 mile bridge over wetlands. I'm a golf snob, but this is real good."

Here's a link to The Links at Lighthouse Sound website. You can play it right now for $139 during the week, $169 on weekends.

"I'm going to St. Andrews next week and I'm sure I'll come back with some golf stories," says Cooper. "But none as good as this one. This is the best golf story of my life."

--Matty G.

Here's a picture of a Gervais' beaked whale:

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And of course, the classic scene in Seinfeld when George, the "Marine Biologist," saves the whale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u8KUgUqprw.

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Old Macdonald: A Tour Of The Back 9

Monday, May 10, 2010 Comments



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As you know, Old Macdonald is the new fourth course at Bandon Dunes. Set to officially open June 1, I played it on Thursday afternoon. It was spiritual -- just me and my caddie. The only other golfers I saw were playing Pacific Dunes. As I boarded the shuttle to go back to my room, the driver asked me for my thoughts on Old Mac.

"I have a new crush on golf," I said. And then I explained: I told him Old Mac is like getting a new girlfriend. Sometimes in life we get stuck in long-term relationships. We take things for granted, she picks at our flaws and stops saying, "Thank you." She becomes unforgiving and constricting, narrow, insecure and mean. (But I'm not bitter.) So there's a breakup. And then you date a different girl. It just clicks with the new girl -- things are fun again.

Old Mac is the new girlfriend. As I've said many times before, we -- the golf industry -- have made the game exclusive, expensive, hard and time-consuming. Old Mac at Bandon Dunes starts to break down some of those barriers. Tees range from 4,258 to 6,944 yards, and if you lose a ball it's because your playing partner put it in his pocket. I've said I've stopped ranking the other three courses on property at Bandon Dunes -- three of the top 14 public courses in the country -- because whatever one I'm playing at the time is my favorite. But even if I were to participate in that exercise, I wouldn't include Old Mac in the discussion: It's such a different brand of golf, such a different girl, just enjoy her, don't rank her.

With that said, here's the tour of the back nine (the front nine tour is the previous blog post below):

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This is the approach shot to No. 10: Bottle, 440 yards. It plays downwind, and there's an opportunity for another big tee shot. (Downwind, with the roll, I was getting an extra 30 to 40 yards.) The 10th green shares space with the fifth green. Combined they're 18,000 square feet. (To give you a sense of scale, the biggest green at Augusta National, the 14th, is just under 10,000 square feet.)

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No. 11: Road, 399 yards, into the wind. It has the look of the Road Hole at the Old Course. Sort of. Thankfully there's no hotel on the right, no road behind the hole, and you don't need a passport to get there.

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The biggest similarity is near the green, where you try to avoid a Road Hole bunker.

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No. 12: Redan, 205 yards. The only par 3 on the back nine plays downwind, the green slopes away from you, and it's well-protected by bunkers. 

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No. 13: Leven, 319 yards. It's another tough read from this photo, but this is a good short par 4. It plays into the wind, and the green has a severe slope from left to right. Danny V., my caddie, directed me to hit my approach shot way left and use the slope of the green. The ball came off the side of the dune and stopped near the cup, which was on the right side of the green. I told Danny V. that it's impressive how well he knows the course and the greens considering the fact that it's not officially open yet. Credit to the Bandon caddie program and a season of limited rounds on 10 of Old Mac's 18 holes last year.

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No. 14: Maiden, 297 yards. Another good short par 4. The wind generally comes from player's left, and the hole plays a little longer than the yardage because it's a gradual slope up to the green.

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No. 15: Westward Ho, 482 yards. You hit it left of the big bunker on the right. Then it's a slight dogleg and climb to the right. You'd think you could reach this shortish par 5 in two, and you probably could with two big shots and very little wind.

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No. 16: Alps, 433 yards. This is the favorite hole of Old Mac's co-designer, Jim Urbina. He convinced Tom Doak to use this northern-most portion of the property for the routing of No. 16 and No. 17. True to C.B. Macdonald's philosophy, there are options off the tee with some risks if you try to cut off some distance, and if you make it you'll enjoy some rewards.

Mac_16b.jpgIf you go left off the tee -- the more direct route -- you play a blind shot over a hefty dune . . . 

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. . . but you have less club in your hand because you'll get the benefit of a slope on the back of the dune, which runs out to the green. (Take note of the bell pole behind the green.)

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If you go right off the 16th tee, you get this angle of attack. It's a longer shot, but you can see the trouble -- the bunkers -- and you can see the green.

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The bell behind the 16th green. A great means of celebrating a birdie (or releasing the tension of a double bogey), but it's actually a signal to the group behind you that you've cleared the green. 

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No. 17: Littlestone, 515 yards. The last par 5 and a good chance for a birdie. It plays downwind, although this portion of the property (holes 1, 2, 17 and 18) the wind is less of a factor because you're protected by the big dune you hit over on your third tee shot. The 17th is another example of having options off the tee. Go right, toward the sprinkle of bunkers, and subject yourself to more trouble, but you'll have a shorter shot to the green. You have plenty of room left, but it's more likely to take you three to reach the green.

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The 17th green (above), looking back to the tee.

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No. 18: Punchbowl, 426 yards. Another downwind tee shot, completing a great run of finishing holes. 

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I was left with a 135-yard approach shot. I hit wedge to the left, it rode the wind, and the shape of the green threw it to a back-right pin.

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Here's a view of the Punchbowl green (above), looking back toward the fairway.

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(Me and Danny V.) Caddies at Bandon Dunes get a base of $55 per bag, plus gratuity. The good ones get between $80-$100. I gave Danny $110 because he deserved it, but also because I appreciated the company (and it's not really my money). Golf is a game best shared with others. Which is where I guess I draw the line of comparisons to a new girlfriend.

The back-nine is par 37. I shot a 39 from the green tees (3,516 yards) with two birdies for a final score of 81. Total yardage for the green tees is 6,320, which is plenty of golf course in a three- to four-club wind (typical of an afternoon at Old Macdonald). 


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I said the round was spiritual, which put me in the right frame of mind to go find the new labyrinth at Bandon Dunes . . . 

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. . . which was built as another tribute to the late Howard McKee, Mike Keiser's partner and original architect of the look and feel of all things Bandon Dunes. McKee loved  a good labyrinth. I'll let you figure out where it is (ask around, it adds to the mystique and sense of discovery), but it's a great spot to spend some quiet time reflecting on the good life. And trust me, if you're at Bandon Dunes, life is good.

--Matty G.
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Old Macdonald: A Tour Of The Front 9

Friday, May 7, 2010 Comments
On Wednesday night I went to a dinner at Bandon Dunes, sponsored by the Western Golf Association. (Yes, I was back at Bandon Dunes.) In attendance: Bandon owner, Mike Keiser, Pacific Dunes designer and Old Mac co-designer, Tom Doak, Bandon Trails co-designer Bill Coore and Ron Whitten, the Golf Digest architecture editor.

After dinner Whitten lead a discussion with Doak and Coore and then they answered questions from members of the WGA, who, oh by the way, raised $200,000 that week for the Evans Scholarship Foundation. (That's the foundation that awards hundreds of scholarships to caddies every year.)

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                   (From left: Doak, Coore and Whitten.)

As much as I've been to Bandon lately (three times since September), I've never played all 18 at Old Mac. On Thursday I tweeted a live hole-by-hole tour via my cell phone (twitter.com/wheresmattyg), but I also promised some pictures. 

Under a blue sky in the face of a three- to four-club wind, with nothing but Danny V the caddie and a camera, I played one of the few new courses in this country for a long time. Here's a visual tour of the front nine of Bandon's fourth course, scheduled to officially open on June 1. (The back nine tour and some final thoughts will post on Monday.)

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Here's the swank new clubhouse -- it must've cost Keiser a fortune. Actually, it's a converted stable that has been on property long before Keiser became the owner. I'm told it's temporary but that it turned out so good, it might be temporary for 20 years. Remember, Pacific Dunes had a trailer for a clubhouse for about eight years. That's the way Keiser works -- it's always golf first. He was finally forced to build the new Pacific Dunes clubhouse and restaurant because the old trailer was falling apart.

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I played from the green tees. It's a par 71, 6,320 yards with a 71.3 rating and a slope of 127. My option was the black tees -- 6,944 yards with a 74.1 rating and a slope of 133. Given the wind: No. Thanks. 

This is the first hole (pictured above). Double Plateau is only 304 yards but it generally plays directly into the wind. 

It's obvious Doak and co-designer, Jim Urbina, took great care to factor in the prevailing wind when they laid this course out. All short holes played into the wind -- all long holes played directly downwind. (What a concept.)
 
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Sorry, the flat holes don't photograph so well. It didn't help that the sun was so high, that I was using my little Leica camera and that I'm not a great photographer. This is No. 2 (pictured above): The Eden, 162 yards.

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The tee shot at No. 3: Sahara, 345 yards. You want to hit it just right of the tree with a draw but anywhere over the hill and you'll have an open approach to the green.

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After you make the steep climb to the top of the third fairway, this is your look at your approach to the green.

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No. 4: Hog's Back, 472-yard par 4. You want to hit it just right of big bunker on the left, with a slight fade.

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At the dinner on Wednesday, Coore made the point that great architecture is about details. I appreciate details like this wooden path (pictured above) in the middle of a fairway bunker on the fourth hole.

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From the fairway looking toward the fourth green.

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No. 5: Short, 134 yards. This green is 18,000 sq. ft. It's a double green that shares space with the 10th hole. Urbina said it was the first green built on property and it was so big he was afraid to tell Keiser the exact size. Urbina referred to this green and many features throughout the course as, "Bold." He also said he made this green that big (and bold) so that it matched the backdrop, the Pacific Ocean, which is only slightly bigger.

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No. 6: Long, 520 yards. It is long, especially into the wind. This fairway parallels the 15th fairway of Pacific Dunes. (It's the only time I saw another golfer.) 

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The "Hell Bunker" in the middle of the sixth fairway.

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Again, the detail. I love the way Ken Nice, Bandon's chief agronomist, grew the grass around the walls of some bunkers so that it looks like they're bones, discovered by an archeologist with a dust brush.

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This is the view from the top of Hell Bunker, looking out to the sixth green.

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No. 7: Ocean, 345 yards. It's a slight dogleg left -- the green is on top of the dune.

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If you're following the progress of Old Mac at all, you've seen this angle of the seventh green a few (hundred) times. But it never gets old. In a layout filled with Charles Blair Macdonald influence and some Doak/Urbina twists, this hole is Keiser's -- he wanted to have a green on top of this dune. You can see why. (On the far right you can also see the 13th green of Pacific Dunes.)

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Before you hit your tee shot on No. 8, you'll stop at the new turn shack, which will be finished by opening day. Keiser told me Howard McKee, his partner who died a few years ago, got the permits to expand this into a restaurant where guests can come out, have a glass of wine or beer, and enjoy the sunset. Of course Keiser will wait on that until he's sure he has the business and the interest to justify the expense. (What a concept.) 

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No. 8: Biarritz, 170 yards. This green is 24,000 sq. ft. Not only is it the biggest green on property (75 yards from front to back), it might be the biggest green in the country.

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From behind the eighth green, looking back toward the seventh green (middle) and the eighth tee (right). The eighth green has a deep swale running through the center, perpendicular to the tee. I heard Keiser doesn't want the pin to ever be in front of the swale, but I'm not sure that's true.

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No. 9: Cape, 352 yards. Another tough read on a flat photo, but the green is out there, just beyond those bunkers in the distance. If you can fly it 260 yards (or so), you can clear those bunkers and if there's a wind at your back, there's a chance the ball rolls to the green.

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I barely cleared the bunker and was left with this look into the ninth green.


So that's the front nine of Old Mac. The par is 34, I shot a very sloppy 42. As I tweeted, "I'm scratch at mediocrity." Again, I'll post the back nine and some overall thoughts on Old Mac on Monday. Have a great weekend.

--Matty G.
  
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