A closer look at Bandon Preserve, the fifth course at Bandon Dunes.
Golf Courses
Bandon Preserve
September 11, 2011
By
Matt Ginella
A closer look at Bandon Preserve, the fifth course at Bandon Dunes.
The 142-yard second hole has tiered tee boxes, and can play as short as 66 yards.
A view from behind the second green.
The 124-yard fourth hole.
A closer look at the fourth green, which is also the seventh green, making it 22,000 square feet of putting surface and the largest of all five courses at the resort. (The second-largest green at Bandon Dunes is the eighth at Old Mac, which is 20,000 square feet.)
Behind the sprinkler on the right is Preserve's fifth green, which is 152 yards from the back tee.
The Preserve was going to be 12 holes, and then co-designer Bill Coore walked around behind the fifth green and said to Bandon owner, Mike Keiser, "Mike, there's another golf hole here." This is the "found hole," which will play 142 yards from the black tees.
At this point of the process, some of the bunkers are grassed over to keep the sand from blowing away. This is one of the greenside bunkers of the sixth hole.
From the black tees, playing to a back pin, the seventh hole can play 189 yards, which makes it the longest hole on the course. From the front tees, it's listed at 68 yards.
The shortest hole on the course, with a punchbowl green, the eighth hole is listed at 78 yards from the black tees; 44 yards from the forward tees.
A closer look at the eighth green.
The 134-yard ninth is owner Mike Keiser's favorite, and features a dramatic tee shot with a clear view of the 16th green and 17th fairway of Bandon Dunes (far right).
As Golf Digest Architecture Editor Ron Whitten remarked in a recent post, the tee shot at the 152-yard 11th is probably the most intimidating at Bandon Preserve.
Once you get to the 11th green, there will be a lot of looking back across the gorse-filled canyon, to the 17th hole of Bandon Dunes.
Back up on top of the dunes, this is the 148-yard 12th.
The steep-faced bunker that protects the 12th green.
More of the defense mechanisms to the design of the 12th green.
The 110-yard 13th offers the benefits of a downhill tee shot, a clear view of the resort's main lodge and the finishing hole of Bandon Dunes.