WEBVTT - Bandon Deep Dives: Sheep Ranch 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:04.120 Hello, and welcome to the Frida Egg Podcast. I'm Garrett Morrison. 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:06.800 I'm here today with Andy Johnson. 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:11.160 How you doing Andy, I'm doing swell, Garrett, I'm doing wonderful. 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:14.720 I'm excited to talk about Bandoned Dunes, and most importantly, 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:18.480 I'm excited to talk about our sponsor for today's spot, 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.919 Zero Restriction. They were instrumental in getting us out to 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.680 Bandoned Dunes, a place that nobody has seen or covered before, 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.600 but you know, we're hoping to bring unique perspective and 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.640 twist to that. And many thanks as your Restriction who 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.440 outfitted us and that you know, I guess it was November. 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.440 You know that November weather abandon You don't know what 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.440 you're gonna get. And it was quite important to be 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:47.319 outfitted with the many layers that Zero Restriction sent us, 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:50.000 and you know, it was cool. We were able to 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.280 provide some feedback on their product line that's not even 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:56.720 out yet. So one item that I had that I 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:00.720 really enjoyed was the durand vest. You know, one of 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:03.080 the big things that their new line is the color waves. 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.399 It was red. You know, nobody was gonna mistake me 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.720 for something unless like me that you're red, green, color blind, 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.280 then you're in trouble. But this red really stood out. 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.720 So it's you know a little bit more eccentric colors 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:19.039 than your typical outerwear that usually is you know, gray, 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:24.080 blue or black. You know, this having the color new 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.480 color waves was really exciting. And the vest was a 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:29.880 great layering piece. You know, I could wear it over 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:33.360 you know, polos and you know pullovers, or I could 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.640 wear it under and uh it provided great wind protection 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.080 and uh, you know it's another layer for for the rain. 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:42.600 I think we went through one day that wash I'll 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.160 never forget. But you know, the uh, it was just 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:47.720 another piece that kept me warm. 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:50.840 Yeah, the vests are great because they do keep you 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:54.480 warm and they don't restrict your movement when you're playing golf. 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.320 Well that's why they're called zero restriction. There you go, 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:02.680 no restriction. The name comes from I believe actually, well 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.360 you have no restriction in weather, you know. I think 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:09.360 it's a double entendres and that's what you call it 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:10.440 in the literary world. 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:15.600 A multiple entendre in the literary world maybe, but uh, yeah, 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:17.359 it was. It was great stuff. We did have a 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.880 couple of pretty rugged days at Bandon Dunes, and zero 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.640 restriction kept us warm and dry during them, So that 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:25.600 was much appreciated. 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.320 Yeah, and if you are persuaded to go get yourself 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:31.600 some new zero restriction, I know the holidays are here. 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:34.360 If you didn't get what you wanted, if you didn't 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.560 get the outerwear piece you're dreaming of, go over there 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:40.080 and use the code t F E twenty five and 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.920 give yourself the gift of a nice outerwear piece. I 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:46.000 will tell you this, it's very functional for people that 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.240 live in real winter. It's a nice piece to have 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:51.239 to layer on those very cold winter days. 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:56.200 Does Oregon have real winter? No, So what you saw 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:58.720 at Bandon Dunes was just a very aggressive fall. 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:00.120 Yeah or spring. 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.200 I miss a green for example, I'm already upset when 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:06.320 I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:07.720 And when I find my ball. 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.320 In a bried egg Friday egg, the dreaded Frida egg 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.320 Frida egg Frida egg egg Frida egg bride egg. 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:37.400 Lie, I'm about ready to run off of the hump. All right, 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:38.720 let's talk about sheet branch. 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.280 Let's do it. So today's episode is the first of 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.960 a few that we're gonna do on the band In 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.720 Dunes courses. Each of the courses definitely deserves its own 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:53.120 deep dive. We've decided to go in reverse chronological order 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.920 in terms of construction, so start with the most recent course, 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:01.560 but you can expect more podcasts about the individual banding 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:04.800 courses coming Q one. But it's going to be fun 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.200 to start with Sheep Ranch because obviously this is the 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.280 most recent addition to the band In Dunes resort. It's 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:12.080 a fascinating place and it's. 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.840 The most popular according to the resort, which is I 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:16.240 didn't I didn't realize. 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.120 Yeah, I mean, I think that's probably because it's the 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:21.679 one that people haven't played yet, and so they definitely 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:23.920 want to play it when they go to the resort. 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:27.200 But yeah, Sheep Branches is packed all the time. And 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:29.680 we got to go play it on a lovely day. 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.840 You know, often it's really windy at Sheep Ranch. It's 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.880 extremely exposed out there on that point, and it was 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:39.360 a pretty calm day when we played it, and and 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.320 so we got to see it and what's probably unusual weather. 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.560 I've played it twice now. I played it very you know, 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.560 during the growing process. It was not at all like 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.239 a mature golf course. When I played it the first time, 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:56.240 and that day, just like this day, was extremely calm. 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:58.840 So did you play all eighteen holes when you did 0:04:58.880 --> 0:04:59.400 the previewing? 0:04:59.640 --> 0:04:59.960 Yeah? 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:00.480 Oh wow. 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:05.719 So it was March of twenty twenty, right days before 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:10.520 COVID hit the US, and so that was like kind 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:13.159 of one of my lasting memories in the dultrums of 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.600 COVID was played Sheep Ranch with one of my good 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:16.680 buddies from college. 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.359 All Right, so we thought we would start by giving 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.280 a little bit of history of the property, and you 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:28.120 have actually covered that with Tom Doak before. Now. Tom 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.719 Doak and his team at Renaissance Golf Design laid out 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:34.960 the original sheep Ranch, which was a very different kind 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:39.000 of course, and he described what he did, how that 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.000 course came about, and what it was like. So we're 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:44.000 going to play a clip from that episode and just 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:48.359 let Tom Doak describe what happened. Hey, So, in listening 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.040 to this clip again, I realized that we needed a 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:54.400 bit more setup to help you understand what Tom and 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:58.240 Andy are talking about. So one thing is that the 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:01.719 original sheep Ranch, in case he didn't know, was essentially 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:05.360 a free form golf course. It consisted of thirteen greens 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.400 and basically the player would get to determine his or 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.039 her own routing, his or her own path around the 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.040 golf course. Then, of course Bill cor and Ben Crenshaw 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:17.320 came in a few years ago and turned it into 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.240 more of a traditional eighteen hole course to be part 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.719 of the Bandon Dunes resort. So that's one thing. Another 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.800 thing is that when Tom refers to Mike in the 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.240 clip coming up here, he is talking about Mike Kaiser, 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:34.360 who is the founder and developer behind the Bandon Dunes resort. 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.040 Mike and his friend Phil Friedman, his partner from the 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.920 greeting card business, were the major forces behind the Sheep Ranch, 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:46.080 getting it off the ground originally and continuing up to today. 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:48.080 All right, here's Tom. 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:54.680 Phil Friedman was Mike's college roommate and his partner in 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:59.640 recycled paper greetings. And when Mike started looking at doing 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:01.960 band Dunes, he asked Phil if Phil wanted to be 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:05.040 a partner in Bandon too, and Phil said no. He 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:08.640 thought Mike was crazy to be spending so much money 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:11.480 out there on a golf project in the middle of nowhere. 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:15.720 So when we started doing planning for Pacific Dunes and 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.960 Bandon Dunes was getting ready to open a lot of 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:22.040 the trips. Phil would come out with Mike to Bandon 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:26.400 and Phil was just feeling like such a dope for 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:30.120 not having been part of Bandon Dunes. He loved playing 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:33.760 the golf courses. He was like, he played the first 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:37.400 loop of Hall's the Preview Loop at Pacific Dunes more 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:40.840 than anybody. I think he just loved it. And he 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.120 was just like beating his head against the wall. Why 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:46.920 didn't I participate in this? So the land for the 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.880 Sheep Ranch came up for sale. I don't know if 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.600 there was an intermedia. At one point, a power company 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:57.360 had owned it, and there were some wind turbans out there, 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:01.440 like back in the seventies or early eighties, and it 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:05.000 was so windy, like destroy the wind turbans and they 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:08.320 didn't work, so they took that all out. But I 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.320 don't know if there'd been an intermedia owner or not. Anyway, 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.000 it was for sale, and it was for a pretty 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.080 good chunk of money for you know, two hundred acres 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.680 on the Oregon Coast in the middle of nowhere, and 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:22.720 you know it was right next to Bandon and right 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.400 where you could see it, and and Mike was like, well, 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.360 I got to buy it to protect the resort from 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:33.160 somebody building a big, ugly hotel there or cashing in 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:35.800 off what we've done and building another golf course. They're separate, 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.560 but it was a chunk of money too, And you know, 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:41.720 Phil raised his hand and said I'll go have these 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:45.480 with you, and Mike was like, okay, that don't save 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.800 me some money. So it was a separate deal from 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:52.000 the resort, a separate ownership. So they tried to come 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.160 up with a business model that wasn't like directly tied 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.640 to the resort. And the first idea was, well, let's 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:01.920 make a private you know. And you know, I thought 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.440 it would have been neat as a private course to 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.800 you know, like get some members, build a little clubhouse 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.640 with some lodging. Sure, they go play at the resort 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:12.560 during the day, and then they come up there at 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:14.600 the end of the day and play till dark, basically 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:16.880 on their own little golf course without a lot of 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:20.680 other people around. I thought that would have worked, and 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:26.199 it might have worked. But somewhere during the process of routing, 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:30.120 as we were starting construction, I don't think Mike Kaiser 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:34.000 ever anticipated at that point what a hero he was 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.800 going to be in the golf world for building Bandon 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:40.440 Dunes and it being all public. But that was that 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:43.600 was starting to be the story about the resort and 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:46.160 Mike all of it sudden realized that if he did 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:49.200 this private thing right next to the resort, he would 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:52.760 kill that and he didn't want to do that. So 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.200 he got really called feet about the business model and 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.000 kind of backed off and didn't really want to didn't 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:01.000 really want to build anything, having any idea what he 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:05.040 would do with it. But Phil, who spent half the 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:07.560 money to build it, and you know, he really wanted 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.440 to go ahead. So he asked us if we could 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.200 go ahead, and you know, what could we do for 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.520 a limited amount of money? And I said, well, you know, 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:22.520 really the big cost of this whole deal is irrigation. Irrigation. 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:26.320 The irrigation system was literally forty percent of the cost 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:30.040 of building Pacific Dunes. So without that, you know, if 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.360 you're just building greens and a few bunkers, and we 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:35.360 didn't even we built about three bunkers because it was 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:37.400 not sandy soil, and we figured the sand. 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:38.120 Would all blow away. 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:40.360 We just built a couple of bunkers to see if 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.360 they would hold up at all. And Phil said, okay, 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.520 we'll just build some greens and you know, we'll just 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:49.600 we'll just see the whole place. And you know, you 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:51.320 get enough rain there in the winter, you get a 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:55.040 catch of grass, but it just goes, it goes super 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.000 dormant the summer. They would shut it down for a 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:59.320 while in the summers because it would just get so toasty. 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:01.199 He didn't want it to catch fire. 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:05.640 But it just had a loop of irrigation around the 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.520 greens and nothing else. So it was really like what 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:11.880 you'd see in New Zealand or rural Scotland or somewhere 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.760 as far as the maintenance level of it. But because 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:18.200 Mike had kind of like disavowed it, there was this 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:23.079 always this awkward relationship between the resort and the sheep Ranch, 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.600 like we've got to make sure that no staff from 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.240 the resort is doing a work up there, and they're 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.040 not using equipment from up there. So the sheep Branch 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:35.679 only had a couple used motors. Basically was what they 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.720 maintained the golf course with. I mean, it was basically 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:43.360 a two man operation for years, and you know, some 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:45.240 people didn't get it. It's like, why are the golf 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:47.920 courses down there so perfect? And this is kind of raggedy, 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:50.720 And some people just loved it that way because it 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:51.480 was so different. 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:56.720 And I think that's an important historical anecdote. That is 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:01.400 what happens when new courses open. Magazines write about how 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.200 it's the best course here, you know, no matter what, 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.960 it's always that's always going to be the conversation. But 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:12.640 it's important to remember that what you did at the 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:17.559 Sheep Ranch was a drastically different concept and wasn't It's 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:19.840 not like it was a failing. It was a success 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:23.440 in a different way than what Bill and Ben just 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.040 completed there is it was a commercial golf course, and 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.720 yours wasn't a commercial golf course built for resort play. 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.000 You know, it was a it was a concept and 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.280 and in many ways, the idea of low cost construction, 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:41.080 low cost maintenance with a golf course that made people 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:46.840 like imaginations run wild is a smashing success and not 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.840 something not an idea of golf that should be abandoned. 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:53.720 No, and I'm meant, I mean I want to be 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.160 really careful. First of all, I haven't seen that. I 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.680 haven't seen Bill and Ben's course yet, but I can. 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.199 I've got a pretty good idea. It's like it's spent 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:03.360 a lot of time in the ground. You know, I've 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:05.719 seen the routing plan. I think the routing plan is 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:07.679 really good. They did some things that Don and I 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.560 never thought of that made I mean, basically, they fit 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:14.559 eighteen holes on about one hundred and twenty acres and 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.120 made it really cool. You know, it's got to be 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.640 really close together and it's got to be kind of 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:23.600 all mode tight for that to work. But it looks 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.079 really cool and I'm excited to play it. So I'm 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:29.280 not saying what we did was better. It was completely 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:35.080 different for a completely different concept and client and everything else. 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:39.000 And so the sheep branch was kind of in limbo 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.760 for you know, we you know, it was done in 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:46.160 two thousand and three, and it sat there for fifteen 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:50.079 years with people occasionally playing it and not really understanding 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:56.000 what was going on. When Mike and I started talking 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.840 about Old McDonald, and really not when we started talking 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.200 about it, but just when we just when we agreed 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.200 that I would do Old McDonald. Right as I started 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:08.000 to shake his hand about it, he said, you realize 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:12.160 that if I have you do Old McDonald whenever I 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:14.959 do something with the sheep Ranch, I'll probably have somebody 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:18.360 else do it. And I like hesitated for about a 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.400 half a second, you know, because at that time, you know, 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:23.480 Mike and Phil we did an impasse over what to 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:25.640 do with it. I was like, whatever's going to happen 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:27.560 with the sheep Branch is way down the road, and 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:30.200 you know, we could use this old. 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:31.480 McDonald job right now. 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:35.040 So I didn't think very hard about that, but I 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.200 did it kind of with sadness too, because I really 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:39.800 I did love the concept of the sheep Ranch, and 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:41.840 you know, I knew it was going to go away 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.360 someday and they would do something real with it. And 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:47.480 it was kind of a bummer that we didn't get 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.280 to work on it again when the time came. But 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:52.600 by the same token, you know, I was kind of like, 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:59.120 that would have been hard for me to do, all right. 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.240 So there's a number of interesting things to say about 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.160 the original Sheep Ranch. Neither of us played it, first 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.440 of all, and so we can't really comment directly on 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:12.200 what that course was. It seems really interesting in concept, 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:14.840 but it just wasn't going to work as a public 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.360 resort course. This was always going to be a private 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:20.920 members course. That was the only way that it was 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:21.680 really going to work. 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:26.240 Well. It's an interesting aspect of golf and whether it's 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.320 a club like I think clubs struggle with this. They 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.560 build these really neat short courses. One that comes to 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.920 mind is what the course that OCM built at Shady Oaks, 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:40.600 the nine hole short course called the Little Nine I think. 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:43.080 But when I got out there, I was looking at 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:44.760 I was like, God, you could play this, you know, 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.520 seventy five times and talking to the superintendent do you 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.680 ever do this or seventy five different ways? And they're like, no, 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:52.760 this is how we set it up every day. There's 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:57.520 this reluctance for golfers in concept. If you know, if 0:15:57.680 --> 0:15:59.920 a golfer is in the right mindset, it's like al 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.120 and it's a really cool place to go, you know. 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.000 And I think this probably has a lot to do 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:09.080 with people's personalities. If you're not like a type a planner, 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:12.280 this is a concept that you find very appealing, Like 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:14.520 I can I don't know where I'm going next, but 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:16.880 I'm going to go somewhere and I can play there. 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.840 It's not necessarily there's no handicaps, there's no you know, 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:23.280 this is not a place I'm entering my score. But 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.400 for somebody that's type A, this is this is an 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:30.360 utter disaster. The idea of not knowing where you're going, 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.440 not being a formal scorecard, not being able to track 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.440 my scores, not being able to enter a handicap like 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:38.840 these are things that just kind of would cripple a 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.720 type A person where, you know, and I don't want 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.160 to cast too many generalizations, but that I think, like 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.200 you know, for some people, for certain types of people, 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.680 this concept is is unbelievable. But for others it's it's 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.640 just like, no, this isn't golf, this is not my 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:56.800 structured golf. 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.880 And I think specifically people who are going to band 0:16:59.880 --> 0:17:03.960 It Dunes, if they encounter a free form course, their 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:07.000 first question is probably going to be, well, which one's 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.920 the best routing, which one's like the top one hundred 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:10.960 course here? I want to play that? 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:13.879 Yeah, I mean that's the question you encounter when the 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:16.199 second you step on foot, is that everybody wants it out. 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:19.880 What's the best course? And you know, with the sheep 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:23.480 branch you could come up with sixty different courses in 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:28.080 its original you know, construction, which I find quite appealing. 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:30.879 I you know, ironically, I think this course and the 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.879 Loop are two examples of Tom. I think one of 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.439 the things that Tom does that not a lot of 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.160 architects do is they push the boundaries of and they push, 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.600 you know, where they're comfortable going. Like, you know, they 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.040 don't stick to what has worked for twenty He doesn't 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:48.560 stick to what has worked for twenty years. He wants 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.200 to design new concepts. And I think when you look 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:53.840 back on his career, that's the thing that you know 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.880 is probably one of the most admirable things about about 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.919 him is that he pushes the limits. And you know, 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:04.280 this course and the Loop, to me are two courses 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:08.320 that were built at resorts that are would be far 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:13.199 superior golf courses for municipalities or clubs because of the 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:15.560 versatility of them. You know the loop is going to 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:19.080 work because you know that that resorts really embraced it. 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:23.240 But I always think about that golf course, how unbelievable 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:25.560 it would be to play it every single day, because 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:28.200 that's where the more and more time you spend on it, 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.560 the more and more you appreciate all the little intricacies 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:34.440 that went into that design and just the day to 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.440 day variety of playing a completely new golf course every day. 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.520 And you know, in some ways the Sheep Ranch concept 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:42.680 might have been a little bit ahead of its time. 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:44.679 It seems like a perfect state course. 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.160 Oh yeah, And it ended up kind of being that, right. 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:51.720 It ended up being sort of a private playground for 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.200 Phil Friedman and his family for a while, and they 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:58.000 finally decided to you know, formalize the routing, make it 0:18:58.040 --> 0:18:59.919 an eighteen whole course that was more part of the 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.560 Bandon Dune's resort when Freeman's kids had grown up and 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:06.199 you know, they weren't going out there as much. But 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:08.760 for a while it kind of functioned in that way. 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:10.960 But you know when I say it was a little 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:14.159 bit ahead of its time, Now we have places like 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:18.160 Hoopy Match Club and the Loop, which the reversible course 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:22.320 that Tom Dokes Firm designed at Forrest Dunes. There are 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:26.320 these alternative concepts starting to pop up. We're starting to 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:30.240 see how they work, and maybe it would have been 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:33.320 more possible for Sheep Ranch to happen if that were 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:35.919 the case. But at the time, Mike Kaiser was like, 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.639 you know, I've gotten a lot of positive press for 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:41.600 opening up these public courses. There's going to be a 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:44.560 little bit of blowback here if we establish an ultra 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:46.760 private course, which which this would kind of have to 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:48.600 be in order to function. 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.560 Yeah, and who could complaint with the results as it's 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:54.639 the busiest eighteen hull course at you know, maybe the 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:58.479 busiest golf resort in the world. And you know, people 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.119 seem to love the golf course. So you know, hiring 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:04.680 it worked out, Bill Koor Ben Crenshaw obviously you're going 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:08.119 to usually get a pretty solid product. I think this 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:11.840 golf course is very distinct from all the others because 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:16.560 it's in a complete it's off site. You leave the resort, 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.480 you know, you leave the central theme of the property. 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:24.280 You know, the dune ridge that extends across every single 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:29.159 golf course at Bandon is not present here, and you know, 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:31.760 it is a It is probably the smallest site of 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:33.240 all the golf courses. 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.119 The smallest site and very different from the land at 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:38.480 the other golf courses. Now, just to backtrack a couple 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:41.160 of steps for those who don't know, Corn Crenshaw came 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.600 in a few years ago, did a new routing, eighteen 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.159 whole routing, and that's what we have today at the 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:49.080 Sheep Ranch, which has been open for what a year 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:49.800 and a half now. 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:54.160 Be twenty twenty, so almost two getting close to two years, 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:54.720 but a year and. 0:20:54.720 --> 0:21:00.600 A half now. Tom Doak and Don Plasik is at 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:05.720 Renaissance Golf Design had done an eighteen hole routing. In fact, 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:08.280 I think multiple eighteen hole routings on the Sheep Ranch 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.959 property before, and Tom has one of them in his 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:15.640 book Getting to eighteen. That's really interesting to look at 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:18.960 now because it is pretty different. As you mentioned, it's 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:22.880 a pretty small site, and so fitting eighteen holes on there, 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:26.160