“I knew it wouldn’t last forever,” Keiser said at the time.

It was, after all, a ghost tree. Others refer to the trees as “snags.” They are dead trees with a dead root system. In this case, the 50- to 60-foot port orford cedar most likely died decades ago, the victim of a fungal root infection. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the port orford cedar, which can rise to 200 feet, “is native to a limited area along the Pacific Coast from Coos Bay, Oregon, to the mouth of the Mad River near Arcata, California”, a roughly 230-mile stretch of coastline.

After an especially nasty storm on December 26, which produced 25-foot waves and 60mph winds, the iconic “Ghost Tree” of Old Mac is leaning into its last stand.

“It was a good storm,” says Michael Chupka, who has worked at the resort for 15 years and is now the director of communications, “but I’ve seen far worse.”

Larry Kunders, the starter at Old Mac, a course designed by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina that opened in 2010, wasn’t surprised to see “the old girl” had more lean in her posture when he came to work on Tuesday morning. “I expected to see it the way it was,” Kunders says. “Mother Nature has worn it down. It has taken its toll.”

Kunders shot a picture, which immediately went viral across the golf world.

“It’s a tree that means a lot to people,” says Kunders, who speaks to guests as they embark on the journey of Old Macdonald. “It’s a very sentimental situation.”

The Ghost Tree has become a secondary course logo for Old Mac and appears on an increasing amount of the merchandise specific to the course. Some Bandon die-hards have tattooed an image of the tree on their body. Casey Peters is among them. He is a caddie and the grandson of Mick Peters, the celebrated barber who has hit the first shot at every Bandon course opening. “It’s pretty sad and I’m pretty disappointed,” says Casey. “I got the tattoo because it’s a symbol of where I started [caddying]. The courses are somewhat tied to my family and so I thought getting a tattoo was another way to remember the course and my grandfather.”

Peters isn’t alone in his lifetime commitment to the Ghost Tree. Others have tattooed the tree on their calf or shoulder. The arm is a popular spot. Maybe my favourite piece of apparel sold at Bandon is white Ghost Tree logo on a black hoodie.

According to several resort staff, the plan for the tree seems to be: Let nature run its course. That’s not surprising considering the culture of the resort.

Ken Nice, Bandon’s senior director of agronomy, and other staffers will go out on Friday to see what they can do to stabilise the tree, but everyone I spoke to seems resigned to the idea that the “Ghost Tree” will be gone someday soon.

“When we decided to keep it, I never thought it would become so iconic,” says Josh Lesnik, the original general manager of Bandon Dunes. His colleagues at Kemper Sports continue to work closely with the Keiser family on management of the resort. “But it is a ‘ghost tree’. At some point, it seems destined to be a ghost. And the spirit of that tree will always be there. I feel sorry for the people who haven’t had the chance to see it, play around it, or even over it. But for the people who have had that chance in the last 12 years, it’ll be an everlasting visual and memory.”

There is no denying the facts: The tree sits on a dramatic sandy slope, it’s dead, its roots are rotting and it’s constantly being battered by the weather. The end seems inevitable.

Meanwhile, the Ghost Tree Grill is under construction behind Old Mac’s 18th green. From what I’ve been told, the naming of that grill will not change regardless of what happens to the tree. According to several sources, the tree will continue to be the unofficial logo. And parts of the tree could be incorporated into the grill architecture.

“During construction [of the course], there were other trees on that slope,” says Jim Urbina, who helped Doak shape Pacific Dunes and received co-designer credit on Old Mac. “But none were as good or as iconic as that one. It was too noble to remove it. And we knew if we made the fairway wide enough, you could choose to play around it.”

For now, she stays. A dead tree with a second life as a logo, batting down balls, serving as a backdrop for pictures and videos and as a muse for tattoos.

What comes after it’s gone?

No one I talked to thought it would be a good idea to replace or replicate it. Most referenced the notion that a rock is more commonly used by links courses in the UK and Ireland as an aiming device for a blind shot, which is what the tee shot at Old Mac’s third hole presents.

“To plant another tree doesn’t seem like a sensible option,” Urbina says. “The reality is, they all have a shelf life. And when it’s gone, I’m going to miss it.”

So will Alex Smith, a caddie who started at Bandon Dunes in 2010, the year Old Macdonald opened. “I remember going on shadow loops thinking Old Mac was like playing golf on the moon,” Smith says. “It’s a real lunar scape, with the Ghost Tree standing sentry over the property, both as a welcoming and a warning that this is a course unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. Stoic. Silent. Steadfast. Seeing the angle at which that tree now precariously sits is also a reminder that the wind and rain were Bandon’s original designers. And it seems the elements are not done shaping this land and these magical links courses.”

As for Kunders, he’s scheduled to be back at work on Friday. “Hopefully there’s some good news,” he says.

There are some exciting developments out of Bandon, as the design team of Rod Whitman (Cabot Links), Dave Axland and Keith Cutten will begin clearing and shaping a new 18-hole par-3 course in March. It will border a portion of the Bandon Trails course. A name for the course has not yet been announced. Also in the works is a new David McLay Kidd design New River Dunes. It will be the sixth big golf course in the Bandon portfolio but is located 10 miles south of the main property. The course is still going through the permitting process so construction might not start for another year or two.

At least one more putting course is coming. Also more lodging, fire pits and the Ghost Tree Grill. Nice tells me the Old Mac course is set to make the transformation from fescue grass to poa annua this winter. Given the aggressive nature of what’s considered a “weed grass”, the Sheep Ranch, which is also fescue, can’t be far behind. The Bandon Dunes resort is a living, breathing organism, always changing and evolving. Any news out of there is usually good news, as in the case of all the new and upcoming playgrounds. The idea of losing the Ghost Tree hurts, but the fact that so many of us are attached to a dead cedar is a reminder of how much Bandon Dunes settles into our golfing soul.

The post The life and lean of Bandon Dunes’ ‘Ghost Tree’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Videos and photos surfaced on social media on Tuesday of the tree leaning to the north after a storm brought wind gusts of more than 70mph to the Bandon, Oregon, coastal layout. A resort spokesman said the Bandon team is researching possible solutions for stabilising the tree, but it was unknown whether it would be lost.

“If you are scheduled to play Old Macdonald soon, please be respectful of its space and celebrate it from a distance,” the resort said in a post on Instagram.

A golfer on the second hole at Old Mac earlier this week with the stately cedar tree looming in the distance. Tony Shuster

The tree has become a celebrated logo of sorts for visitors to the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, with its five top-ranked 18-hole courses. It not only serves as a target on the third hole ‘Sahara’, a short par 4 that rewards drives that get close to the towering cedar, but in many ways it symbolises the mystique of the entire course. A golfer tees off to an elevated, blind fairway on the third hole — and a severely uphill walk over the sand ridge reveals one of the more awe-inspiring vistas at the resort.

The ghost tree at Bandon Dunes. Ben Walton

There are ghost trees on other parts of the Bandon property, such as the new Sheep Ranch course. It’s unknown whether the resort would consider replacing the existing, original cedar with another from the grounds.

Of course, this has happened with other famous trees in golf. In 2014, one of the two cypress trees in the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach toppled over in a storm with similar winds. It cost the resort an estimated $350,000 to replace the trees. Earlier that year, golf lost perhaps its most famous tree, the loblolly pine dubbed the Eisenhower Tree to the left of the 17th fairway at Augusta National. It was not replaced.

The post The ghost tree at Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes is in danger of falling. Here’s what we know appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tod Leonard
BANDON, Ore. — In this case, it’s truly like father, like son.

When Tyler Strafaci and Charles (Ollie) Osborne tee it up against each other in the 36-hole championship match of the 120th U.S. Amateur on Sunday at Bandon Dunes, their personalities and approaches to the pressure they face will be markedly different. Not only in their own demeanours, but those of their caddies—both of whom happen to be their dads.

Frank Strafaci Jr. is a fast-talking, edgy son of a New Yorker with longish gray hair who hails from a deeply accomplished golf family. There’s a certain amount of, say, confidence that goes along with that. Steve Osborne speaks softly and deliberately, just as you might expect from an attorney by profession. You’re probably not going to see him pounding his fist on a table in the courtroom like the lawyers do on television.

“My wife’s Italian. She’s the animated one,” Steve said with a grin late on Saturday afternoon.

Ollie Osborne is decidedly not cartoonish, which is why his family dubbed him the “Silent Assassin” when he’s on the golf course. “He’ll be walking up the fairway, talking to no one, but he will beat you,” his dad said with pride.

Tyler Strafaci, 22 and a rising fifth-year senior at Georgia Tech, doesn’t mask his emotions or thoughts, explaining about his near-collapse in the semifinals on Saturday, “I wasn’t responding to it well. I’m not gonna lie. I didn’t do well with it. I was telling my dad there was a lot of negative self-talk.”

The golfers are opposites to be sure, but that makes their first meeting of any kind all the more compelling, as does what is on the line for each of them if they can claim their first U.S. Amateur title. Strafaci got choked up after his 1-up semifinal victory over Aman Gupta when reminded that just by reaching the finals he’d made the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and likely will get an invitation to next year’s Masters, which his grandfather, Frank Strafaci Sr., played in three times. “So cool, awesome,” he said after pausing to collect his emotions.

Said Osborne, after he’d beaten Matthew Sharpstene, 4 and 2, “It’s kind of unbelievable. I can’t believe that I’m here. It’s just cool how this week has gone for me, and I’m excited to be in it.”

RELATED: Golfer makes 102-yard hole-in-one at Sheep Ranch … with her putter!

A 20-year-old from Reno, Nev., who will be a junior this fall at SMU, Osborne looked doomed to not make it out of stroke play when he got the field’s toughest draw for the first round—wind-swept Bandon Dunes on Monday—and shot 77.

“We had a little talk about how he has to just … feel that calmness within himself,” Steve Osborne said. “He’s at his best when he’s that way. Whenever he plays with me, he knocks my socks off. I told him to just pretend you’re playing dad.”

Osborne responded the next day by tying the Bandon Trails course record with a 64. His run through match play thus far has been one of domination, with only his first-round match reaching the 18th hole. On Saturday, in the most benign conditions of the week, Osborne was 1 down to Sharpstene after losing the seventh hole, but countered with four birdies while winning six of his final nine holes.

“This week, I’ve just been looking at this like I have nothing to lose, everything to gain,” Osborne said. “I try to be as aggressive as possible.”

Osborne, who won the AJGA’s 2017 Jordan Spieth Championship, has one college win and came into the week somewhat under the radar because of his place at No. 460 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. But he also advanced through two stages of qualifying to reach the PGA Tour’s 2019 Barracuda Championship, and while playing on his home course of Montreaux Country Club in Reno, he came up one point shy [with a double bogey on the 18th hole] of reaching the weekend in the modified Stableford format.

His dad also recalled that in SMU’s playoff to get into match play at the 2019 NCAA Championship, Osborne drained a 20-foot birdie that helped the Mustangs reach the final eight.

“The people who play him can see how good he is, and the best part is, he keeps working to get better,” Steve Osborne said. “When the top guys play him, they see it.”

Steven Gibbons
Tyler Strafaci and his caddie/father Frank Strafaci celebrate after he won his U.S. Amateur semifinal match.

Strafaci and Osborne hadn’t met until they greeted each other briefly on Saturday morning. Osborne figures to get a feel for his opponent early on Sunday. Strafaci, ranked No. 56 in the WAGR after winning this year’s North and South Amateur and Palmetto Amateur, has had a much more tumultuous route to the final. He was part of the rules snafu on Thursday when the caddie for Segundo Oliva Pinto brushed the sand on the 18th hole—a violation called out by the elder Stafaci that resulted in a lost hole and match.

In the quarterfinals, Strafaci twice lost a 2-up lead to mid-am Stewart Hagestad before prevailing on 18, and on Saturday, Strafaci stormed to a 4-up lead on Gupta, only to be caught by the 17th hole. He prevailed when Gupta drove into a bunker at 18 and took three shots to escape.

“Another weird finish. I don’t know how to describe it,” Tyler Stafaci said. “Still, it was a great match. I still played solid. [Sunday] I’ve got to do a better job if I get ahead to keep the pedal down.”

Strafaci admitted he had to overcome jangly nerves before he teed off. He said he spoke to former roommate and last year’s U.S. Amateur champ Andy Ogletree on Saturday morning. “I said, ‘Bro, I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty nervous. I’ve never been in this spot before.’” Strafaci said. “He was very good. He told me, ‘You just have to understand, the other guy is as nervous, if not more nervous, than you are.’ That kind of got me in a better mindset.”

Both finalists are playing with hope and expectations on their shoulders, provided by their universities’ rich tradition. Strafaci is seeking the fourth title for Georgia Tech, whose three champs include a legend, Bobby Jones [and his five U.S. Am wins]. SMU has four U.S. Amateur winners, with Bryson DeChambeau being the most recent in 2015.

Strafaci hung out and watched TV with the Havemeyer Trophy on the coffee table when he lived with Ogletree. Osborne has been bombarded with texts this week from some of the past Mustang champs, and, not surprisingly, he insists that doesn’t add to the pressure.

“It actually kind of calms me down to hear, and they are telling you that you’ve got the game, just kind of do you,” Osborne said.

Fathers and sons will no doubt be themselves on Sunday, and that’s all the theater we could ask for.

The post It will be a different kind of Father’s Day in U.S. Amateur finals appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Stephen Hennessey
Now’s the time of the year when, typically, golf resorts around the country are gearing up for its summer boom. That schedule has been altered but not halted by the coronavirus crisis, and with a rising number of states allowing golf with some limitations, there’s some positive news to report from some of golf’s biggest resorts.

First, the National Golf Foundation projects that 93 percent of golf courses will be open in some form by May 17. Contrast that with the fact that only 49 percent of courses were open a few weekends ago (April 19), and the gradual re-opening of business around the country has a parallel with golf courses, according to statistics gathered by the organization.

Monday also brought the news that Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, home to four 18-hole courses, all of which rank among Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest, will re-open on May 11, and the much-anticipated Sheep Ranch will open as scheduled on June 1. The Oregon resort published a 15-page document on its website outlining its preventative policies, which include practices such as all caddies and staff members wearing masks, shuttle busses containing plexiglass protective shields and counters such as the pro shop, and outdoor hand-washing stations in high traffic areas. Preview play on the new Coore and Crenshaw course will be available to some resort guests prior to June 1.

Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill also opened on Monday with strict social-distance guidelines including no caddies and push carts allowed. Tee times, usually reserved for resort guests or only one day in advance for public play, are accessible to the public for the month of May at discounted rates ($495 for Pebble Beach, a 14 percent reduction from the usual $575; and $325 for Spyglass, which is 22 percent less than its $415 fee). Golf carts are allowed, but only one golfer per cart, the resort says. Each golfer will also be offered a precautionary “care pack,” which includes sanitizing wipes, a mask and a pencil/scorecard, in addition to the commemorative bag tag often given to customers. Flagsticks are required to stay in, with a foam liner in each cup, similar to Bandon guidelines, to prevent golfers from touching the bottom of the hole.

Last weekend saw golf back for the first time for many golf-rich states, including Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Mexico and Maine, meaning that 80 percent of facilities had opened as of Saturday. Illinois and New Jersey restricted courses to only allow twosomes booked 16 minutes apart, but many courses reported full tee sheets in their first weekend of open business. TPC Harding Park, scheduled to host the PGA Championship in August, also opened on Monday like Pebble.

Though this isn’t exactly the opening of the season golfers envisioned, with most courses being opened in the U.S. as of next weekend, golfers in most parts of the country will have the ability to get out to play, and with the proper precautions and strict restrictions, that’s a welcome sign for many.

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By Derek Duncan
The prospect of a new course in Scotland, Coul Links, one gently layered by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw into perfect crumpled linksland north of Dornoch and animated by the touch of Mike Keiser, seemed almost too good to be true. In February, it was: The Scottish government denied the necessary permitting needed for Coul Links to proceed (the name already existed, predating any talk of golf), citing environmental concerns including the impact on dune systems and projected disturbances of bird habitats.

In truth, this was never very fun—not for Keiser—whose projects include Bandon Dunes, Cabot Cliffs, Sand Valley and others—and the development team who met early, intense resistance from a coalition of special interests who were protective of rare plantlife and wildlife in the area. Even so, the project was originally approved by local commissioners—before that decision was overridden by Scottish Ministers during the appeal process.

The final Town and Country Planning report, released a few weeks ago, states that while the ministers concluded the Coul Links proposal “is of local and regional significance in socio-economic terms” and would create “good jobs” and help develop local communities, it was not “nationally important.”

“The likely detriment to national heritage,” the report reads, “is not outweighed by the socio-economic benefits.”

“The people of Dornoch and Embo were all for it, not to mention all the (area golf) clubs,” Keiser told Golf Digest this week, noting how adding another notable course in Inverness would attract significantly more golfers to region, benefitting everyone. “The ministers basically said, ‘That’s nice, but we’ve made our decision.’ ”

Asked how he has reacted to the news, Keiser said: “It’s been (going on) so long that it’s frustration, not anger.

“I know the players in these environmental groups don’t hate me, they just hate golf. They’re playing their role, and we in the golf community give them too much rope to hang us with.” (One person close to the project told Golf Digest that Keiser may have “got Trumped,” referring to the contentious construction of Trump International Golf Links, opened in nearby Aberdeen in 2012, that left a toxic and lingering animosity among Scots.)

The Coul Links denial could have long-term consequences, at least where coastal golf development in the United Kingdom and Ireland is concerned. Given the high cost of exploration (Keiser estimates it can cost around $3 million just to get a proposal through the application phase), the bureaucratic levers of the European Union and ingrained opposition from a variety of environmental forces, it’s unlikely another entrepreneur, especially an American, will soon foray into links golf. Which is unfortunate.

“I believe that golf courses, especially when they’re on a spacious site, will be deemed by scientists who quantify these things as carbon sponges,” Keiser says. “And wouldn’t that be good for golf?”

And the world.

The post Coul Links, Mike Keiser’s planned Coore, Crenshaw course in the Scottish Highlands, rejected in government ruling appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Stephen Hennessey
The Pacific Coast of Oregon and the middle of nowhere Wisconsin wouldn’t seem to have too many similarities. But in discussing why great golf works at Bandon Dunes, and how David McLay Kidd took inspiration from his successful breakthrough course more than 20 years ago, you arrive in tiny Nekoosa, Wis.

Kidd’s Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley opens Thursday, less than four years after having walked the site and being rewarded the design job from Mike Keiser. Keiser gave Kidd his shot at Bandon Dunes and also found Sand Valley, whose Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw course won Golf Digest’s Best New course in 2017. Kidd’s new course is a top contender for the honor in 2018, along with Streamsong Black and some others, but regardless of the outcome, the design represents a shift in philosophy from Kidd and his design team that started 10 years ago after a return to Bandon Dunes.

As a little-known mid-20s architect from Scotland, Keiser picked Kidd to design his first course at what is now one of the world’s most well known golf resorts. Since then, Kidd realized he had deviated from what he knew instinctively from growing up as the son of a greens superintendent, playing Old Tom Morris and James Braid courses in Scotland. What did Kidd get right at Bandon? And how could he learn from those successes? Having received some criticism for some of his later work—the most extreme of which was fellow designer Tom Doak giving Kidd’s Castle Course at St. Andrews the only “0” on his 1-10 scale on his Confidential Guide to Golf Courses—Kidd took his two lead designers, Casey Krahenbuhl and Nick Schaan—back to Bandon Dunes to draw specifics on what succeeded. The result? A shift in design philosophy that is most embodied at Mammoth Dunes.

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WATCH NOW: EVERY HOLE AT PINE VALLEY GOLF CLUB

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“There’s a misconception that the super creative, best shaping work we do in the dirt has to result in difficult. And that difficult courses that are somehow a badge of honor,” Krahenbuhl says. “So that was the memorable part for me. We realized we can have both. We can create these amazing golf holes—like the 16th hole at Bandon Dunes—which are also extremely playable while being great golf holes.”

Since that trip, Kidd’s team had successful openings at Gamble Sands in Washington and Huntsman Springs in Idaho among others. But Kidd won the design competition in 2014 to build the second course at Sand Valley, and the end result might be Kidd’s team best work yet.

“We needed to remind people that golf could be fun again, and 10 years after my epiphany at Bandon Dunes, Mammoth Dunes opens, so it’s pretty cool,” Kidd told Golf Digest at Mammoth Dunes, a day before the course’s official opening. “I hope this helps in its way to steer the course of golf courses in the future. I’m on a mission for myself and also golf in general to make courses more playable.”

It’s not hard to buy into Kidd’s statements. The scale and width at Mammoth Dunes allows golfers to play into sharply contoured greens from any angle, but not heavily penalizing golfers for spraying it left or right, or missing a shot left or right. Perhaps the most fun hole is the drivable par-4 14th, which plays from an 80-foot tall sand ridge down to a green that Kidd calls the “Big Brother version of a Redan green on a par 4.” Talk about unique. And there are options left or right, including a speed slot to the right that will funnel one’s ball down to the green.

Kidd incorporated the design of Golf Digest’s Armchair Architect winner Brian Silvernail for the 14th hole, using Silvernail’s original sketch. Though Silvernail got some technical lessons on drainage, irrigation and maintenance, the design is Silvernail’s, and McLay Kidd’s team made it work.

The before-and-after drone footage of the hole that tips out at 325 yards but plays from 297 yards from the second set of tees (and downhill) is a must watch.

9 Days Until Mammoth Dunes Opening Day: Mammoth Dunes #14 – The Golf Digest Armchair Architect Hole – Have you ever thought about designing and building your own golf hole? In 2016 as construction was underway, the Keisers with architect David Kidd agreed to have the 14th hole at Mammoth Dunes, a David McLay Kidd design, ultimately designed by the winner of the 2016 @golfdigest Armchair Architect Contest. Over 500 contestants mailed in their concepts including Brian Silvernail, a graphic designer who spent time designing golf courses for video games from Florida. Silvernail won the contest with his downhill, drivable par-4 that featured a dramatic sloping fairway from right to left. He visited the site in 2017 to work with architect David Kidd and his team to finalize the layout and location of bunkers and fairway lines. This video shows the transition from concept to final. #DreamGolf #Mammoth Dunes

A post shared by Sand Valley (@sandvalleygolf) on May 22, 2018 at 6:17am PDT

The design played into Kidd’s concept of a successful drivable par 4.

“My premise for a really fun par 4 starts with getting as many players as possible to actually go for it. If golfers feel they need to lay up because the trouble is too much, they feel like they were robbed and didn’t have that same opportunity. In order to make as many people as possible to try to drive it, you have to make the penalty for error pretty minor. So you have to be willing to give away birdies and pars to have them go after eagles. And if you miss, your recovery shot is achievable.

“Part of the thrill, too, is the concept based on the Redan-style green, which is usually found on a par 3. But we achieved it on a par 4. So you have the thrill for a golfer hitting their driver and watching it chase on the ground for 15 to 20 seconds before it stops, who doesn’t think that’s cool?”

Other highlights include a boomerang green on the sixth hole, inspired by a trip that Kidd made to Crystal Downs Country Club in Frankfort, Mich., No. 11 on Golf Digest’s latest 100 Greatest ranking, and studying Alister MacKenzie’s half-moon seventh green.

Jeffrey R. Bertch

Kidd and his team spent some time trying to adapt the unique green, even taking a basketball and rolling it from one side to the other, making sure it was possible to putt from one side to the other. As Wednesday’s pin location proved, the task was a success and the green is one of many interesting green sites on the course.

Perhaps the most impressive is the par-3 13th green, and the massive landforms in which the green sits.

The impressive 13th green.

And the fifth hole, which down a massive sand ridge before the green that sits in the valley, kicks off a truly invigorating stretch of holes. “This is the place on this golf course that I stand and say, ‘Wow,’ “ Krahenbuhl said.

Jeffrey R. Bertch
The fifth green at Mammoth Dunes.

Plus the island-green par-3 eighth hole, with a green surrounded by sand instead of water, comes after the seventh, which features a bunker that incorporates an old settlement house found during construction.

The island green on the par-3 8th is one of the smaller greens on Mammoth Dunes. Though the tee shot can seem intimidating from the back tees, the tees are situated in a way that as you move forward the tees also move farther left, making the angle for your tee shot much more friendly. Just another example of how @dmkgolf protects against low scores from the best players while allowing the hole to be playable for everyone else. #mammothdunes (? by @linkslandphoto )

A post shared by Sand Valley (@sandvalleygolf) on May 8, 2018 at 6:10am PDT

6 Days Until Opening Day at Mammoth Dunes. The island green par-3 8th #mammothdunes

A post shared by Sand Valley (@sandvalleygolf) on May 25, 2018 at 5:32am PDT

4 Days Until Opening Day at Mammoth Dunes – Enter at Your Own Risk. David Kidd and his team stumbled upon the foundation of this settlement home from the early 1900’s while shaping the Par-5 7th hole. Now it protects the green from a long approach. How would you name this bunker? #MammothDunes

A post shared by Sand Valley (@sandvalleygolf) on May 27, 2018 at 9:03am PDT

And so golfers will find yet another great golf course in Wisconsin, following the lead of Whistling Straits and its four courses, and 2017 U.S. Open site Erin Hills. In Sand Valley’s case, you have two courses, plus a 17-hole par-3 course from Coore and Crenshaw, with the likelihood of more courses down the road, is the result of a golf-course shaper Craig Haltom finding this untouched timber forest plantation and suggesting to Keiser that he check out the land, which he did in 2013, telling our Ron Whitten: “I really tried to resist this project, but within 30 minutes of being on-site, I was hooked.”

Drive four hours from Chicago, three and a half from Minneapolis or two and a half from Milwaukee, and you find Sand Valley Resort. It’s an hour on I-39 north from Madison, Wis., and make a left turn, and then a right, and you’ll have a similar reaction to Keiser.

Kidd’s course, which he refers to as “the latest groundwork in Mike Keiser’s master plan for a bigger project to create a pine barrens resort that spreads out in every direction,” has successfully utilized massive sand dunes into a pine oaks savannah of incredible scale.

“We’ve made it so that the fear of failure isn’t so daunting,” Schaan said. “Sure, the 20-handicapper is willing to accept the consequences of a bad shot. But if he’s able to find it, keep it in play and have a chance on your next shot to pull off a fun recovery shot, that’s going to be more fun, and that’s a success. And a lot of that is visual. The whole idea that hitting a golf shot should be based on pass or fail isn’t very fun.”

The post Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley: How David McLay Kidd used Bandon Dunes as inspiration to bring fun back to golf appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
This time last year Tiger Woods announced he had signed on to an ambitious new project endorsed by President Obama and embraced by Mayor Rahm Emanuel on the South Side of Chicago, one that called for a world-class public golf facility to sit adjacent to the Obama Presidential Center. But 12 months following the unveiling, the Chicago Tribune reports that the endeavor has failed to make much progress.

According to Mike Keiser, whose resume boasts visionary properties like Bandon Dunes and Sand Valley, bureaucracy is to blame.

“We’re all sort of on hold, waiting for some electricity,” Keiser, who’s a part of the Woods/Obama project, told the Tribune. “It’s in bureaucrat land or politician land. … Bureaucracy and red tape in Wisconsin is nonexistent. They say: Build all the golf you want; it’s great for tourism.”

At the forefront of the project’s issues: the building of a $25 million underpass, locals’ concerns about traffic and construction, and that Obama’s library has priority, an effort that’s battling its own problems with rules and regulations.

Add it up, and officials close to the project believe the original 2021 completion date is a pipe dream.

For his part, Woods remains committed to the challenge at hand.

“This is a very special project that can have many positive results beyond the game,” Woods said in a statement to to the Tribune. “I am honored to be a part of this initiative. My TGR Design team continues working with the Chicago Parks Golf Alliance to gather feedback from local golfers and other residents who enjoy these parks.”

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