Bandon Yardage Book Yardages

buzlin · November 25, 2015

Has anyone noticed the distances to certain bunkers/hazards from the tees being a bit short? It's almost like the distances posted are "recommended" carry distances that account for a lot of roll, vs actual distances. I don't have a book in front of me, but an example would be the 9th on Bandon Dunes where the distance to the bunkers is much further than shown. We even went to the proshop afterward to talk to one of the pros and he was dumbfounded too. I think the book said something like 260 to the bunkers from the back tees and the pro said he's never reached them with driver, or something like that.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chris_NH · November 25, 2015

I wish my game was precise enough to have noticed that ;-)

Edaw68 · November 25, 2015

Interesting. I think I have a google earth project tonight.

Edaw68 · November 26, 2015

Alright, I did some research using google earth to measure and check distances from the tee boxes. I used the measuring tool, which I'm sure is accurate. (I've used it in the past to set up military style land navigation courses in the wilderness and double checked google earth measurements with hand held GPS) I went hole by hole for all 4 courses. For the most part I measured from the back tees listed in the yardage books (tournament tees for Bandon Dunes, Black tees for the other 3). I bought my yardage books in December of 2014, so I hope they are the current ones. (I've never seen others) I would try to locate a distinct bunker or tree listed in the yardage book (almost always the distance arcs in the books) and measure from the rear tee to that point. In some cases I had to go backwards from the bunker, etc, to the tee box since some tee boxes are long or irregular shaped. I didn't check distances to greens except for par 3's. My findings:

Bandon Dunes: Buzlin is right, the yardages for carry distances from the tees are off in several spots. Holes #1, 2, and 9 are off from the back tees. It looks like the measurements in the yardage book from the back tees are actually from the next tees up. For those holes it looks like an either an extra tee box was constructed after the book measurements were made, or the tee dots in the books are on the wrong spots. I wasn't able to measure #7 and #13 due to the lack of distinguishing bunkers or other objects. All other holes appear accurate in the yardage book.

Pacific Dunes: As near as I can tell, all the measurements are accurate. Pacific Dunes comes with the caveat that a lot of the holes have lots of different options for where to set the tees, so double check when playing to make sure you're looking at the right tee box and adjust as needed.

Bandon Trails: Ok there were quite a few issues here. Not necessarily inaccurate yardages, but tough measurements.

#1: The rear tee box in the book is way off for yardage, it plays much shorter. I couldn't tell for sure but it almost looks like at the time the book was made there was a back tee box on land now occupied by the Preserve? Someone who is old school Bandon might know, but I can't tell. The green tee yardages look accurate.

#7: This one was tough to tell for sure due to the length of the tee box, but it appears accurate. side note: it looks like the large fairway bunker on the right is getting bigger as the years go on, or the drawing isn't exact.

#9: I had a hard time reconciling the measurements to the first big fairway bunker on the left, but it seems close. Could be very dependent on tee position in the boxes.

#10: This one almost for sure looks off. I used the bunker on the right as the reference, and it looks like the measurements in the book are from one tee set closer, based on shape of the tee box. Yardages to get to/carry hazards look
to be shorter than they actually are. The dot marking the tees in the yardage book looks like it should be moved back.

#11: This one was tough since the arc in the yardage book was to the ridge in the fairway, not a distinct point. It does look like the book has the yardages listed as shorter than they actually are.

#12: Tough to do since the tee box has a lot of spots, and the green is pretty big, but I think the book is accurate.

#13: Like #10, the big tee box makes it look like the dots in the yardage book should be moved back.

All other holes seem fine.

Old Macdonald: umm, wow. This was very difficult to check with Google earth since the tee boxes are so indistinct and the greens are enormous. I couldn't say for sure due to this, but the book looks accurate. For the most part I worked backwards from a landmark bunker where an arc was in the yardage book, then got the arc distance to line up with a spot in the area of a tee box. On a couple holes this actually lined up with a group obviously on the tee, or a line of divots in the area of a tee box.

Bottom line: the yardage books for Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald appear to be fine. I would break the laser out for the holes I listed on Bandon Dunes and Bandon Trails.

Other trivia: While I was doing all this I also used the path function to measure a rough path for walking distance for each course. This is probably the shortest distance you could walk the courses, going from tee to fairway to green. All distances go from the clubhouse, around the course, and back to the clubhouse. Your Fitbit results will almost certainly by longer unless you are Ben Hogan accurate. Measurements assume playing the green tees.

Bandon Dunes: 8,240 yards. (4.68 miles)
Pacific Dunes: 8,172 yards. (4.64 miles) could vary a lot due to which tee boxes are used. Also I used the upper green for #9, and upper tee for #10.
Bandon Trails: 8,375 yards. (4.76 miles) you can take off the 110 or so yards for the shuttle ride from #13 green to #14 tee. (also you can see the shuttle on google earth. pretty cool)
Old Macdonald: 8,394 yards (4.77 miles)

Final trivia: It is approximately 4,348,699 yards from Bandon Dunes to Hawaii. So not reachable in two, even by GolfWrx standards.

Chris_NH · November 26, 2015

Edaw - impressive ;-)

buzlin · November 26, 2015

Edaw great work! This type of response is why I love this site.

My recollection fits your findings, as it was on trails and bd that we had the most obvious issues. Good to know which a courses/holes to watch out for on my next trip in February.

Have a great Thanksgiving guys!

FourUnder · November 26, 2015

[quote name='Edaw68' timestamp='1448543189' post='12648264']
Alright, I did some research using google earth to measure and check distances from the tee boxes. I used the measuring tool, which I'm sure is accurate. (I've used it in the past to set up military style land navigation courses in the wilderness and double checked google earth measurements with hand held GPS) I went hole by hole for all 4 courses. For the most part I measured from the back tees listed in the yardage books (tournament tees for Bandon Dunes, Black tees for the other 3). I bought my yardage books in December of 2014, so I hope they are the current ones. (I've never seen others) I would try to locate a distinct bunker or tree listed in the yardage book (almost always the distance arcs in the books) and measure from the rear tee to that point. In some cases I had to go backwards from the bunker, etc, to the tee box since some tee boxes are long or irregular shaped. I didn't check distances to greens except for par 3's. My findings:

Bandon Dunes: Buzlin is right, the yardages for carry distances from the tees are off in several spots. Holes #1, 2, and 9 are off from the back tees. It looks like the measurements in the yardage book from the back tees are actually from the next tees up. For those holes it looks like an either an extra tee box was constructed after the book measurements were made, or the tee dots in the books are on the wrong spots. I wasn't able to measure #7 and #13 due to the lack of distinguishing bunkers or other objects. All other holes appear accurate in the yardage book.

Pacific Dunes: As near as I can tell, all the measurements are accurate. Pacific Dunes comes with the caveat that a lot of the holes have lots of different options for where to set the tees, so double check when playing to make sure you're looking at the right tee box and adjust as needed.

Bandon Trails: Ok there were quite a few issues here. Not necessarily inaccurate yardages, but tough measurements.

#1: The rear tee box in the book is way off for yardage, it plays much shorter. I couldn't tell for sure but it almost looks like at the time the book was made there was a back tee box on land now occupied by the Preserve? Someone who is old school Bandon might know, but I can't tell. The green tee yardages look accurate.

#7: This one was tough to tell for sure due to the length of the tee box, but it appears accurate. side note: it looks like the large fairway bunker on the right is getting bigger as the years go on, or the drawing isn't exact.

#9: I had a hard time reconciling the measurements to the first big fairway bunker on the left, but it seems close. Could be very dependent on tee position in the boxes.

#10: This one almost for sure looks off. I used the bunker on the right as the reference, and it looks like the measurements in the book are from one tee set closer, based on shape of the tee box. Yardages to get to/carry hazards look
to be shorter than they actually are. The dot marking the tees in the yardage book looks like it should be moved back.

#11: This one was tough since the arc in the yardage book was to the ridge in the fairway, not a distinct point. It does look like the book has the yardages listed as shorter than they actually are.

#12: Tough to do since the tee box has a lot of spots, and the green is pretty big, but I think the book is accurate.

#13: Like #10, the big tee box makes it look like the dots in the yardage book should be moved back.

All other holes seem fine.

Old Macdonald: umm, wow. This was very difficult to check with Google earth since the tee boxes are so indistinct and the greens are enormous. I couldn't say for sure due to this, but the book looks accurate. For the most part I worked backwards from a landmark bunker where an arc was in the yardage book, then got the arc distance to line up with a spot in the area of a tee box. On a couple holes this actually lined up with a group obviously on the tee, or a line of divots in the area of a tee box.

Bottom line: the yardage books for Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald appear to be fine. I would break the laser out for the holes I listed on Bandon Dunes and Bandon Trails.

Other trivia: While I was doing all this I also used the path function to measure a rough path for walking distance for each course. This is probably the shortest distance you could walk the courses, going from tee to fairway to green. All distances go from the clubhouse, around the course, and back to the clubhouse. Your Fitbit results will almost certainly by longer unless you are Ben Hogan accurate. Measurements assume playing the green tees.

Bandon Dunes: 8,240 yards. (4.68 miles)
Pacific Dunes: 8,172 yards. (4.64 miles) could vary a lot due to which tee boxes are used. Also I used the upper green for #9, and upper tee for #10.
Bandon Trails: 8,375 yards. (4.76 miles) you can take off the 110 or so yards for the shuttle ride from #13 green to #14 tee. (also you can see the shuttle on google earth. pretty cool)
Old Macdonald: 8,394 yards (4.77 miles)

Final trivia: It is approximately 4,348,699 yards from Bandon Dunes to Hawaii. So not reachable in two, even by GolfWrx standards.
[/quote]

Nicely done. In response to your question about #1 at BT, yes a tee box from a more northwest angle for #1 is now occupied by a tee box for the Preserve. I don't know if they ever use it for BT anymore.

Edaw68 · November 27, 2015

Cool, thanks for the info fourunder

spud3 · November 27, 2015

Well done!

YoungJedi · November 28, 2015

Maybe pass along to the shop or caddie master to update their books?

YoungJedi · December 31, 2015

bump.

Any word on changes?

ivsa71 · December 31, 2015

I have new Yardage books and used Arccos to check the yardage books with the Arccos gps measurements and they all matched up on the holes is question. The only issue is hole number one on Bandon Dunes. The yardage carry distance arc from the tee appears as if it should go to the front of the bunker on the left side of the fairway approximately 130 yards from the green. I think the yardage arc was placed in the wrong part of the illustration but the distances in the book are correct.

spud3 · January 25, 2016

I have new Yardage books and used Arccos to check the yardage books with the Arccos gps measurements and they all matched up on the holes is question. The only issue is hole number one on Bandon Dunes. The yardage carry distance arc from the tee appears as if it should go to the front of the bunker on the left side of the fairway approximately 130 yards from the green. I think the yardage arc was placed in the wrong part of the illustration but the distances in the book are correct.

What are the dates for each of your books (inside back cover, bottom of the scorecard)?

Mine are:

BD - 2011

OM - 2011

PD - 2009

BT - 2009

I have messaged the pro shop there to find out what their latest versions are.

ivsa71 · January 25, 2016

I have new Yardage books and used Arccos to check the yardage books with the Arccos gps measurements and they all matched up on the holes is question. The only issue is hole number one on Bandon Dunes. The yardage carry distance arc from the tee appears as if it should go to the front of the bunker on the left side of the fairway approximately 130 yards from the green. I think the yardage arc was placed in the wrong part of the illustration but the distances in the book are correct.

What are the dates for each of your books (inside back cover, bottom of the scorecard)?

Mine are:
BD - 2011
OM - 2011
PD - 2009
BT - 2009

I have messaged the pro shop there to find out what their latest versions are.

BD- 2014

OM- 2015

PD- 2014

BT- 2015

spud3 · January 26, 2016

Thanks, ivsa.

Looks like it's time for an upgrade set.

spud3 · January 27, 2016

I have new Yardage books and used Arccos to check the yardage books with the Arccos gps measurements and they all matched up on the holes is question. The only issue is hole number one on Bandon Dunes. The yardage carry distance arc from the tee appears as if it should go to the front of the bunker on the left side of the fairway approximately 130 yards from the green. I think the yardage arc was placed in the wrong part of the illustration but the distances in the book are correct.

What are the dates for each of your books (inside back cover, bottom of the scorecard)?

Mine are:
BD - 2011
OM - 2011
PD - 2009
BT - 2009

I have messaged the pro shop there to find out what their latest versions are.

BD- 2014
OM- 2015
PD- 2014
BT- 2015