Catching up a bit after some play and hectic travel.
Played Langdon Farms on Father’s Day. Didn’t have high expectations going in as this was a substitute by our booking agent and it wasn’t on my list of courses to play. As a golf course, it was pretty nice. The facility has its charm, going with an old farm motif and everything being run out of a barn structure. Conditions were really nice, but still a step down from where we have been playing. The layout is interesting as it plays right next to I-5, so if road noise bothers you, stay away. They variety of holes is good and makes you hit all clubs. I didn’t have to hit much driver, so that made it a lot more interesting than some course. The greens were actually really nice and rolled really true. The course itself was a good value.
Now, this is where things go off the rails. The place is really poorly managed. The shop staff we extremely unwelcoming and standoffish. You would think that on Father’s Day they would be on top of their game, but they really looked and acted like they didn’t want to be there. The starter did nothing but check tee times and point you to the tee box, allowing carts and golfers to gather around the 1st tee box and contest the area. This was bad because it is right next to the range where there was plenty of room for parking and calling golfers to the tee. Once on the course, it became a gong show. We had three groups in front of us out for a Father’s Day event and it was mayhem. Even though the marshals were following them around they refused to play at a respectable pace, falling holes out of position. They had Bluetooth speakers and were blaring hip hop that could be heard holes away. Worse, the beverage service was following them around and they got so drunk one guy could barely stand and another guy was puking in the middle of the fairway. I get having a good time out there, but also respect that there are other people on the course who are also trying to have a good time. A five hour drunk fest is something you never want to follow on the course and our foursome lost interest quickly. The staff really let the majority of the customers down IMO, and because of this I would recommend staying away from the facility.
After that debacle we hopped in the car and headed for the coast and a stop at Three Rivers Resort to play the historic Ocean Dunes. This was highly recommended by several friends who retired from Oregon. I guess t used to be one the places to play back in the day. Expectations were a little high coming in because so many people had said this was a place to play.
The golf course is not that far from the resort, a three minute drive. As it turns out, the course plays around the rear of the resort, which you would never guess when you arrive. The tall pines and the massive sand dunes make the course disappear in the backdrop. Arriving at the course you get the immediate feeling like this is an old course. The buildings are old and the parking lot is small. The golf car fleet is a mix of gas and electric vehicles. There’s no range and the putting green has about five holes cut on it, and it is not well manicured. It really jumps out at you that this course has been here a while.
Walking into the shop I was surprised to see it well appointed with some really nice merch at kick ass prices. Picked up some really nice shirts on the cheap! The only problem was trying to get checked in and pay for them. This appeared to be a one person operation and the pro behind the counter was no where to be found. After standing around for 20 minutes he finally breezed in got us set up and ready to play. Out to the course we went.
First impressions are normally pretty accurate and they did hit the mark. This is an old course. The resort is obviously not committed to keeping it up, so the conditions were not great. The tee box and fairways were inconsistent and spotty. The greens were slow as sin (club up!). But that does not mean this was a bad place to play. The bones of this gran old lady are still there and the layout is actually really interesting. It’s a shorter course on the scorecard, but plays a lot longer than you think. Since you’re a couple miles inland you have the winds to contend with, and boy did we have to contend with some breeze, half way through the round the winds kicked up and we had to deal with 20-25 mph gales. The layout and distances all made sense at that point. The course plays though some incredible sand dunes and pines. Don’t miss and get in these dunes as they are like hitting out of quick sand. The sand is so soft and shifts so easily that you never get a solid stance. Really interesting, but not a place to hit from if you can help it. Because of this it becomes a shot maker’s golf course. Keep your range finder handy and pick your targets well. Approach it like that and the charm of this course really shines and it becomes an enjoyable experience. Be ready for some real blind shots as the dunes are great hiding your landing zones. Overall this will be one of the weakest courses we play on this trip, but it will be one of the more memorable because of setting and layout. If you don’t mind iffy conditions and are more layout centric, this is a fun course.
Have to hit the road for the trip down the coast and play Bandon Crossing before checking into Bandon Dunes this evening! The real game is almost afoot!
|