Dream Golf | True Love

True LOVE

By SHANE BACON

In the endless debate of which course is best at Bandon, Golf Channel commentator Shane Bacon lays claim on Bandon Trails.

True love is when you see something or feel something you’ve never felt before. For me, the feeling comes as I walk off the 6th green at Bandon Trails and approach the 7th tee.


I know what that walk will elicit for me. This isn’t to say that the first six holes at the course leave something to be desired; they are all fine examples of great golf. It’s just the moment I get to the sixth, which features a tough tee shot with one of those damn bunkers that Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw place perfectly, I know the stretch is coming—the series of holes that connect me with home and my golf roots in East Texas. That series starts on the 7th and runs throughout much of the remainder of the course.


When it is windy, anyone from East Texas has heard, "You must be used to this growing up in Texas," a line that is as incorrect as most of the exaggerated handicaps of your friends. That region of the state—whether it is Tyler, Texarkana, or even the northern parts of Houston—associates more with framed golf holes. Sure, it's easy to bunch Texans into the same bucket-great wind players who keep it low, but that doesn't apply to where I was introduced to the game. The truth is the eastern part of Texas has as much wind as the moon. It’s all about tall pine trees that line fairways. Classic golf. In fact, that’s why the area was used to substitute for North Carolina when Tin Cup was shot just outside of Houston—you can mistake it for Pinehurst.

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