Sheep Ranch

Favorite Hole

No. 14, par 4, 237-403 yards

Some of golf’s greatest long holes traverse big landforms rather than skirting around them. They derive character from the terrain rather than from artificial features like bunkers. No. 14 at Sheep Ranch, for instance, goes straight over a large knoll. From the tee, the most visible—and therefore safest-feeling—target is the lower section of the fairway to the right of the hog’s back, but the approach from there is long and blind. The better position is on the high left side, where there’s a plateau about 30 yards wide that provides a clear view of the ridge-top green.

Take note, fans of traditional U.S. Open setups: this is one way in which an 80-yard-wide fairway can reward a precise tee shot.

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Overall Thoughts

Phil Friedmann and Mike Keiser did two things when they converted Sheep Ranch into an 18-hole course: 1) they opened a spectacular property to the public; 2) they erased a unique, never-to-be-replicated design. I believe they made the right choice. Today, regular resort guests get to enjoy terrific golf on the soaring cliffs of Five Mile Point. Friedmann and Keiser have secured “the greatest pleasure for the greatest number,” to borrow Alister MacKenzie’s formulation. But it’s still okay to be a little sad that Tom Doak’s Sheep Ranch is no more.

I never saw it. Reading about the course in Doak’s book Getting to 18, I can hardly believe it was real. There were 13 greens labeled “A” through “M,” six perched on promontories above Whiskey Run Beach. Unirrigated fairways criscrossed the property, allowing players improvise their own routings, or perhaps “design” them before arriving. Doak had several suggestions for how players could structure their rounds: they could allow the winner or loser of a match-play hole decide which green to play to next; they could go nuts and forge a series of 1,000-yard cross-country par 7s; they could try for a “course record” by holing out on every green in as few strokes as possible; or they could follow predetermined, branded circuits—“Tom’s favorite,” “Mike’s loop,” “Jack Nickalus’s slog,” etc.

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While it existed, Doak’s Sheep Ranch was the closest thing in the United States to early-19th-century Scottish golf: a rustic game played on loosely formalized, ever-shifting courses.

Sounds fun, right? But I’m sure you’ve already identified the problem: this kind of playground can accommodate only a few visitors at a time. Doak suggested to Friedmann and Keiser that it could function as a small destination club. Members could stay in lodging on site, play at the resort during the day, and go back to Sheep Ranch for casual matches in the evening. No doubt this would have been feasible, even profitable. Keiser, however, felt that establishing an exclusive fiefdom on the highest bluffs in the area, literally looking down on his public resort, might rub people the wrong way. He was probably right.

But enough about what was lost. The new course by Coore & Crenshaw is unique and ingenious in its own right. Doak himself praised C&C’s ability to squeeze 18 modern-size golf holes onto about 120 acres while avoiding crossover fairways and other safety issues. (For more on how the routing came together, check out this video from a few years ago.) Plus, some of the finest holes at today’s Sheep Ranch—the first, by far the most exciting opener at the resort; the ninth, which plays along the edge of a massive ravine; and the 11th, with its unforgettable sand-quarry green—are ones that Doak and his associates didn’t see in their own attempts to map out a regulation course on the site.

Coore & Crenshaw’s solutions aren’t perfect. Nos. 3, 5, and 7 are all par 3s playing to greens framed against the ocean. They’re gorgeous but too similar to each other. A few other holes, particularly the side-by-side 12th and 13th, travel across undistinguished ground and seem mostly to serve the purpose of fulfilling the 18-hole convention. Would Sheep Ranch be better as a 15- or 16-hole course? It’s a question worth debating, but I’d say yes.

Still, Coore & Crenshaw did exceptionally well given the property’s limitations and difficulties. Their subtle mastery is apparent everywhere. They used every inch of the coastline and managed to get two par 4s—Nos. 6 and 17—and two par 3s—Nos. 7 and 16—to play in opposite directions. Several of their inland holes are as memorable as (and more enjoyable to play than) the best seaside ones. The eighth and 10th greens should be studied by young architects, as should the entirety of the second hole, a beguiling short par 4 on a stretch of land that most architects would have skipped over or blown up.

Another success was filling the bunkers with broken ground and patchy native grasses instead of sand. Not only would trucked-in sand have quickly blown away, but it wouldn’t have suited the course’s barren aesthetic. Plus, Sheep Ranch’s bunkers provide a rare leveling of different playing abilities: for scratch golfers, they’re trickier and less predictable than sand bunkers, whereas for most high handicappers, they’re easier to recover from. I wish more courses would consider using indigenous bunker fillings instead of forcing white sand into landscapes where it doesn’t belong.

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In many ways, the spirit of Doak’s experiment lives on in Coore & Crenshaw’s design. The course is still rugged, sporty, open, and adventurous. You still feel like you’re playing golf at the edge of the earth. But now Sheep Ranch does tens of thousands of rounds per year rather than just tens. -GM

1 Egg

Majestic as the cliffs are, Sheep Ranch’s property—small, heavy-soiled, and lacking the dramatic undulation of the other sites at Bandon Dunes—isn’t all that great for golf. So the course gets its Egg from a combination of skillful design and strong, spartan presentation. As Sheep Ranch ages, the turf, bunkers, and native vegetation will change significantly; this is a volatile site, and Mother Nature will have as much say in its evolution as any superintendent. When we visit the course again, we’ll adjust our assessment of its presentation as needed.

Course Tour

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