Forums

Bandon Dunes coming to WGT

• MainzMan 9,591 Posts

  Mon, Oct 7 2013 10:21 AM

  srellim234:

  If so many players are focused on the hopes of holes-in-one, using the par 3 course for putting practice with the new mulligan feature, etc. that course may well be the most profitable one here.

  It may make decent money from hole in one challenges but for normal play I can't see how it can be a big earner.  I think most people agree WGT make most money from ball sales and since putts don't wear your ball out an 18 hole round should only cost most players 18 shots off their ball.

   

  srellim234:

  I'm one of those who is disappointed the company is investing the time, money and energy to photograph and develop a full course but is instead giving us only a par 3 course for all the investment.

  That's what I don't like.  Given that the money is largely coming from us players.  Sure an 18 hole course would take more time and resources to develop but not a huge amount more surely?   And since the issue of disruption at the host course has been mentioned, wouldn't it have been easier for them to close one course for 5 days instead of all of them for short periods?

   

  I get that anything is better than nothing but having seen the announcement I was very let down to find it's a course I'll probably play a couple of times and then not bother again.

• srellim234 2,077 Posts

  Mon, Oct 7 2013 11:16 AM

  MainzMan:

  ...It may make decent money from hole in one challenges but for normal play I can't see how it can be a big earner.  I think most people agree WGT make most money from ball sales and since putts don't wear your ball out an 18 hole round should only cost most players 18 shots off their ball...

  Incorrect. Mulligans do cost shots on the ball even when putting. That was discussed when mulligans were implemented.

  That makes the par 3 course the best one for putting practice. Only one shot to reach the green, putt using mulligans for practice for the max (I think it was raised to 15 shots per hole max?). Next hole - only one shot to green. Putt to the max again. Repeat for the round and you've taken very few full shots but a lot of putts that count as wear and tear on the ball.

  EDIT: Mainz - This is from the FAQs

  "Is there a cost to use a mulligan?

  If you use a mulligan during a Practice game, the ball you are using will be degraded by two hits instead of one hit. Mulligan putts will also degrade your ball by two hits."

• MainzMan 9,591 Posts

  Mon, Oct 7 2013 12:47 PM

  srellim234:

  Incorrect. Mulligans do cost shots on the ball even when putting. That was discussed when mulligans were implemented.

  I hadn't considered mulligans.  I never play practice rounds so was only thinking of normal, ranked tourneys.

  Do people really do that?   Hit green, putt, mulligan.  Putt, mulligan.  Putt, mulligan. 

  Each to their own but I so couldn't be bothered with that.

• srellim234 2,077 Posts

  Mon, Oct 7 2013 1:12 PM

  That's the way many (most?) practice, dial in and chart their shots.

  Personally I've never bothered with mulligans or the par 3 course. I play socially for fun and for chatting. Stats and charts aren't that important to me here. I do recognize and respect that many others have a totally different approach to the game.

• JerkNicholas 33 Posts

  Thu, Oct 10 2013 2:12 PM

  unclenewy:

  If WGT decided to just pull the plug and switch off one day......you lot wouldn't know what to do next! 

  Don't be silly....everyone would know exactly what to do next... drink beer and watch porn   all those DIY jobs around the house that never get done, mow the lawn, etc 

  Oh crap, i'd have to talk to the Mrs more too. Hope they don't pull the plug !

   

• danohi50 1,020 Posts

  Sat, Oct 12 2013 7:57 PM

  As usual, WGT discourages me with a lack of communication, bu necessarily not by announcing what kind of game  Bandon Dunes will let them build. Everyone here pretty much chimed in with there disappointment that we wont' have a full stroke plat course. WGT stated that a par 3 course was to be the start. Now maybe the readers indeed are correct in their reading between the lines and all we will have is a par three only. All IM asking WGT to do here is tell us what there actual plans really are. Is that too much to ask for?  Lets stop the conjecture for once and for all.

• MESLMS1986 229 Posts

  Sun, Oct 13 2013 6:30 AM

  If courses do not want to cooperate on full 18 holes then move on to something else. You see a lot of par 3 courses in public that most golfers do not play. I guess there is a relationship in there somewhere.

• JimbeauC 5,835 Posts

  Sun, Oct 13 2013 10:59 AM

  MESLMS1986:

  You see a lot of par 3 courses in public that most golfers do not play.

  Spot on. I work at an "Executive Course" and I'd have to say that the folk who utilize it are pretty much not "real" golfers. Sure, they may have their own clubs, sport the right duds, etc, but here's a good example. A customer who certainly looked the part picked up a mark repair tool and asked what it was for. After I explained it, he said that he couldn't be bothered with something like that. 

  So. Yeah. Those of us who are less than appreciative of WGTs latest just want the full golf experience, not the pitch and putt offerings of the place where I make a few extra bucks in my retirement. 

• srellim234 2,077 Posts

  Sun, Oct 13 2013 11:54 AM

  In real life we'll utilize an executive course to work on our games occasionally but it is never a destination in and of itself. Only as a complement to a full course.

  At a facility such as Cimmaron in Palm Springs the executive course is filled with legitimate players who are elderly and not looking for the longer course's time and energy requirements. This is especially true in the heat of the summer when people need to be very careful in 110*F and higher temperatures.

  http://cimarrongolf.com/

  Too bad WGT chooses to "bastardize" their facilities by piecing things together. For a game that wants to advertise themselves as focusing on realism they seem to go out of their way to fail to deliver.

  It would make much more sense to find facilities such as Cimarron with both a full course and an executive course and film both at the same time. No overlapping holes and no trumped up piecing together to make a course that really doesn't exist.