March 23, 2024
On May 2, Bandon Dunes' latest par-3 course, Bandon Shorty's, will open during the resort's 25th-anniversary celebration. In this episode, Garrett sits down at Bandon Dunes with one of the designers of Shorty's, Keith Cutten, a partner in the firm Whitman, Axland & Cutten. Garrett and Keith discuss the origins of WAC, the renowned skills of his co-designers Rod Whitman and Dave Axland, the goals and process behind the Shorty's project, and the joys and difficulties of designing short courses in general. In the second half of the pod, Garrett and Keith dig into the fascinating ideas of Keith's book The Evolution of Golf Course Design. His basic argument is that the broader trends in society and culture have influenced the golf architecture of each era in ways that haven't been thoroughly investigated. Garrett loves discussing this kind of stuff, so he and Keith really get after it here.