Sheep Ranch A Perfect Partnership

BANDON, OREGON | One of Bill Coore’s current jobs is also among the most interesting of his career. But that has less to do with the dramatic oceanfront land on which he and his longtime partner Ben Crenshaw are working than his clients - one of whom he has known for years and the other of whom is a fairly a new acquaintance – and the ways they are managing the creative process.

“It’s a different piece of property, and it’s different working with both Mike and Phil,” Coore says with typical understatement.

The property is the Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch, better known simply as the Sheep Ranch located just north of the Old Macdonald course at Bandon Dunes. Only 150 acres, the terrain is well-contoured but utterly devoid of dunes. And it runs along cliffs so high and steep they can cause the sturdiest of knees to go wobbly. Forget about the shanks or the yips, vertigo may be the biggest problem on this track. That, and being able to stop gawking long enough at the sweeping ocean views to hit a shot.

As for the clients, Mike is Mik...