Bandon,OR. At Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, where the Pacific Ocean meets the rugged shoreline of the Southern Oregon Coast, four distinct courses await you. The game of golf was born on rugged, wind-swept land just like this. Every hole, every hazard, every shot is defined by nature’s infinite presence. As the elements change, so does the game.
It’s all part of the tradition of links golf. Lies are tight and conditions are lean. Bounce and roll are a much better measure of quality than color. Mastery of the ground game becomes a more important skill than raw power. The ingenious and inventive player is rewarded with multiple options on nearly every shot. Amongst the massive dunes and hearty pines, you’ll discover golf in its purest state. Where nature is embraced, not conquered.
And where the traditions of a time-honored game yield to an experience unlike any other. Perhaps Golf Odyssey summed it up best: “it is here, on this remote stretch of the wildly stunning Oregon coast, where the finest golf courses in the whole world quietly await you.” It began in 1999 with the opening of Bandon Dunes. Designed by Scotsman David McLay Kidd, the course is perched on a bluff high above the Pacific Ocean.
Bandon Dunes unfolds along pristine native dunes where expansive ocean views are revealed on nearly every hole. The course is completely natural and routed through an environment of indigenous vegetation. Beyond breathtaking scenery lies the game of golf in its truest form. This is a thinker’s course. Winds are ever-present, and the varying elements create a new experience each time you play. Designed by Tom Doak, Pacific Dunes opened in 2001.
It is remarkably different in character and shot making requirements than our other courses. Pacific Dunes doesn’t feel like it was built as much as it was discovered. Rippling fairways remain just as they were found and natural bunkers line the landscape as they have for centuries. The course emerges from shore pines to spectacular 60-foot sand dunes. When the wind blows, precise approach shots are a necessity. Pacific Dunes is short enough to give you hope, but rugged enough to test every facet of your game.
When Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw began working in the sand to uncover our third course, they faced the challenge of following Bandon and Pacific Dunes. Opened in 2005, Bandon Trails begins atop a massive sand dune, quickly opens into a sprawling meadow, works higher into the coastal forest, and finally returns to finish in the dunes.
The course is enjoyable to walk and is a constant reminder of how the game was originally created among inland rolling dunes with dramatic ocean vistas. Old Macdonald Golf Links, the fourth course at Bandon Dunes, pays homage to golf course architect C.B. Macdonald by asking one simple question: What would Macdonald have created had the Oregon Coast been his canvas?
Inspired by Macdonald’s iconic work, course architects Tom Doak and Jim Urbina have crafted a course that seeks the answer upon vast greens, among myriad angles of play, and from the depths of fierce bunkers. By celebrating these classic concepts of design, we honor the traditions of this game we love. (Check out www.bandondunesgolf.com/)