Pacific Dunes
Round Lake Drive, Bandon, OR 97411
6,633-yards/Par-72/Slope 129/Rating 71.9

Ranked #2 in Golf Digest’s list of the Top 100 Public Golf Courses, Pacific Dunes is often mentioned in the same breath as venerable Pebble Beach. And deservedly so. Pacific Dunes is a golf experience, one of those ‘play-it-before-you-die’ kind of deals, like Pebble, only the experience actually lives up to the hype at Pacific Dunes, where every hole is signature. The one’s located on the ocean are a bonus, a five star feature on a four-star rating scale.

When the sun breaks through the clouds, as it did for us, Pacific Dunes becomes a magical environment of drifting sea mist, dark-green gorse covered cliffs, and fescue grasses in every color of green, plus some blue, red, orange and yellow. The drifting mist and sunshine even created miniature rainbows in the long fescue grasses.

Even Pacific Dunes’ hazards were beautiful. A Titliest lost to the sandy beach below on the awe-inspiring tee shot on the 463-yard, par-4, 4^th hole seemed nothing to cry over — just show me where to drop, so long as it is close to the ocean.

Charming and cozy, the green at the 304-yard, par-4 1st hole is the entrance to Pacific Dunes' wonders.

The pot bunkers, strewn throughout the fairway landing zones, were wonderfully dark aiming points from the tee boxes and really provided that Scottish/Irish charm, complete with an old wooden rake, especially when they required sideways, or backwards exits.

With some inspired play and a creative short game, however, good scores were possible at Pacific Dunes, especially on the back nine, where players encounter four dramatic par-3′s on holes 10, 11, 14 and 17. plus three par-5′s on holes 12, 15 and 18. There’s only two par-4′s on the entire back nine! From the 10th through the 18th we were firing at flags and birdie hunting!

That being said, by the end of the round the golf scores seemed much less important than the actual golfing experience, which was unforgettable.

Signature Holes: there are simply too many to choose from at Pacific Dunes. The easy choices were the ocean-fronting holes.

#4– 463-yard, par-4: think Pacific Dunes is easy, and short? Think again. The 4th will have you shaking in your booties on the tee box. Even if you ‘nut’ one with the driver, you still face a long-iron approach into a green perched on a cliff.
  

#11 — 148-yard, par-3: probably one of the most photographed holes at Pacific Dunes, the 11th plays longer than its yardage and features a difficult putting surface.
  

#13 — 444-yard, par-4: the 13th is like the 4th, but plays the opposite direction, which means the prevailing winds are at your back, and the ocean on your left. How much difference does the wind make? I hit a nice 3-wood from the tee, followed by a pitching wedge approach, which drifted far enough left that my ball was left hanging two inches from the cliff edge — routine up and down!
  

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Bandon Dunes
Round Lake Drive, Bandon, OR 94711
6,732-yards/Par 71/Slope 143/Rating 74.1

Bandon Dunes was built by Scotsman David McLay Kidd in 1999, and was the resort’s sole golf course until Pacific Dunes came on the scene in 2001, stealing a bit of Bandon Dunes’ thunder. Kidd’s design has taken a back seat to Doak’s in the most recent rankings, but not by much, and it remains close as to which golf course is ‘better.’

Bandon Dunes has teeth, or at least it did the day we played it, where Pacific Dunes lacks some. We played in a foggy mist, which made for interesting photos, but lagged in the visibility category. At times on the tee boxes, whoever had the honor simply guessed as to the direction of the hole (*note – we were using pushcarts, and caddies would have been a good idea).

The fog and mist was heavy during our review of Bandon Dunes

The fog, however, wasn’t to blame for me hitting the wrong club and leaving myself a downhill, 30-foot putt for birdie on the 189-yard, par-3, 2^nd hole, only to putt my ball off the green, leaving me a 30-yard sand wedge away for par. And it wasn’t to blame for my sliced tee shot into the gorse/beach on the 389-yard, par-4 17^th hole. I likely would have done both on a sunny day. The fog and mist were just, there.

Regardless, the golf course was beautiful. The ball’s flight was limited, but its amazing roll seemed to make up for the lack of distance. Neither Bandon or Pacific Dunes plays very long, so length off the tee was not really an issue, but it always helps. Having a short-iron, or wedge in your hand, as opposed to a 6-iron, when approaching the tricky greens at Bandon Dunes opens up more scoring opportunities, so long as it’s not in that 50-70 yard range, where your best play is probably a 9-iron, or putter.

Since it was the first of the resort’s four courses we played, Bandon Dunes gave us our initial education into the dynamics of links golf and by the time we were ready for Bandon Trails, had us chipping with the putter, and effectively playing the bump and roll. Of the four golf courses at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon Dunes and Bandon Trails played the firmest, and fastest, hence the quick education.

Bandon Dunes is worthy of it’s #7 ranking in Golf Digest’s Top 100. Despite it’s proximity to Pacific Dunes, it had a distictly different look and feel, which in a way seemed even more Scottish-like than Pacific Dunes, especially on that foggy day.

Signature Holes: the fog took its toll on the photos, unfortunately. .

#3 — 543-yard, par-5: this hole was chosen because of it’s difficulty from the tee, and because of its misty nature the rest of the way.
  

#6 — 161-yard, par-3/#7 — 383-yard, par-4: everyone picks these holes as their favorites. On a clear day each of these holes sits directly above the Pacific Ocean. Based on these photos, who would know?
  

#17 — 389-yard, par-4/#18 — 543-yard, par-5: slam and bam. The 17th will ruin your day, and the green on the 18th will put a cherry on top. If you are fighting the driver and/or putter, the finish at Bandon Dunes will finish you.
  

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In all the discussions around which golf course is #1, Bandon Trails often gets left out. It quietly exists in the dunes and the pine trees, just south of the resort’s famous golf courses, and rarely gets played. It’s a shame too. This Ben Crenshaw/Bill Coore design, which opened in 2005, incorporates elements of links golf that mirror the playing conditions at Bandon and Pacific Dunes, and extends those hard and fast conditions into a forested environment.

Our crew played Bandon Trails the afternoon after playing Bandon Dunes. The morning round had ended in a tie, which had made paying for lunch awkward, and after a few beers the game was back on. The morning fog had lifted and the sun had come out (somewhat) by the time we hit the 1^st tee, giving us a round free of our rain gear.

The starter told us to watch out for Trails’ slick greens, pointed out the fairway on the 1^st hole, and we were off. The transition that took place from the tree-less, Bandon-like 1^st hole to the cowboy-fenced, and suddenly forested 2^nd hole was dramatic. After crossing a wooden bridge exiting the 2^nd green we were amongst the pine trees for good until coming back into the dunes via another sweet transition from the 17th to the 18^th hole.

Bandon Trails' signature par-3, the 180-yard 17th

Trails does not get enough attention from the media, or from the guests at Bandon Dunes. It is a championship golf course in every sense of the word, is extremely fun to play, and is in the best condition of the resort’s four golf courses. There are no dramatic ocean holes, which proves Trails’ downfall, but the golf is dramatic nonetheless.

Trails runs circles around nearby Bandon Crossings, which advertises itself as links golf and as a Top-10-ranked Oregon golf course. Trails is true links golf, located in a forested setting, whereas Crossings is parkland golf, located in a forested setting. The difference between the two is as glaring as the fact that Trails is listed #14 in Golf Digests’ Top 100 public golf courses, whereas Crossings is not listed at all.

Signature Holes: granted, these are not the most difficult, or exciting holes on the golf course, but they represents the design skill of Coore/Crenshaw. Given the same terrain to work with on the 1st as at Bandon Dunes, the Coore/Crenshaw team created an opening hole that could easily fit in at Bandon or Pacific Dunes. The 2nd is a great par-3, and the 14th is a potential birdie, or eagle hole.

#1 — 392-yard, par-4:
  

#2 — 214-yards, par-3
  

#14: 325-yard, par-4:
  

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Old Macdonald
Round Lake Drive, Bandon, OR 97411
est. 7,200-yards/Par 72/slope TBD/rating TBD

Is it possible that Bandon Dunes’ best golf course hasn’t even opened for play yet? Enter Old Macdonald, a 7,200-yard, par-72, traditional Scottish links located just steps from Pacific Dunes. Old Mac colors the nearby wind-swept coastal ridges and valleys with its ribbons of emerald fescue, which are stretched over and through the lumpiest of Bandon’s sand dunes.

Old Mac’s unique layout is Pacific Dunes’ architect Tom Doak and Renaissance Golf Design business partner Jim Urbina’s tribute to Charles Blair Macdonald (1856-1939), a pioneer of American golf course architecture and the founder of the USGA.

Not only is it the longest in Bandon’s stable of golf links, Old Mac offers golfers a huge variety of shot-making opportunities. From tee to green there is no discernable answer for each shot, and no right way to play each hole. Shank it, punch it, knock it down, loft it, draw it in, fade it, or hit it straight – at Old Mac every shot is playable so long as it is headed for the pin.

And regardless of how solid your game is, you’ll ultimately experience something humbling on Old Mac, like taking an extra club to get over the huge false front on the 6^th green in an effort to get close to the pin, only to hit it a tad hard and find yourself buried in a nearly-invisible pot bunker located just behind the pin.

Like Pacific and Bandon Dunes, Old Mac traces the bluffs above Pacific Ocean, where the views (on a clear day) are almost therapeutic. Holes 7, 8, 15 and 16 will become hotspots for professional golf photographers, ala Bandon’s 6^th and Pacific Dunes’ 11^th holes.

What makes it different from its neighbors is Old Mac’s extraordinary in-play features and its added length, which at an estimated 7,200-yards, outpaces Bandon Dunes by almost 500-yards and Pacific Dunes by almost 600-yards.

The playing features that immediately stand out include: the massive ‘hogsback’ in the landing area on the 522-yard, par-4 4^th hole, which kicks anything hit a bit wayward towards the lower fairway providing a blind, uphill second shot; the ‘hell bunker’ on the 570-yard, par-5 6^th hole, a massive stretch of sand that separates the fairway, 150-yards from the green; the huge ‘chasm’ splitting the green on the 185-yard, par-3 8^th. hole, which resembles the Valley of Sin at St. Andrews’ Old Course.

The 'chasm' in the middle of the green on the 181-yard, par-3 8th hole

The list of unique features at Old Mac is long and somewhat ironic, considering that those features resemble hazards from old courses in the UK.

Based on the 10 holes currently available for play, it seemed obvious to us that Old Mac possessed the sauce to take the resort’s top spot from the mighty Pacific Dunes. Considering Pacific Dunes’ current rankings, that seems a bold statement, but Old Mac backs it up with its own killer views and a kicked-up version of links golf that makes the swales and burns at Pacific and Bandon Dunes seem pedestrian by comparison.

If a USGA championship ever comes to Bandon Dunes, it will be because of Old Mac.

Signature Holes: since the golf course is still ‘under construction’, choosing Old Macdonald’s signature holes is a bit premature. That being said, there were some that stuck out as extraordinary.

#6 – 570-yard, par-5. Nicknamed, “Long Hole”
 
Comparisons to: #14 at St. Andrew’s Old Course, #9 at National Golf Club, #17 at the lost Lido Club

#7 — 425-yard, par-4. No nickname yet.
  
Comparisons to: #4 at Scotscraig Golf Club, #13 at Piping Rock

#11 — 460-yard, par-4. Nicknamed “Road Hole”
  
Comparisons to: #17 at St. Andrews’ Old Course, #7 at National Golf Links

Holes Under Construction:
  

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