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Golf Destination Golf Destination

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort ~ A Tale of Five Courses the course, however, I prefer the view
of thirteen from the back of the third
Wes and Angela Bolyard green. Seventeen, a version of a Redan
hole from an elevated tee, slopes to
what looks like an “island” green on the
Pure Golf! Exquisite Beauty! and Unique front, left, and back. Hit to the right to
Challenges await you at Bandon Dunes ride down the land to the green
Golf Resort Founder Mike Keiser
searched for the perfect property that When Keiser had the opportunity to
would embody the feeling of playing the play Sand Hills in Nebraska, he realized
classic courses in the British Isles. He Bandon Trails that the topography reminded him
realized that links golf started it all and of his Bandon property He asked the
had been played for hundreds of years designers, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to design his third course. With their
in Ireland and Scotland, and he believed inspiration, Bandon Trails was established in 2005 with no adjacent ocean and
that this type of golf is more exciting topography through dunes, meadow, and forest. Back Ridge, the spine of the
to play and a lot more fun than what property, rises about 150 feet. Like a small mountain range, it divides the forest
most modern courses offer. The desired property needed to have a sandy soil base from the meadow. Grasses and dunes occupy the ocean side, while rain forest
where the erosive forces of wind and tide shaped the land over eons and where the inhabits the inland side. First you encounter the dunes (holes one and two), then
designer only had to figure out where to place the holes. the meadow (holes three-six) and forest (holes seven-thirteen). Heading uphill
to the ridge, then back to the meadow lie fourteen through seventeen with the
In 1999, Bandon Dunes golf course finishing hole at the dunes again. The uphill trail from the thirteenth green to the
opened to rave reviews and bested the fourteenth tee is one of the longest walks on the course. But at the tee, you can see
expectations of those who wondered if forever. This point also happens to be where Keiser stood when he had his “Eureka!”
golfers would come to this remote resort moment and decided to buy the property. My favorite hole here is number two, a
on the Pacific Ocean in Oregon. When par 3 with a tall dune on the right, bunkers on both sides of the green, and trees and
designing the course, David McLay mountains in the background.
Kidd drew some inspiration from Old
Tom Morris’ Machrihanish Golf Club in In 2010, a fourth course, Old Macdonald was built on a piece of property just
Scotland and made the fairways wide and north of Pacific Dunes. Keiser had Tom Doak and one of his associates, Jim Urbina,
rolling and the undulating greens huge design this course as a tribute to C.B. Macdonald, considered America’s first golf
considering the heavy coastal winds. The Bandon Dunes architect and the Grandfather of American Golf. While not exact copies, the layout
fourth, fifth, and sixth holes combine to utilizes Macdonald’s unique concepts such as Redan, Biarritz, and Alps. The back of
make an unforgettable sequence, with five and six skirting the rim of the cliff with the scorecard shows the designated names for each hole While studying courses in
the Pacific on the right. On the back nine, the twelfth, fifteenth, and sixteenth holes Scotland, Macdonald identified 21 different hole designs or “templates” that would
also play along the rim test a great player’s game while allowing less skilled players angles and options to
score well. Each hole has been designed specifically for the site to create a unique
The planned site for Pacific Dunes golf twist for players. One of the more exciting holes, number three, is called “Sahara.”
course already had rugged elements–
dunes, gorse, shore pines, and huge
natural blowout bunkers like Ireland’s
Royal County Down and Portrush To
best utilize ocean frontage, designer
Tom Doak composed unorthodox
routing that includes four par 3s on the
back nine. Seaside holes here include
four, ten, eleven (back to back par 3s),
Pacific Dunes and the spectacular thirteenth. Number
nine has no fairway but does have two
greens, upper and lower. Hopefully, you’ll remember which one the starter said
was in play. They say that holes ten and eleven are the most photogenic holes on Old Macdonald

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