Oregon’s Seaside Playground Changed the Face of American Public Golf

This past May, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Oregon, celebrated its 25th anniversary. I didn’t attend the party, but I’m sending birthday wishes, nonetheless. Given the gifts Bandon Dunes delivers on every visit — eye-catching vistas, unparalleled challenges and superb hospitality — this is an easy thank-you note to write. For those who revel in the spirit of the game, the primal essence of man versus nature, man versus golf course and man versus each other, no other American destination comes close to matching the Bandon experience.

HOW IT STARTED

Chicago greeting card magnate Mike Keiser had the means and the passion to sample many of the planet’s greatest golf courses. After touring hundreds of top-ranked tracks, it struck him that he preferred links golf: walkable, full of fun, thought-provoking options and bouncy, breezy conditions. He formulated a vision: Bring these traits to a public course in America. Let anyone who craved that type of golf experience find it without having to cross an ocean or join a club.

With the help of business partner Phil Friedmann, consultant Howard McKee and a slew of others, Keiser lasered his focus on a very Scottish-looking property on the southern Oregon coast, in the depressed logging and fishing town of Bandon.

Draped atop craggy headlands above the Pacific Ocean, the tract that became the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is situated two and a half hours from Eugene and more than four hours from Portland. A small airport in Coos Bay, 35 minutes away, only accommodates a few flights daily. Half the fun — and occasionally aggravation — is merely getting to Bandon Dunes.

Keiser tabbed then-unknown 27-yearold Scot David McLay Kidd to craft the first 18 holes. Then, as now, ocean views stun the senses, along with bluff-top sand dunes sprinkled with Scotch broom and brilliant yellow gorse bushes, coastal pines, crashing surf, salty sea air, wind-whipped tall native grasses, stacked sod bunkers and walking with caddies.

Your nostrils could practically detect the wafting of peat — except that you were in Oregon, not Scotland. From that magical debut in the spring of 1999, Bandon Dunes proved the adage, “If you build it, they will come” — provided you can get a tee time.

EVOLUTION

Critics who tried out Bandon Dunes’ first course in the early days gushed over its virtues. When Tom Doak added Pacific Dunes in 2001, with its strategic, lay-ofthe- land design and natural “blowout” dune bunkers, Bandon Dunes soared off the charts of desirable destinations.

In time, the local airport upgraded, lodging options expanded and the golf offerings exploded. Bandon Trails, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, arrived in 2005. Old Macdonald, an homage to pioneering American architect Charles Blair Macdonald, appeared in 2010, a design collaboration from Doak and Jim Urbina. In 2012, Coore and Crenshaw conjured up Bandon Preserve, a 13-hole par-3 course; and in 2020, the same duo unfurled the Sheep Ranch, a complete makeover of an almost-mystical earlier Doak creation.

In 2014, Doak and Urbina served up The Punchbowl, a wild and woolly, 100,000-square-foot putting course next to Pacific Dunes’ first tee. Open afternoons until dusk, The Punch Bowl is free to resort guests, with food and drink service available while you play. Finally, concurrent with the 25th anniversary bash, came the debut of Bandon’s newest course, Shorty’s, a 19-hole par-3 layout crafted by WAC, a four-yearold firm comprised of Rod Whitman, Dave Axland and Keith Cutten.

THE APPEAL

Demand for tee times at Bandon Dunes is stronger than ever. As at Pebble Beach, resort guests can book tee times 18 months out and it’s advisable to reserve early. Nonguests can secure advance tee times at a premium rate. Why go to the trouble of getting there and securing the room and golf so early? Because Bandon Dunes is the greatest “must-play” buddies trip mecca
in America.

Understandably, the courses are the star attractions. All five championship layouts are ranked among America’s top 15 public courses. No matter which course you’re aboard, it’s a bucket-list selection. Combined with the wow factor of the individual courses is the golf experience itself. Whether on a rare, benign, sunny day, or in the midst of a howling, four-club wind — when your eyes are tearing and your nose is running nonstop — you’re having a blast. It’s close to the ultimate bonding experience, with your assigned caddie along for the week, walking, chatting, laughing with your three or seven buddies, adults out braving the elements like we did as kids, inventing shots to suit the conditions, collecting or paying off at the end. And the service is as good as the golf.

From day one, Mike Keiser made Bandon Dunes all about the golf. Lodging was never spartan, but it was hardly five-star, either. Yet, even as the lodging experience has expanded and evolved, it’s tied to comfort. Mealtime is the same. There is now fancier fare to sample — such as the $260 Waygu Tomahawk steak at the new Ghost Tree Grill next to Old Macdonald — but nothing beats a beverage at the patio fireplace at McKee’s Pub, followed by Grandma’s Meatloaf inside, and capping the night with a game of pool or poker, a single malt and perhaps a cigar down in the Bunker Bar at The Lodge.

After walking 36 holes in the elements, 10 seconds after your head hits the pillow, you’re out cold — and dreaming of another go-round the next day.

Having heaped accolades atop accolades, I’ll issue a cautionary note: Bandon Dunes isn’t one size fits all. You’ve got to be at least a decent ball-striker, have a bit of variety in your game and be able to endure wild weather to best appreciate Bandon.

The ability to summon the proper shot trajectory, together with handling tight lies on fescue fairways and around greens is paramount. Additionally, you must be reasonably physically fit to cope with Bandon’s rigors. Links courses they are, but they’re not pillowy soft sand underfoot like Scotland’s elite seaside tests. These courses are draped atop rocky headlands, and traverse hills and dunes, so heart, legs and feet are taxed throughout, especially if you’re spraying the ball.

One final caveat: It is not inexpensive to stay and play. Having said that, Bandon Dunes delivers not only variety and views, but also the ultimate V — value.

RANKING THE COURSES

The most spirited grill room debate at Bandon Dunes — and beyond — is which course is best, and how do the championship layouts rank versus each other. The consensus pick among industry publications — and my own as well — is that Pacific Dunes reigns supreme. Yet, that choice is hardly unanimous — which makes Bandon Dunes stand out that much more.

Pac Dunes’ quirky routing and sequencing succeeds rather than detracts. The back nine features four par 3s, including consecutively at 10 and 11, plus three par 5s and only two par 4s. The takeaway is that Doak routed his holes to take maximum advantage of the terrain and setting and paid little heed to the usual design conventions. Scattered blow-out bunkers, gigantic natural dunes, smartly contoured greens and Pacific panoramas are headliners, but it’s the collection of truly memorable individual holes that sparkles, highlighted by two oceanside par 4s that unfold in opposite directions, the 463-yard fourth and the 444-yard 13th.

Bandon Dunes, the original spread, measures just 6,732 yards on the scorecard, but for competitions such as the 2020 U.S. Amateur, when it was an outstanding host, it can stretch well over 7,000 yards. More straightforward than the others at the resort, Kidd’s design still offers stellar vistas and choices, with the par-4 fourth, the par-3 12th and the par-4 16th — my pick for best hole on the property — as true showcases.

At the 363-yard 16th, drivable with a following wind, the safe play to the lower fairway on the right leaves a semi-blind approach. The tougher tee shot to the upper left landing area leaves an easier approach. A wicked slice will find the Pacific.

Third on my list is Bandon Trails. Its 6,788 yards of inland beauty — a mix between Spyglass Hill and Lake Tahoe’s top alpine layouts — always enchanted me, but with no ocean encounters, a few design quirks and lots of calf-crunching climbs late in a (tiring) round, it didn’t rate as high. Some of those quirks were fixed over the years, and the course has been climbing on my personal list ever since.

I’ve actually scored best on 6,944-yard Old Macdonald, but its jumbo-sized landing areas and extra-large, extra-undulating greens don’t captivate everyone. Count me as a fan. I’m still waiting to play the Sheep Ranch. I had a go at Tom Doak’s old version, but Coore-Crenshaw’s, at 6,636 yards, is vastly different. It’s on a tight site and has no formal sand bunkers, but boasts nine greens perched at water’s edge.

Coore-Crenshaw’s 13-hole Preserve Short Course is one of the finest of its kind in the country, though the new 19-hole Shorty’s, named for Shorty Dow, the original caretaker of the property before it became Bandon Dunes, might be even better. Holes range from 51 to 152 yards, though Keiser insisted that every hole be puttable, so the scorecard lists putting tee yardages that range from 35 to 75 yards.

Credit nature and some of the game’s greatest architects for making Bandon Dunes Golf Resort one of the most desired golf destinations on earth. Add a thunderous golf clap for Mike Keiser. Not only because Keiser realized a dream, one that practically compelled golfers to make the pilgrimage to partake in Old World links golf, but also because he kept adding to the mix when he could have retreated on his laurels.

Happy 25th, Mr. Keiser and Bandon Dunes!