As far as the best golf courses in the U.S. go, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort has an origin story that's nothing short of idyllic. There’s a perch, at the top of an inland bluff on Back Ridge, where shore pines, sand dunes, and forests of fir, cedar, and spruce dance their way to the edge of seaside cliffs, framed by miles of indescribable Pacific coastline. It was here, in 1991, that caretakers Shorty and Charlotte Dow brought Chicago businessman Mike Keiser to the property’s highest point for a bird’s eye view of an ethereal Oregon landscape.
Today, near the 14th tee box at Bandon Trails, a bench commemorates the lens and moment that birthed an oversized golf dream come true: Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. Beneath it, a plaque reads “Here at the edge of the continent, Mike knew that his search was over. He’d found a site that matched his capacity for wonder.”
Bandon Dunes is the best golf destination in the country, if not the world. What St. Andrews is to Scotland, Bandon is to America—a singular, must-make pilgrimage for anyone who loves to swing golf clubs. It doesn’t have the history or the haggis that the Home of Golf does, but what it lacks in centuries-old culture, it, pound for pound, outshines any public-access golf destination (read: golf courses you can actually play) with its depth of world-class courses.
Each of Bandon’s five 18-hole tracks rank inside the top 16 on Golf Digest’s 2023 to 2024 rankings of “America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses.” In other words, their lowest-rated course, Sheep Ranch, is the 16th best public play in the U.S. For good measure, many a golfer calls Bandon Preserve, their 13-hole par-3 course, the best short course in the world. (Okay, now they’re just bragging).
Fortunately, Bandon’s convenient 2,525-acre grounds make it easy to buzz around and checkmark all of its courses in one fell swoop. It’s a lot of golf, but golf is what you go for (though it couldn't hurt to do some prehab and work these golf workouts into your regimen a few weeks out). At some point, if not multiple moments during your trip, you’ll feel like Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams, asking: “Is this heaven?” Nope, it’s just Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
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How to Get to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort
Part of Bandon’s allure is its secluded and tricky-to-reach location on Southern Oregon's coast, just west of Highway 101. Your closest airport option (but fewest available flights) is Southwest Oregon Regional Airport (OTH) in North Bend, a 35-minute drive from the resort.
For a bigger menu of daily non-stop flights, additional in-state alternatives include Eugene (2.5 hours), Medford (3 hours), and Portland (4 hours). Eugene (EUG) is the most popular choice, where you can hop in a rental car and embark on a beautiful drive to the resort.
You won’t need your car once you arrive. On-call shuttles escort players from course to course around the clock. If you don’t want to rent a car, a list of ground transportation partners can be found on Bandon Dunes’s website.
Bandon Dunes Golf Resort Travel Tips
1. Send your clubs to the resort with Ship Sticks a week before your arrival.
Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is the golf trip of a lifetime, and because most flights have super-tight connections, the last thing you want is to arrive without your clubs. If you send them ahead, not only will they be waiting for you upon arrival, you won’t have to lug them around the airport.
2. Book a caddie for each of your rounds ($100 plus gratuity).
Some view this as an option, but it shouldn’t be. Loopers will give you proper sight lines, read tricky putts, and provide yardages from your first shot to your last. As a walking-only golf resort, they’ll carry your bag, which lets you soak up the scenery and the magic that is Bandon Dunes. Oh, and play their recommended tee box—you’ll thank them later—even the distance feels short.
3. Prepare for the elements.
Bandon can throw just about any weather system at you in a single day: wind, rain, fog, and sunshine included. Sometimes all of them in a single round. Humor the golf gods by bringing the appropriate golf attire including pants, rain gear, and layers.
4. Pick your practice spots wisely.
While each course has its own practice green, only Sheep Ranch has a driving range. If you want a full warmup before playing any of the other courses, head to the Practice Center between Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald.
5. Don’t buy any clubhouse swag until the end of your trip.
Each course has different gear and a different logo, some better than others. You’re welcome.
6. Seek out and walk The Labyrinth.
Tucked in a beautiful coastal forest near the Lodge is this beauty, inspired by a 12th century French cathedral. It’s a worthwhile 45-minute sunset stroll where birdies are said to be prayed for. Just swap your golf shoes for walking shoes.
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Where to Stay at Bandon Dunes
Bandon Dunes offers several on-site hospitality options, and you definitely want to stay at the resort. The Lodge, Bandon’s social epicenter, has 17 single guestrooms to go along with a few four-bedroom suites, where you’ll get views of Bandon Dunes Golf Course, the dunes, or the woods.
Most of Bandon’s food options—breakfast, lunch, and dinner included—are located right off the main lobby. Outside, post up at sunset with a tipple in one of its Adirondack chairs facing the 18th green.
Next door to The Lodge is The Inn, where, if you book a Golf King or Golf Double room, another great view of Bandon Dunes’ 18th green awaits. Only this time you can snag a craft cocktail or whiskey flight—pair it with a charcuterie board too—from its upstairs Library Lounge, chock-full of golf literature.
For group stays, look no further than the Grove Cottages, which can house up to eight people in a storybook coastal forest. Here, players can recount their best swings of the day in the communal living room or on the outdoor patio overlooking Lily Pond or Round Lake.
Bandon’s newest lodging is at Round Lake, just off the sixth and seventh holes at Bandon Trails. Equipped with a fireplace, modern amenities, and floor-to-ceiling window views of its enchanting namesake lake, you’re sure to get a hearty night’s sleep here before your next tee time.
Where to Eat and Drink
Breakfast
While you can grab some morning fuel at various clubhouses, your best breakfast bet is at the Tufted Puffin inside The Lodge. There, you have two choices: go full bore with the Bandon Dunes 1st Tee Buffet (just $18.50) or play the a la carte route with a ginormous omelet and plate of hash browns. If you really want to line the ole gut in advance of a few a.m. on-course adult bevvies, order the jam-packed carnitas breakfast burrito. You can handle it as you’ll be walking 18 holes—at the least—on any given Bandon day.
Lunch
There’s no wrong decision when it comes to your mid-day Bandon meal, whether you snag a bite at one of the on-course turnstands or wait until you finish your morning round. At the Bandon Trails’ clubhouse, the Pacific-Rim focused menu at Trails End is the property’s most flavorful fare and not-to-be-skipped. Suggested items are the kewpie-lathered pork banh mi sandwich or the bulgogi beef bowl, loaded with kimchi and pickled veggies on a bed of puffed rice noodles.
If you have time between rounds, head to Charlotte’s BBQ, a fast-casual food truck located at the Bandon Dunes Practice Center. Pulled pork and brisket tacos are your go-to here, that you can supplement with all your favorite southern fix-ins: mac & cheese, cornbread, and baked beans. Pair it with a quick range session before your afternoon eighteen.
Dinner
Supper at Bandon starts and ends with McKee’s Pub, the resort’s convivial heartbeat when not on the course, and a cozy spot where you can meet golfers from all over the world. Stick to the classics here: Shepherd’s Pie, Grandma’s Meatloaf (it’s huge!), or the beer-battered fish and chips. For a beer, a pint of Guinness will do; for a cocktail, go with the Campfire Margarita or Suffering Bastard, a potion of rye whiskey and gin.
Fine-dining enthusiasts will want (and need) to book reservations at The Forge, a modern steakhouse with a vast wine list inside the Lodge, or Pacific Grill, a seafood-lover’s dream at the Pacific Dunes’ clubhouse. And coming soon: Ghost Tree Grill, the resort’s soon-to-be biggest restaurant at Old Macdonald, with views of one of the most famous trees in golf.
After Hours
In the basement of The Lodge lives The Bunker Bar, the ideal place for a nightcap at the end of a long day. Open until midnight, comb through a hefty whiskey, scotch, and bourbon menu over a game of pool, cards, darts, or dice. Plan for cigar smoke aplenty and a bunker you'll never want to leave.
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Best Golf Courses at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort
The only reason to skip a track at Bandon would be to have an excuse to return (totally acceptable) to this golfing Shangri-la. From Bandon Dunes (the resort’s OG layout that opened in 1999) to Sheep Ranch (the scenic showstopper that debuted in 2020), here’s a rundown of Bandon’s must-play hits, their highlights, and the ideal time of day to nab a tee time.
1. Bandon Dunes
In 1999, Scotsman David McLay Kidd put the Southwest Coast of Oregon on the map of the golferati, brush-stroking Bandon’s namesake first design that, today, occupies the eighth position on Golf Digest’s most-recent ranking of “America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses.” Not too shabby of a start for the greenhorn architect of a yet-to-be resort no one had ever heard of.
Evocative of his homeland, McLay Kidd’s blufftop layout, seated directly behind The Lodge, is a pinch-me brilliant romp through links utopia, weaving its way through blooming gorse, pines, broom, sod-stacked bunkering, undulating fairways, and sand dunes. You’ll have unforgettable seaside shots at the 4th and 5th holes (par-4s), the 6th and 12th holes (par-3s), before landing at the drivable 16th hole, one of the best par-4s on the planet.
Pro Tip: For a peak experience at the 2020 U.S. Amateur host course, reserve a late-afternoon tee time to play its closing stretch alongside the fading Pacific Ocean sun.
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2. Pacific Dunes
Bandon’s sophomore track by Tom Doak has garnered the most praise from course critics since its 2001 debut. According to Golf Digest, only Pebble Beach Golf Links grades out as a superior layout, making Pacific Dunes the second-best public golf course in America. That’s right, the second-best round of golf in all the land.
Aesthetics aside, let’s start with the unusual scorecard (“unusual” in the most epic sense of the word) at Mr. Doak’s chef d’oeuvre. Seven par-4s grace the front nine before a back-nine mélange of par-5s (three in total) and par-3s (four, including back-to-back oceanside one-shotters to jumpstart your inward-nine). The norm-bucking sequence—especially at construction time—was a daring architectural endeavor; today, it’s equal parts memorable as it is fun.
Pacific Dunes' (dubbed “Pac” by Bandon veterans) layout feels like it was hidden in the Oregon dunes since the dawn of time. Shore pines, native beach grasses, and oversized dunes frame its wrinkled fairways and contoured putting surfaces. Standout holes include the par-4 fourth, routed along the edge of a Pacific bluff from tee to green; the friendly-looking 6th hole (316 yards) with its diabolical dance floor; and the short par-3 11th hole (148 yards), a linksy Kodak moment if there ever was one.
Pro Tip: Schedule a morning round here to dodge the day’s most robust prevailing winds.
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3. Bandon Trails
Is Bandon’s only inland course, a Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw masterwork launched in 2005, the ultimate 18 holes on the property? Well, it depends on who you ask. Bandon Trails’ apologists (yours truly included) unite around its incredible routing through three distinct natural environments: dunescape to meadow to coastal forest. Cynics will tell you that it’s coastline-free coordinates, which mitigate Bandon’s muscular breezes and ocean panoramas, don’t align with the true spirit of a links golf course (ah, the purists!).
Slice it how you may, Bandon Trails (#11 in the U.S. per Golf Digest) doesn’t just contend for the resort’s best course, it deserves mention on any shortlist pinpointing the best golf course in the world. It’s one of, if not the best walks in the game, doubling as a nature hike up, down, and through a dense stretch of enchanting woodlands of spruce, fir, and madrone trees, where families of deer and wild turkey serve as your grazing gallery.
Related: Swing and a Hit: Best Golf Trips in U.S. to Beat the Crowds
Trails’ magic happens, wholly and fully, on its serene back nine, the best nine-hole stretch this side of anywhere—one that’s best paired with an ice-cold Bandon Dunes Pale Ale via the halfway house en route to the 11th hole. If Trails’ greatness hasn’t won you over by that point, Holes 12 to 14 should melt away the remaining thaw around your heart. The secluded nook isn’t solely the most tranquil enclave at Bandon, in golf speak, it’s bordering on sacred. (Think Amen Corner at Augusta National, which one anonymous PGA Tour star compared these holes to following his round here).
Pro Tip: When you finish the 13th hole, be sure to walk the “forest path” en route to the next tee box, rather than hitching a ride via Bandon’s complimentary shuttle. When you reach the top of the sand dune, you’ll be standing at the resort’s highest point, where Keiser had his vision. Then, you’ll bust a drive on the risk-reward 14th hole, one of the resort’s best par-4s.
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4. Old Macdonald
Tom Doak and Jim Urbina nab the byline for the resort’s fourth course, but the inspiration for this nursery-rhyme layout stems from C.B. Macdonald, golf architecture’s Golden Age force of the early 20th century. Here, Macdonald’s classic template holes punctuate Bandon’s most wide-open routing, stamped by a Biarritz hole, Redan, Eden, and even a St. Andrews Road Hole mockup.
While it tends to be the least-played track in the Bandon rota, Golf Digest taps it the 13th best public-access play in the country (ho-hum), which is more a testament to Bandon’s merit rather than any Old Mac imperfections.
That said, two things are perfect at Old Macdonald: the Pacific views at its oceanside halfway house and its course logo, inspired by the age-old Port Orford Cedar—affectionately called the ghost tree—directly in your line of sight at the par-4 third hole. Bandon’s slickest swag is ornamented by the faded conifer.
Pro Tip: The earlier you play Old Mac, the more your scorecard will thank you. As the day gets long, the fan really kicks into high gear across this challenging links layout exposed to all the elements.
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5. Sheep Ranch
Warning: Sheep Ranch’s mile-long stretch of ocean frontage is certain to leave you awestruck—it’s that remarkable. Bandon’s newest kid on the block, a 2020 debutant and the resort’s second 18-hole creation by Coore/Crenshaw, is the most captivating course on the roster right now. Where to begin...
For starters, it’s not technically “new.” In its former life, it was a 13-hole Doak design with no irrigation and no stipulated routing that received little-to-no play. For those in the know, it was Bandon’s “mystery” course, even though it wasn’t operated by the resort. Got your attention?
Enter Coore/Crenshaw and the secret got out. In just a few short years, Sheep Ranch has somehow launched itself into the 16th slot on Golf Digest’s revered list despite being shaped on Bandon’s smallest plot of land (140 acres). What else: There are zero bunkers—that’s right, the giant sandbox that is Bandon Dunes Golf Resort has a bunkerless course. Zero as in nada, zilch, cero. Zero bunkers.
What it can have: gale force winds. What it does have: Bandon’s most dramatic views. Nine greens are perched on the edge of the world’s biggest ocean, none better than the one-two punch that is the cliffhanging 16th and 17th holes, the latter ornamented by Sheep Ranch’s coolest natural feature: dead trees known as “snags” that dot the otherwise treeless property. Tim Burton, anyone?
Pro Tip: If you’re a glutton for punishment, play it in the afternoon, when winds can touch 40 mph. If the conditions are right, the course is ripe for birdies (fairways are wide, too). Everything about Sheep Ranch is soul-stirring, and it must be seen to be believed.
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6. Bandon Preserve and the Punchbowl
The true measuring stick of Bandon’s excellence could be determined by one thing: Bandon Preserve, its 13-hole par-3 track that tops many a ranking for primo short course in the world. Stationed just off the Bandon Trails’ clubhouse, the Preserve is best played on arrival day or as a warmup or cooldown round.
No matter when you squeeze it in, it’s windy, magical, and an absolute joy to play, where shoes are optional, beers are encouraged, and hole-in-ones can be drained with the flatstick (true story). Play it once, play it twice, the Preserve is a taste of golf paradise.
Still not golfed out? Need to settle any unpaid debts from the big courses? Head to the Punchbowl, a roving cross-country putting adventure behind the Pacific Dunes’ clubhouse. You’ll want to snag a micro-brew from the Tap-In drink trailer first. Then, hit some of the longest and wildest putts of your life on the hilly 100,000-square-foot green, a tribute to the Himalayas Putting Course at St. Andrews.
Pro Tip: Given its popularity, you must book in advance.
Coming soon: Shorty’s, a 19-hole par-3 course that’s rumored to give Bandon Preserve a run for its money (showoffs!).
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/gNEqeyV
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