"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." -- Golf Odyssey

Later this month, I head out for my first trip (of hopefully many) to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, joining Steve Cohen from the Shivas Irons Society and Fred Shoemaker and Jo Hardy from Extraordinary Golf, for a week-long gathering in celebration of the magic and mystery of the "gemme".


Pacific Dunes 11th by Joshua CF Smith

Fairways & Greens writes, "Without question, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is America's most wonderfully minimalist golf destination. It's still not easy to reach, but that doesn't deter thousands of pilgrims from seeking it out every month. They head out into the dunes with windbreakers and pull carts (or caddies, if they're smart). They bash it around Bandon's broad, bumpy fairways and Pacific's angular, more dramatically undulated layout with the ocean's growl and the breeze's brogue as their soundtrack."

To get in the spirit for this pilgrimage, I just read "Dream Golf - The Making of Bandon Dunes" by Stephen Goodwin. As soon as I began reading, I quickly learned that Mike Keiser really understands the golfer and what we're looking for in a golf experience. Bandon's success makes that obvious.

I was struck by Keiser's description of "what golf ought to be", made after visiting a variety of famous courses in preparation for creating Bandon Dunes. He observed that, "Somehow or other the architects of Pine Valley and Merion and National Golf Links had perfectly expressed the feeling that he had about what a round of golf ought to be, the feeling of expectation and adventure. They'd captured the flow and rhythm of the game, preserving a sequence of surprising, stirring holes, each one different from its predecessors but all of them forming a single, harmonious whole... In plain terms, these courses were the work of artists."

I certainly have those feelings of expectation and adventure about Bandon Dunes and I haven't even played there yet! Just looking at photos of Bandon Dunes and learning about its creation, there's no doubt these courses were the work of artists.

Goodwin describes them as "wild in a way that creates the ideal conditions for play, and beautiful in a way that speaks directly to the dreams of golfers." The place can be described, to quote the words Keiser wrote years earlier, as "nature perfected."


Bandon Dunes 16th by Joann Dost

Bandon Dunes opened in 1999. Designed by Scotsman David McLay Kidd, the course is perched on a bluff high above the Pacific Ocean. The course 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. [Recommended Reading]


Pacific Dunes 14th by Joann Dost

Pacific Dunes, designed by Tom Doak, opened in 2001. It is remarkably different in character and shot making requirements. 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. [Recommended Reading]


Pacific Trails 18th by Joann Dost

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 in to 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. [Recommended Reading]

And Old Macdonald, Bandon's fourth course, begins construction this winter and is scheduled to open in July 2010! The Old Macdonald course, designed by Tom Doak on 400 acres northeast of his Pacific Dunes course, will be a tribute to Charles Blair Macdonald, the favorite golf course architect of Bandon owner Mike Keiser. The course will draw inspiration from Old Mac's celebrated design elements, like Alps and Redan holes, and Biarritz greens. The site is all sand, including one huge, long sand dune and a bit of ocean-front property, though not the extensive ocean vistas of either the Bandon Dunes or Pacific Dunes courses.

"Bandon Dunes is taking its rightful place in the most mystical, sublime, and enchanting golfing annals from around the world." -- Andrew Penner

Labels: Bandon Dunes, Dream Golf, Fred Shoemaker, Golf Destinations, Golf Vacation, Shivas Irons Society, Stephen Goodwin