Coore and Crenshaw may have had the hardest task at Bandon being asked to bring a third course on line following the accolade and fanfare the two spectacular links courses Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes had received.  The rugged terrain they were working with was much more challenging with distinct elements of sand dunes, grassy meadows, and dense forests.  It was going to be a monumental task to deliver 18 walkable holes with unified character and natural flow.

These guys are key protagonists in the “minimalist” approach to course design that seems to be pervasive today.  Their goal is not to move a bunch of dirt to create holes with a signature Coore-Crenshaw look but rather to discover holes that nature has lurking in the existing terrain.  As Coore says in the book Dream Golf, “We don’t want our holes to look like golf holes…they should look like landscapes which just happen to include a golf hole”.  Their approach to designing Bandon Trails was to spend endless hours walking the ground learning the site discussing all the possibilities as they enticed these holes to reveal themselves.  The result is a cohesive presentation of unique and challenging holes distinctly different than their links cousins but just as enthralling.

The first would feel right at home at Enniscrone or Waterville in Ireland

(Click on any picture to get an enhanced view of the image)

The first hole is a classic links presentation with the tee looking out over a range of sea grass covered sand dunes that barely reveal a path for a golf hole. This is a bit of a design feint since you won’t really see this again until the final hole of the day.  A fairway club with the correct shot shape will search out a path between the massive dunes leaving you a short pitch up to a long and narrow green wedged into the dunes above.

The full Pine Barrens look unfolds across the meadow on #3

As you come off the first green to the second tee the look transitions quickly from links to sand barrens as you are descending into the meadow.  The next five holes would feel right at home at Fazio’s Pine Barrens course at World Woods as they are characterized by the meadow’s more subtle elevation changes, plentiful waste areas and penal blow-out bunkers, and a blend of fir and spruce trees, native vegetation, and sandy soil.  Thoughtful navigation of these holes is required because the arrays of sand hazards must be avoided and the rolling contour of the firm fairways will make that a challenge.  The third and fourth holes meander across the meadow with the sand and mounds giving you alternative routes to play depending on the wind effect and the pin positions.  The par three fifth hole composes all of the elements in a jaw dropping Kodak moment that will take your breath away.  The hole has a picket fence made of old tree branches in front of the tee and behind the green an indigenous accent used repeatedly throughout the course.

At #7 the ascent into the enchanted forest begins

At the seventh you are leaving the meadow and about to begin scaling the most rugged terrain of the course.  The addition of elevation change to club selection will up the shot values from here out.  The climb begins with a severe uphill par four that is the number one handicap hole on the course.  Transition on this hole is so abrupt that the greenside bunker that has a two-club elevation change of it’s own.

With a solid plan well executed you can avoid the awaiting trouble on #8

A technical test is next in a short,  possibly drivable par four-a tight rope walk across a ridge with serious bunkering waiting to gather a shot without proper conviction.  Lots of choices on how to play this one, it can be a scoring opportunity providing you plan wisely and execute accordingly.

The ascent to the top of the property resumes as you play a very engaging ramped par five to end the front nine.  They used uphill to mask the generosity of  the landing areas on each shot.  This hole has a links feature you see throughout the course in that this green just seems to emanate from the fairway with little texture demarcation,  This provides a very hazy frame of reference for approach and recovery shots.  As you saw on the links courses use of your putter from well off the green can be a valuable tool when approaching a short side pin.

My conviction is that what makes this such a difficult course is controlling your roll outs due to the combination of the firm fairways and the downhill landing areas.  The problems presented by the through space on the drive and approach on ten are good examples of this.  You must shape your shot to move away from the waste areas or else the downhill roll out will bring them into play.  The eleventh is an imaginative natural rolling par four that scurries up and over the existing fall of the land. All they had to do was mow some grass for the tees and green, nature had already done the rest.

The natural beauty of the setbacks frame the experience

In this middle section of the course there is dramatic scale created by the backdrops of dense hardwood trees perched on the rugged hills.  Add to it the aromatic smell of the forest and a bold dash of blue sky above and it will captivate all your senses as you contemplate the shots to be played.   At this point in the round you are as aware of the nature walk you are enjoying as the golf challenge you are experiencing.

From the thirteenth tee to the final green you are going to play a unique array of challenging holes traversing some of the most rugged terrain in Bandon.  On the tee of the par four thirteenth you feel like you are standing in your socks at the top of a playground sliding board-good luck staying on your feet on any shot on this hole.  The green itself is like a bikini waxed tortoise shell-getting the simplest pitch shot to remain where it lands is quite a chore.

The slippery topography on #13 makes controlling your result very difficult

It is such a severe transition from the thirteenth green to the Kitzbuhel starter’s gate that serves as the next tee box that they have to provide you an automated ride.  The fourthteenth is a very enticing short par four where the effective landing area for your tee shot is the size of a picnic blanket.  From the perfect landing spot the pitch required is very precise.  The green is the shape of a size nine left orthotic insert and the surface available is not much bigger.

The green complexes like #15 put real pressure on where your approach ends

Fifteen is a quasi-breather because the landing area is sufficiently generous to fool you into believing this is an easy hole.  But the second shot is to a raised narrow green set in a tight alcove of sand and furry growth.  The shot demands the utmost accuracy to keep the ball under the hole and avoid a sure three-putt.

Cannot help but be overwelmed by the scale of the climb on #16

Standing on the sixteenth tee you have a sense of what it is like to be a window washer on the Empire State Building.  You are looking straight up the face of a fairway incline that looks like it will not hold your ball much less your full body weight.  Add a prevailing wind in your face and you have the full Chinese death march par five experience ahead of you.  The good news is the ball seems to not only hold on the steep incline, but with the firm fairway,  it actually bounces forward way more than you expect.  The green sits exposed on another high point on the property so the real challenge here is getting an approach shot to hold on a firm windswept green and then  two-putt on the way out of Dodge.

The devil is in the details at the visual par 3 17th

The par three seventeenth is the most photographed holes on Bandon Trails.  Much like the postcard three par you saw on number five, which just so happens to be about 30 yards to your left, this one is pure eye candy.  But beware this is an unwrapped Halloween treat tinged with a little of the wicked witch’s juice so prepare to be challenged.  You are playing a short shot across an environmental divide to another tortoise shell green wedged between some very unforgiving bunkers.  Good news is they gave you a chipping area long and right.  Bad news is the recovery shots from there are as difficult as from the unforgiving bunkers.  If they offer you a bogey and a free pass to the eighteenth tee I would take it.

You are now transitioning rapidly out of the sand barrens to the links motif you started with four hours ago.  Much like number one, the Trail ends with a finishing par four that is links golf from tee to green.  The tee shot is a blind carry over a massive hill to an undulating landing hollow below and to the left.  From there you have a three story short iron to a long and narrow green draped across a plateau adjacent to the clubhouse.  This green is exposed to the Pacific winds and will be firm and fast so figure out a way to keep your approach in front of the flag you can barely see.

The final perch…where does the fairway end and the green begin?

Once you have putted out do a 180 and appreciate the stunning view back down this last hole and of the tree laden hills beyond.  It should occur to you what a remarkable achievement it was that Coore and Crenshaw composed such a dramatic and playable golf course on this rugged and diverse terrain.

Bandon, Oregon

Architect:  Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw (2005)

Tee           Par    Rating      Slope      Yardage
Black        71     73.7         133          6765
Green       71     71.1         129          6260
Orange     71     70.8         122          5064

(Click here to review Bandon Trails Golf Course hole-by-hole descriptions)

For more Bandon Trails images click to see Postcard From Bandon Trails-Day 2.

Bandon Dunes was the first of the links courses Mike Keiser envisioned for this dreamy piece of coastline in Southern Oregon.  His strategy from the outset was to introduce real links golf to America where it was all about walking the course, dealing with the elements, and playing golf close to the ground.  All the trappings of the resort are simple and understated, he intended to let the courses speak for themselves in the pure language of golf that he experienced in Scotland and Ireland.

The Lodge quietly overlooks the opening and finishing holes.

His idea was to hire a young talent with a knowledge of links design who was not famous enough yet to ignore his suggestions.  Fortunately, as you can read in the book Dream Golf-The Making of Bandon Dunes, Keiser spent years studying links courses all over the world so his opinions were worth taking into consideration.  David Kidd was a twenty-something Scotsman with little design experience, the son of Jimmy Kidd who himself was a bit of a force in Scottish golf as the head caretaker at Gleneagles one of the most fabled resorts in Scotland.  As with so much that has gone down in the development of Bandon Dunes, it was just Keiser’s gut feelings that told him David Kidd was the man for this job.

The landscape canvas Kidd had to work with at Bandon was smothered in gorse, a wiry sticker bush that is native to the British Isles.  Gorse harbors the ultimately unplayable lie and is the signature element of the links courses of Scotland.  The fact that it existed at all in this remote corner of Oregon was the result of a seemingly arbitrary act of an Irishman who settled in this area in 1875 and introduced the plant.  Gorse flourishes like a weed and it quickly came to cover the sand dunes and gorges throughout Bandon.   The gorse provided a unique opportunity to chisel a true links course out of the palisades of this seaside terrain and have it retain an aura of Scotland unfamiliar in this part of the world.

A full array of links elements are present on the par 3 second hole.

(Click on any picture to get an enhanced view of the image)

What Kidd produced was the perfect introduction to links golf in America.  The Bandon Dunes Golf Course has it all-firm sandy turf for hard and fast fairways, gorse and sea grass covered sand dunes through which to wend holes,  natural blow-out bunkers created by the elements pepper fairways and green complexes, stunning cliff-side exposure to the Pacific Ocean for visual drama, and, of course, plenty of seaside wind to validate the links style of golf most suited for the sum of those parts.   To look at what he created it belies his prior lack of experience in links design and confirms Keiser’s feeling that a Scotsman brought up in a family where links course care and maintenance were the topic of conversation at the dinner table every night would be the right man to figure out how to draw eighteen unique and genuine links holes out of this coastland.

The course begins benignly enough from a tee box in front of the viewing windows of the Lodge.  A wide and inviting driving area masks the importance of picking a very particular landing area for the best look at a very severe green complex you cannot see from the tee.  This is a theme that is repeated throughout, very accurate driving lines, particular to the tee marker you are playing from and the wind direction and velocity of the day, is a must to having good chances to hit greens in regulation and putt for pars.  This is why your caddie counsel is crucial to success on all of the Bandon courses-you need local knowledge even the first time you walk these links.

The opening stanza of the first three holes is just a warm up for what is to come-he gives you a chance to find a swing and start to understand the bounce of the turf and the effect of the wind.  After you chase down your drive on the fourth hole you turn the corner and get your first jaw dropping view of the Pacific framing this green.  Your first reminder that this is links golf is in this approach shot.  Links Rule Number 1- the ground is your friend and a low pitch and run into a tight green complex minimizes the influence of the wind and improves your odds of getting it close.

The first ‘Wow’ of the day is the view of the fourth green against the Pacific.

The next two holes turn to the North into the prevailing breeze and now trajectory control on all shots becomes paramount.  Your second shot into number five is a classic links look through a hallway created by ridges of sea grass laden dunes on either side to an alcove green set against a gorse covered back drop.  Yes Dorothy, you are now in Scotland.  What follows is the first of a seemingly endless number of dramatic seaside par threes on these courses that are suspended over the Pacific.   You will find that measured distance means nothing at Bandon-effective distance is what you must determine.  Links Rule Number 2-a one club wind on the inland holes becomes a two to three club wind on those holes exposed to the beach.

Seven to nine turn inland but they do not provide much of a breather.  Kidd used the rippled and rolling topography to create wonderful elevation change and roll out puzzles to solve on each approach shot.  One of the real challenges he presents is trying to determine just where the fairway ends and the putting surface begins on these green complexes.  The grasses used for fairway and greens are so similar and kept tightly mown that you almost get no visual distinction between them.  The good news about that is that without much transition you can often putt from 20 to 50 yards from a hole position.  This is a very valuable arrow to have in your quiver instead of a pitch especially downwind or if you short side yourself on the approach.  Links Rule Number 3-you can putt from anywhere.

At the 10th your driving strategy must account for the blind access to the green.

The inward nine begins the march back to the sea with a funky links hole that will blow your mind.  Another wide open driving area that demands a precise decision to place your ball in a position to negotiate the blind approach to the green created by a giant mound about 50 yards short of the green.  This hole reiterates Links Rule Number 4-measured distance on the scorecard tells you nothing about your likeliness of making a par.

Don’t be fooled by the visual serenity of the par 3 twelfth.

The twelfth hole is probably the most photogenic of all the three pars on the grounds.  It is innocuous enough looking from the elevated tee with the green sprawled across a mound wrapping around a sod-wall bunker and framed by a tufted muffin dune on the right and a small wall of dunes on the left.  Oh, did I mention that there is this ocean that dominates the rest of the horizon.  The shot required from about 150 yards here will take all your guile and talent to pull off.   The best shot is an Irish knock down draw that starts at the front right edge of the green and uses the curve and contour of the putting surface to feed to the pin.  Links Rule Number 5-the best shot path is often not directly at your target.  Using ground contour and roll out in a diversionary approach to your destination is often the preferred route.

Kidd takes you away from the sea for two holes to catch your breath like he did on the front but is setting you up for the crescendo, a finish that will dominate your thoughts well past dinner.  The fifteenth is a marvelous par three, not dissimilar to number six but with a little less visible exposure to the ocean.  When you walk around the dune behind this green to the sixteenth tee prepare to be wowed…..let me take that back…prepare to be overwhelmed by the distracting coastline vista that dominates the next hole.

Shock and Awe from the 16th Tee-click to enlarge the awe   (photo courtesy of Les Samuels)

From the tee on sixteen you look across a rocky gorge at a split fairway created by a furry bunker laden ridge that bisects the landing area.  You likely have a wind aided drive so the upper (and desired) fairway is well within reach.  Links Rule Number 6-the actual size of the challenge is often disproportionate to it’s appearance.  As it says on your side view mirror, things are often closer than they appear.  If you hit a soaring tee ball to the upper fairway the walk up that ridge to rediscover your ball is very pleasing indeed.   It will be followed by a knee-knocking sensation as you contemplate the short pitch to a wind exposed green hanging perilously over the gorge.

Seventeenth green is wedged by a canyon that eats meek or overzealous approaches.

Turning for home the last two play along a cavernous environmental area on the right that separates Bandon Dunes from Bandon Trails and the Bandon Preserve Links Par Three Course.  The visuals here of cypress trees, gorse canyons, and majestic shorelines make it well worth the cost of admission.

A captivating image-a late look down number 10.

When you are done take the time for a 19th hole refreshment in the Lodge bar that overlooks the tenth tee.  The sublime image late in the day of golfer silhouettes walking into the setting sun captures the true spirit of Bandon Dunes.

Bandon, Oregon

Architect:  David Kidd (1999)

Tee           Par    Rating      Slope      Yardage
Black        72      74.1         143          6732
Green       72      71.7         139          6221
Orange     72      72.4         128          5072

(Click here to review Bandon Dunes Golf Course hole-by-hole descriptions)

For more Bandon Dunes images click to see Postcard From Bandon Dunes-Day 1.