Our third day started off with a reprise of Pacific Dunes, where the wind was blowing even harder than it had the day we arrived. After finishing, we headed over to Old MacDonald, Bandon’s newest course and another Doak (with help from Jim Urbina) design. Where Pacific Dunes and Bandon Dunes wow you with scenery, Old MacDonald does so with its architecture. Only a few holes play by the ocean, but every hole is just so … darn … cool. The third is a reachable par-4 with a blind tee shot, the fifth a short par-3 with an epic green, the seventh a par-4 that plays right up to the ocean, and the eighth a downhill par-3 with one of the largest and wildest greens you’ll ever see, with a deep swale in the middle, as if a giant dragged his finger through it. It continues like this throughout the round, each hole inspired by a different design element — redan, cape, Biarritz, etc. — and each one leaving you feeling inspired.
The most open of any of the Bandon courses, Old MacDonald’s defense is its greens, which are massive and untraditional in both shape and design — on the aforementioned par-3 eighth, we suffered our first four-putt of the week; seven holes later, we suffered our second. On the closing hole, called “Punchbowl,” leaving your shot on a tier above the hole can make putting straight at the pin impossible — instead, you’ll have to analyze the surrounding terrain and devise your own innovative path to the hole. It’s a little Chambers Bay, a little Gamble Sands, and a whole heck of a lot of fun.
For the final round, on our getaway day, we headed over to Bandon Trails, where the design team of Coore and Crenshaw faced a significant challenge — draft a course on par with Bandon and Pacific, without the benefit of the ocean scenery.
Challenge accepted.
What Bandon Trails lacks in seaside drama it makes up for in design. Like Wine Valley, fairways roll together, seemingly without end. Like Salish Cliffs, tall pines and clever bunkering put a premium on accuracy. Like Gold Mountain’s Olympic Course, elevation comes into play on just about every hole, which start among the dunes, then route high up into the coastal forest, before finishing back where they began. Like Palouse Ridge, the greens are in perfect condition, a welcome respite for putters weary of navigating the massive and challenging surfaces of the oceanside courses. In other words, it’s the best of every great Washington golf course rolled into one, and dropped alongside some of the most famous seaside golf courses in the world.
Our favorite holes included all of the par-3s, which are unquestionably the resort’s best (little wonder, then, that Keiser turned to Coore and Crenshaw to create 13 great par-3s at Bandon Preserve); the 11th, a downhill par-4 with the only non-ocean water hazard on the entire property; and the 14th, a short, downhill par-4 from an elevated tee with a crazy, left-to-right sloping fairway and nearly impossible green (admittedly, we like it more for the view than the bogies we inevitably made).
Of course, publisher Dick Stephens will forever have a soft spot for the eighth, a 283-yard, slightly downhill, par-4. Our tees were pushed up, so Dick pulled hybrid, kissed it right down the middle, then watched as it rolled onto the green, towards the flag … and disappeared.
“Where did it go?”
“Do you see it?”
“Is it in? No way it’s in. Really?”
Our reactions ran the gamut; company vice president Kirk Tourtillotte just ran, all the way to the hole, before sagging his shoulders and scouring the greenside rough. Dick saw through the ruse, though, and he was right — sure enough, the ball was there at the bottom of the cup, a symbol of the unlikeliest hole-in-one any of us have ever seen. When we went into the clubhouse after the round, they said it was just the second they’d ever heard of on that hole. Bandon Trails typically gives plaques to players who hit holes-in-one; they don’t even make them for No. 8. Drinks in the clubhouse were on Dick; the memory, though, was one we’ll all hold onto.
As with any epic journey, a trip to Bandon Dunes is as much about the people you meet as the places you see. Take Kyle, an young entrepreneur, who dragged his wife all the way from New York City to spend four days at Bandon Dunes (“I just had to see it,” he said. “And it’s been amazing.”). Or Brooke, a former college softball star from nearby Drain, Ore., who works as a teacher during the school year, and as a guest services representative at Bandon Trails in the summer: “It’s fun to meet people from all over the world — everyone has an interesting story,” she says. Or Gary, whose Fairway Shuttles take golfers to and from the resort for a nominal fee — to the airport, Three Rivers Casino, or into town.
Then there’s Rich Iverson. Iverson moved to Bandon decades ago from North Dakota, and can remember what the town was like before the resort was built. Perhaps no one in Bandon has benefitted more from Keiser’s vision than Iverson — as one of 13 “founding members” of Bandon Dunes, Iverson can play any of the resort courses, any time he wants, for just $40. (Iverson recently played in Bandon’s annual Solstice Tournament, playing — and walking — all four courses in one incredible day.) He also owns and serves as head chef at Bandon’s finest restaurant, Lord Bennett’s (www.lordbennetts.com, ?541-347-3663), an intimate establishment on a low bluff with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. Locally sourced fish, steak and poultry dishes highlight the menu, accompanied by an expansive wine list featuring plenty of Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs. (Tell Iverson that Cascade Golfer sent you, and he may even unlock one of the secret wines that he keeps reserved for only his closest friends.)
“Bandon is an easy place to get to, but it’s a hard one to leave,” Iverson says.
Watching the sun slip into the ocean out the window at Lord Bennett’s, as you cut into your filet, sip your Pinot and listen to the waves gently washing around the towering rocks that define the Oregon coast, you’ll understand exactly what he means.