Bandon Dunes Golf Resort

Perched on windswept bluffs a hundred feet above the Pacific Ocean, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is a place where the game is stripped back to its essence. No golf carts. No luxury condos lining the fairways. No manicured excess. Just raw, honest links golf on terrain that could have been lifted from the Scottish coast — firm fescue turf, natural dune formations, and a relentless ocean wind that makes every shot a conversation with the elements.

The resort's seven courses showcase the full spectrum of links golf architecture. Pacific Dunes, designed by Tom Doak, is consistently ranked the #1 public course in America. The namesake Bandon Dunes course, David McLay Kidd's masterpiece, proved that authentic links golf could thrive on American soil. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw's Bandon Trails winds through coastal forest and meadows, while their Sheep Ranch sits on a mile of ocean frontage with views from every hole. Old Macdonald pays tribute to the father of American golf architecture with 18 iconic template holes. Two par-3 courses — Bandon Preserve and Shorty's — round out the offering with accessible, charitable golf.

Getting here is part of the pilgrimage. A 35-minute drive from the small Southwest Oregon Regional Airport or a scenic five-hour road trip from Portland, Bandon rewards the journey with on-site lodging from intimate inn rooms to four-bedroom grove cottages, seven dining venues, a world-class practice facility, and 24-hour shuttle service across the property. Most visitors stay three to five days, playing 36-hole days at half-price replay rates — and nearly all of them start planning their return trip before they leave.