Great Northwest Golf Adventure – Part 3 (Bend and Bandon)

As we finished our Washington courses, we were looking forward to spending three days in the Bend, Oregon area.  I have read about this area and the courses there for several years.  There are three Top 100 courses near Bend and we began with the Nicklaus course at Pronghorn.(#36 in Current Rankings)  The condition on Pronghorn was nothing short of pristine.  There is nothing out of place, the turf everywhere on the course is thick, green and healthy and the greens are superb.  Nicklaus did a wonderful job of giving the golfer a great deal of variety in the hole designs.  Each hole presented a look that was very pleasing to the eye and was fair off the tee but still had plenty of challenges as you approached the green.  There are back to back short par 4’s on the back nine that are outstanding designs but there are many others that will impress you as well.  Everything is so well groomed that even many of the bunkers are landscaped.  You are required to take a forecaddie which is fine with me on a new course, but if they are not good at reading greens, it is a disadvantage because you are not sure whether to trust your read or his.  Our young forecaddie was nice enough and gave us good lines but his green reading left a little to be desired.  After a few hole I just went with my own instincts.  The staff was friendly enough but did not go out of there way to help a newcomer.  The pro shop was upstairs in a building that looked like the condos next to it with no signage.  The assistant in the shop did not offer any information about where to go until I asked so I got the feeling that they only catered to their members.  Visitors were welcome, but they were not too concerned about going out of their way to woo you back.  This should not dissuade you from playing this course when in the Bend area as it is magnificent.  I would love to pick it up and put it near my home in Ohio so I could play it often.  This is the best Jack Nicklaus design I have ever played.

After Pronghorn, we played the David McLay Kidd design in Bend called Tetherow. (#63 on Current Ranking)  I had read that after receiving a lot of acclaim for his Bandon Dunes design, Kidd went into a more penal style of course design and during this time he built Tetherow.  After this period of designing difficult courses, Kidd built the fun to play Gamble Sands which we recently experienced on this trip, so we were in for a shock when we played Tetherow.  This does not mean that we did not enjoy Tetherow.  On the contrary, we loved it, but it is a tough golf course.  I think that this design is genius.  The holes provide great variety and each can stand on its own merit.  You need to stand on the tee and decide how to attack each hole before casually picking up a driver and flailing away.  The side of the fairway from which you approach these mostly elevated greens is extremely important.  The green complexes are very challenging but can be fun with the right attitude.  They are large, undulated and fast.  Like Pronghorn, you are required to take a forecaddie which is extremely helpful the first time around this track.  Our forecaddie, Bobby Z, was very experienced and very helpful in navigating us around Tetherow.  Do not shy away from this tough test of golf but do go into your round with the right state of mind. It is a course that I would not want to play every week, but I would look forward to playing it three to four times a year. In my opinion, this course certainly deserves its Top 100 ranking. 

The third and final course we played at Bend was Sunriver Crosswater.(#50 in Current Rankings)  It did not take long to figure out how this course earned its named, Crosswater.  Course architect Bob Cupp decided that you will encounter many cross hazards during your round whether they be water hazards or marsh.  I normally do not mind a few cross hazards on a course but when you have to worry about laying up off the tee several times it becomes annoying.  Also, I think that cross hazards are better suited when you have an elevated teeing area so you have a little more depth perception.  Crosswater is a somewhat flat course which seems to take away from the flow of the course.  I know that this course is highly rated so I have thought a long time about why I did not fall in love with this design.  I am just ambivalent about this course.  It is a very well conditioned course and the staff was very friendly and the facilities are nice as well.  I would include it in my second 100 but I cannot say that it is in my Top 100…

After Bend, it was on to Bandon Dunes Resort, The Holy Grail of American Golf in the eyes of many.  I would agree with that assessment if you love golf.  More correctly, if you love playing links golf, bump and run golf, Scotland golf, Ireland golf, or as some call it, pure golf.  I love this place and all four of the courses.  All four course are unique in their own right even though they are practically side by side.  Thanks to owner Mike Kaiser’s vision and four great architects with their own visions, we all get to enjoy the results.  David McLay Kidd built the first course, Bandon Dunes  (#7 on Current Ranking).  We were not able to work this course into our schedule this trip but I did play it a few years ago on my first visit to this remote golf resort.  I loved this course and its wide running fairways.  It is a great test of golf and a real joy to play.  The greatness of Bandon Dunes made the success of the future courses and this resort possible.  The second course was designed by Tom Doak.  Pacific Dunes(#2 on Current Ranking), is the highest ranked of the four just behind Pebble Beach.  This course is also my favorite because of its more defined fairways, wonderful variety of holes, unique bunkering and of course, breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. It is hard to explain how serene and beautiful this course is in words.  You need to stand on the cliffs above the Pacific and experience it in person to fully appreciate the joy it will bring a golfer. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw were hired to build the third course, Bandon Trails(#14 on Current Ranking).  Bandon Trails is the only course of the four that does not sit on the ocean but works it way through the sand hills and trees on this site.  It is the most traditional course at Bandon and does not have ocean views but I really enjoy playing this layout.  It is my second favorite course at Bandon.  It has wonderful routing with eighteen unique and interesting holes.  The newest course is Old MacDonald (#10 on Current Ranking) designed by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina.  The best way to describe this course is “massive”.  This was my first time playing Old Mac and I was amazed at the enormous fairways and greens.  I was told that the greens were the largest of any course in the United States.  That may make them easier to hit but the challenge of just two putting is quite daunting.  The fairways are huge but if you find yourself into one of the bunkers, you will need a lot of skill and some luck to manage any shot other than blasting out.  Another challenge is that of picking the right line off the tee.  It may be easy to hit the fairways, but putting the ball in the correct position is crucial if you are going to attack a pin.  I am not going to go into any more detail about these courses as they have been written about many times over.  Suffice to say, they all deserve their high rankings but I personally would have Bandon Trails ranked higher than Bandon Dunes and Old MacDonald but only by a very small margin.

I love the challenge of each of these courses but I also realize that to make any round truly enjoyable on any Bandon Dunes course, you should take a caddie.  The courses are walking only and rather than carry your own clubs or pull them on a trolley, take a caddie.  I feel that your caddie can make a difference of at least three strokes per side.  In addition, it is a much more enjoyable walk when you can just concentrate on the course, the views and the other players in your group.  We were blessed with two great caddies on this trip named Alaina and Sean.   They are both Evans Scholars and are about to enter their senior year in college.  Just one of many things that make Bandon great is that they assign the same caddies to you for your entire stay.  You become comfortable with them and they get to know your game very quickly.  Bandon is all golf.  They have great restaurants and lodging in addition to the courses, but there is no swimming pool, day spa, tennis or other diversions for the non-golfer.  Be sure your spouse knows this before she accompanies you on this golf journey.  Oh yes, be sure to play the 13 hole par three course called Bandon Preserve.  It is not some easy pitch and putt layout.  It is a Coore and Crenshaw design that will test your short irons and your short game to the hilt. They give you 13 challenging green complexes and it is a great way to end your day of golf without  walking a full 36 holes.  No sense wearing yourself out when you come to Bandon by going 36 each day or your last couple of rounds will not be enjoyable.  If you love great golf courses, do yourself a favor a put the Bandon Dunes Resort on your bucket list.