USA · Oregon
Five walking-only links courses on Oregon's wild coast — the closest thing the US has to Scotland. How to play Pacific Dunes, Old Macdonald, Sheep Ranch and the rest, when to go, and how to get there.
By Tom Whitaker · Staff Writer
Bandon Dunes is the trip American golfers save up for — the one place at home that genuinely rivals a links pilgrimage to Scotland or Ireland. On a remote stretch of the southern Oregon coast, greeting-card entrepreneur Mike Keiser built a collection of walking-only links courses on real sand dunes, and since the original opened in 1999 it has grown into what is widely called the finest public golf resort in the United States: five championship 18s, two par-3 short courses and a wild free putting course, all firm, fast and beside the Pacific.
This is a walking, caddie, weather-comes-with-it destination — no carts on the big courses, no houses, no shortcuts. You fly to the Oregon coast, stay on site, and try to sweep all five courses over a few days. Here's how to plan it: the courses and how they differ, when to go, how to actually get there, where to stay, and the kit the coast demands.
Tom Doak · 2001 · 18 holes · Links
The consensus favourite — long rated among America's very best public courses
The crown jewel, and the one to play if you get only a single round. Doak's minimalist routing has the most ocean-side holes, wildly varied par sequencing (back-to-back par 3s, back-to-back par 5s) and the sense that the course was found in the dunes rather than built. It's the course that made Bandon's reputation.
David McLay Kidd · 1999 · 18 holes · Links
The original — a top-ranked American public course
The one that started it all. Kidd's opener is the most classically 'Scottish' of the five — dramatic ocean-bluff holes, generous landing areas and a big, bold personality. It's forgiving off the tee and thrilling along the cliffs.
Tom Doak & Jim Urbina · 2010 · 18 holes · Links
A tribute to golden-age architect C.B. Macdonald, built wide and bold with enormous greens and 'template' holes (Redan, Biarritz and the like). The most strategic and the most fun to puzzle out — hugely playable in the wind.
Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw · 2020 · 18 holes · Links
The newest 18, built on a bluff with no bunkers and nine greens perched right on the Pacific edge. The most exposed of the lot — sweeping ocean views and the wind as the only real defence.
Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw · 2005 · 18 holes · Links / parkland
The inland contrast: no true ocean holes, but a beautifully varied journey through dunes, meadow and coastal forest. Many regulars quietly rate it their favourite for the routing and the change of pace.
Coore & Crenshaw (Preserve); Whitman, Axland & Cutten (Shorty's); Doak & Urbina (Punchbowl) · 13 + 19 par 3s, plus a putting course holes · Short courses
Bandon Preserve (a 13-hole ocean-view par-3 course whose proceeds fund coastal conservation) and the newer Shorty's are the ideal afternoon fun after 36 holes. The Punchbowl — a vast, wildly contoured free putting green by the Pacific Dunes clubhouse — is the nightly social ritual: putt with a drink in hand as the sun goes down.
Treat it as links weather: wind and rain are part of the experience, not a ruined trip. July through September gives the longest days, the warmest temperatures and the calmest, most reliable conditions — September is often called the safest weather bet. Late spring is strong too.
The resort is open year-round, and shoulder-season and winter trade weather risk for lower rates and near-empty courses. You might catch a stunning calm day in January or get lashed in June — pack for weather whenever you come, because the courses were designed to be played in it.
The closest airport is Southwest Oregon Regional (OTH) in North Bend, about a 35-minute drive from the resort, but commercial service is limited — check current routes. The common alternatives are to fly into Eugene (EUG), about 2.5 hours away, or Portland (PDX), about 4.5 hours, and drive the rest.
You need a car or a car service to reach the resort, but not once you're there — a complimentary shuttle moves guests around the property, so plenty of groups fly into OTH, drop the car and never touch it again.
Stay on site — it's the whole point. Lodging runs from rooms in the Lodge (closest to the first tee and the main dining) and the Inn to multi-bedroom cottages that suit buddy groups. It's premium, resort-guest pricing.
Dining is casual-upscale and golf-centric — the Lodge's restaurants, the Pacific Grill above the Pacific Dunes clubhouse, and a proper pub for retelling the day. The culture is caddies, fire pits and the Punchbowl at dusk; lean into it.
The classic is a three-to-four-day trip aiming to sweep all five championship courses, often 36 holes a day for the fit. Walking is mandatory on the big courses, so respect the physical reality — it's hilly, firm and a long way on foot.
Take a caddie for at least your first loop, play Pacific Dunes if you only get one championship round, and don't skip the extras: an evening on the Punchbowl and a fun loop round Bandon Preserve or Shorty's are as memorable as the marquee 18s.
To extend it into a wider Pacific-coast links trip, head north into Washington and add Chambers Bay, the public 2015 U.S. Open venue above Puget Sound — two walking, links-style rounds on genuinely public land.
The resort's own feed captures the scale better than words. Here's Pacific Dunes' par-4 4th — one of the most photographed holes on the Oregon coast:
On InstagramSee this post from @bandondunesgolf…and sunset from the Sheep Ranch clubhouse, the finale to an afternoon on the bluff:
On InstagramSee this post from @bandondunesgolfWhat to pack
Bandon is walking, wind-exposed, coastal-Oregon links golf — you'll get weather, and you'll be on your feet all day. This is the kit that earns its place:
Galvin Green
$450
Coastal Oregon means rain and wind can arrive on any hole — a genuinely waterproof, windproof shell is the first thing in the bag.
Galvin Green
$160
A stretch, windproof mid-layer keeps you warm through a Pacific breeze without wrecking your turn — the ideal Bandon layer.
Sunday Golf
$250
Five walking courses, no carts. A light carry/stand bag that sits easy for 36 holes a day beats hauling a heavy tour bag over the dunes.
Srixon
$15
Damp links golf ruins gloves — an all-weather pair that grips when wet, plus a dry spare, keeps your hands in it.
Bushnell
$750
Blind, rumpled links holes in shifting wind make a fast, stable rangefinder genuinely useful on courses you don't know.
FootJoy
$30
Even in summer the coast turns cold when the wind gets up — a close-fitting beanie is the cheapest comfort upgrade you'll pack.
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