Oregon Golf Course Reviews
Bandon Dunes Golf Course Review
Bandon, OR
74.1 rating; 143 slope |
Bandon Dunes Scorecard from the longest tees as of the date of last review
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Pebble Beach Golf Links | Chambers Bay Golf | Bandon Trails | Pacific Dunes | Old MacDonald
Bandon Dunes Golf Course Overview: The flagship golf course at the now world-renowned American Mecca of golf, Bandon Dunes is a classic design, links style effort consisting of gorse, large, firm greens and plenty of stunning ocean views. This golf course is filled with outstanding golf holes, and it provides a balanced test golf, in a perfect seaside setting and still holds its own with the now five full length courses on property, still being the most true championship type course (and host of a US amateur). The best golf holes, among many, are reviewed below:
Bandon Dunes Hole 2: The day's first par three plays a little uphill to a wide green that is a bit deeper than it looks. The big mistake is coming up short (and/or left) as there is a bit more room long that it appears and a shot that comes up 2 feet short can find itself 20 yards short, in a deep bunker or worse..
Bandon Dunes Hole 2: The day's first par three plays a little uphill to a wide green that is a bit deeper than it looks. The big mistake is coming up short (and/or left) as there is a bit more room long that it appears and a shot that comes up 2 feet short can find itself 20 yards short, in a deep bunker or worse..
Bandon Dunes Hole 3: A great par 5 that is reachable under GIR only with two perfect shots. Fairly wide, but with gorse lurking on either side, the elevated tee shot is one of the prettiest anywhere as the Pacific Ocean provides the backdrop. The green is very well guarded in front by bunkers and is tough to putt.
Bandon Dunes Hole 4: This outstanding two shot golf hole features a drive that tightens severely between two dunes for anyone wanting to hit driver. The approach features a shot between the dunes, down to a green on cliffs above the ocean. Big bunkers left provide a difficult approach to the slanted green, especially from the left side.
Bandon Dunes Hole 5: This incredible par four runs along the ocean cliffs and features various pockets of gorse and other small bushes in the middle of the fairway that must be avoided. The fairway is wider to the right, but the angle to the green, which is huddled in a narrow corridor between bunkers and dunes, is more difficult from there. This hole is long, tough and great, and right along the ocean cliffs to the left.
Bandon Dunes Hole 6: This par three is not terribly difficult with any pin cut center or right, but any pin placement to the left, cut over the bunker and close to the cliffs can change all that. The ocean views are, of course, superb.
Bandon Dunes Hole 7: The seventh tee shot is scary the first time you play it due to all the junk between the tee and the fairway. However, in reality, it's pretty wide open (left of center preferred) & the focus should be on the uphill second shot as the large slope right of the green will send shots careening down it for a rough up and down attempt. If pin is right of center, a drive down the left is essential, but with a pin left, center or right fairway is fine.
Bandon Dunes Hole 8: The tee shot on this slightly downhill hole is extremely wide, and relatively simple. The player must avoid the warlike series of bunkers 200 yards from the tee and the hidden bunkers on the right side of the fairway. The approach is to a unique green with a hump on the left side that acts as a separator between front and back pin placements. Accuracy on the approach is a must as three putts are ready to be had.
Bandon Dunes Hole 10: This might be my least favorite hole on this golf course as I find the tee shot aimless and I always seem lost on what to do. However, depending on the wind direction and strength, I'll say this hole can play very differently as it is drive-able in the right conditions and yet can play long if dead into the wind. The green is the true defense as the fairway is super wide. The approach plays a little downhill with a roller coaster type slope in front of the green and a steep drop off left and behind. The green is severely sloped making three-putting easy.
Bandon Dunes Hole 11: Visually not much to look at compared to most golf holes at Bandon, the 11th is a tough, uphill par four. The better angle, by far, to the green is from the left side of the fairway, which means challenging the rough and pot bunker. However, the deep bunker and steep slope to the right of the green will almost certainly negate par, and the shots from the fairway on the right side make that more in play on this also very shallow and deep green.
Bandon Dunes Hole 12: The first golf hole built at Bandon dunes, and one of the most difficult greens to hit, this par three has a green that almost horseshoes around a pot bunker, and the left side of the green feeds towards it or steep slope to the left. For those that go long, the penalty is not a bunker or swale, but a cliff over looking the beach on the Pacific Ocean. At 200 yards from the tips, this makes for nervous players on the tee who will usually be hitting long iron or more. For other tees, it's shorter but the wind can really move the ball laterally as well.
Bandon Dunes Hole 13: The first par five on the back nine has been improved over the years as the lake has been replaced with a more natural feeling marshy type hazard. Avoiding that on the drive and second is key to this otherwise fairly docile scoring opportunity, even if the green complex is still hilly, it's fairly open, but missing short and right will leave a nasty up and down from at least 30 yards away and well below the green.
Bandon Dunes Hole 14: Not a long par four, this slightly uphill hole is a lesson in bunker placement. There are plenty off the tee and one to plague pretty much all strategies that should depend on wind direction and pin placement. The green is craftily tucked at the base of a sand dune and is shallow when playing from the right side of the fairway, but also shorter from there. Four bunkers around the green add to the excitement.
Bandon Dunes Hole 15: This par three heads straight towards the ocean and features a long green that is plagued by a huge, deep bunker to the right, and drop offs right and behind the green making it very hard to hit. The player can go a little left of the green and balls may come off the hill back onto the surface from there.
Bandon Dunes Hole 16: This phenomenal short par four along the ocean gives the driver his pick of poison. The lay-up offered will leave around 150 to the green, but the area of the lay-up is close to the ocean cliffs. The adventurous player can clear the waste area leaving 100 yards and go more to the left, but it is a good poke to clear the trouble and there is more trouble to the far left. The approach is terrifying (and more so from the right) as the green is perched on the cliffs where anything going a little offline is dead.
Bandon Dunes Hole 17: The last par four of the day has a wide fairway for the tee shot hit about 220 yards or less. After that, the bunkers on the left and cliff on the right pinch in. The green is set over a gorse filled hillside and the green itself is very deep. So, if the pin is up, the gorse is in play (but the shot is shorter) and if the pin is back, the shot requires more club but has less overall danger.
