Our Bandon Dunes golf vacation book contains tips from owner Mike Keiser (center) and architects Bill Coore (left), David McLay Kidd (right) and Tom Doak.
Even before the opening of Bandon Trails, we felt that a Bandon Dunes golf vacation was something every serious golfer should experience. Now that there are three courses to choose from (and a fourth on the way), understanding the main differences between them is more important than ever.
Who is better to explain these subtleties than the architects themselves? Included in our recently published insider’s guide, called Planning the Ultimate Bandon Dunes Golf Vacation, are never-before-published interviews with the architects of all three of Bandon Dunes Resort’s courses. Here’s an excerpt from Bill Coore, co-architect (with Ben Crenshaw) of Bandon Trails:
“Pacific Dunes is a bit quirkier and a little shorter than Bandon Trails, which is itself shorter than Bandon Dunes. Pacific is less structured in what you see off the tee, and it takes more playing knowledge. It’s such an extraordinary course for creative players — people who love to use their imagination and hit all kinds of shots and love the adventure of playing golf.
“Bandon Dunes is more straightforward. You see more things. You know what to do. Bandon Dunes has always struck me as a course that really good ball strikers would prefer.
“Bandon Trails falls in between. It has more quirky aspects to it than Bandon Dunes, but it’s more visually straightforward than Pacific Dunes. Ben and I proposed a layout that began in the big dunes close to the clubhouse, worked through the dunes, then the meadow, then the woodland section, then back into the meadow before finishing in the dunes. The meadow is the unifying structure because it had things very different from the dunes or woodland but also some elements of both.”
Of course, you’ll want to play all three courses on a Bandon Dunes golf vacation, but this insight (and a whole lot more contained in the book) can help you decide which ones to play over and over again at the deeply discounted replay rate.
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