You can watch the nation's best amateur players over the age of 25 on your Bandon Dunes golf vacation.

Some people like watching top-level golf tournaments. Some people like playing top-rated golf courses. If you like to do both, consider a Bandon Dunes golf vacation in the next month.

That's when the USGA will stage its U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at the resort on the Bandon Dunes and Bandon Trails courses (September 29-October 4).

Unlike the U.S. Amateur, which often seems like just another event on the college circuit, the Mid-Am restricts its field to amateur players with handicap indexes of 3.4 or less and who are at least 25 years old. In other words, people who can shoot lights out despite having a job. Qualifying for event takes places at 60 sites around the country.

This is the second time American golf's governing body has chosen the remote, Southern Oregon venue for one of its national championships. The first was the 2006 Curtis Cup, an international women's competition won by Team USA.

Admission to the Mid-Am is free, so it won't add to what can already be an expensive Bandon Dunes golf vacation. What it will provide, however, is the chance to see one of next year's Masters Tournament participants in action as the winner of the Mid-Am, provided he is still an amateur, gets an invitation to Augusta National in April.

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