Bandon Dunes Golf Resort Inspired by Scotland
Bandon, Oregon is Home to Three Golf Courses Built as Scottish Links
May 15, 2009
When thinking if America’s best golf courses, Pebble Beach and Augusta National might come to mind, but Bandon, Oregon is home to three of Golf Digest’s top 100 golf courses in the United States for 2009 to 2010.
Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is located on the scenic Oregon Coast and home to three golf courses, Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, and Bandon Trails, and a fourth course, Old Macdonald, opening in 2010.
World Class Golf Resort
All four courses are built on the principles of the Scottish links, which are defined as a sandy area near the coast with minimal trees and few alterations to the natural landscape. The first courses in Scotland, such as St. Andrews and Carnoustie, were built into the rugged, untamed landscape.
In addition to award-winning golf courses, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort has five types of lodging located throughout the resort’s sprawling acreage. The accommodations vary from the Lodge overlooking Bandon Dunes golf course to secluded four bedroom cottages.
The resort offers fresh Pacific Northwest cuisine at the Lodge’s Gallery Restaurant and traditional pub fare at McKee’s Scottish Pub.
Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort
Old Macdonald, set to open in June, 2010, is inspired by the work of C.B. Macdonald, considered the “father” of golf course design in the United States. Macdonald built the country’s first 18-hole golf course in Chicago and National Golf Links of America in Southampton, NY.
Many of Old Macdonald’s holes pay homage to some of the world’s most difficult holes, including “Hell Bunker,” “Long Hole,” which is 590 yards, and the “Road Hole” all inspired from the Old Course at St. Andrews.
Unlike the other three courses that are planted with bent grass, which has a lush green appearance, Old Macdonald’s fairways are planted with fescue, a mixture of tufted grass characteristic of courses in Scotland. The holes are lined with wild gorse, an evergreen shrub with yellow blossoms commonly seen in Scotland.
Golf in the Kingdom
Golf in the Kingdom by Michael Murphy is the best selling golf fiction book having sold over 1 million copies since being published in 1972. The book takes place in Scotland and explores how the meaning of life can be found through golf.
Bandon Dunes is the setting for the film version of Golf in the Kingdom, which is set to be released in 2010. Mindy Affirme, the film’s producer, told Mike Stahlberg of Eugene, Oregon’s The Register Guard, that she chose to shoot the film at Bandon because “no one will know it’s not Scotland.”
Murphy, the book’s author, told KCBY-TV in North Bend, Oregon that the courses at Bandon are “the most authentic and most beautiful Scottish links in the United States.”
Sources:
Stahlberg, Mike. “Coastal home for Old Macdonald,” The Register Guard. April 28, 2009
Stahlberg, Mike. “’Kingdom’ comes to life at Bandon Dunes,” The Register Guard, April 28, 2009
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