Michigan Golf Journal December 2020

Bandon Dunes Bandon Dunes: The original course on site, design by David McLay Kidd, has many similarities to what Doak did at Pacific Dunes, which isn’t surprising as the land is nearly identical. The only feature that stood out as different was more bunkers littering the middle areas of fairways instead of keeping to the perimeter on Pacific. My favorite back-to-back holes for playing and viewing were two par fours, No. 4 and 5. The 4 th had a pinched landing area at the point the fairway turned right to a green perched at the ocean’s edge, making it the only fairway that was unusually tight in a key landing location. No. 5 had a fun approach to the green with high mounding on both sides due to a small gap between two dunes, giving it a tunnel feel heading into a green with rolling ridges. In a Golf Digest review last year that ranked Bandon Dunes as the 36 th best course in the country (private and public), a panelist was quoted saying: “When evaluating Bandon Dunes versus Pacific Dunes, you couldn’t fault someone for picking one over the other. Bandon Dunes is the original, it feels more rustic, but Pacific Dunes has more breathtaking holes and has very few that disappoint. Bandon is still a masterpiece.” Bandon Preserve: This 13-hole par 3 course overlooks the ocean as well, but from a little further back off the shoreline. The Coore-Crenshaw design is a very, very fun play, but it felt like I burned more calories and was more physically wiped out after traversing its dramatic up and down routing, compared to a full 18 holes on the other courses. Many greens are surrounded by mounding that can favorably kick your wayward tee shot back onto the green – which happened to me when a bad, wide-right shot turned into a 3-foot putt for birdie on No. 12. The combined green of holes No. 4 and 7 is very cool, and the 9 th green is closest to the Pacific and has excellent views with its subtle, double tier design. A return trip is in the works to give the other 3 layouts a try! MGJ