Seaside beauty: For the serious golfer, Bandon Dunes beckons

Almost from the moment it opened in 1999, Bandon Dunes became known as one of the best golf courses in the United States, if not the world.

When Pacific Dunes opened next door to Bandon Dunes two years later, it even surpassed Bandon on most "best" lists, and two years ago, a third course, Bandon Trails, joined the other two on most top golf course lists.

Most golf courses take time to earn their way onto such lists, but the natural beauty and splendor of the three Bandon Dunes Resort layouts on the southern coast of Oregon put them on everyone's lists of top golf courses.

Last year Golf Digest ranked Pacific Dunes No. 4 on the list of America's Greatest Public Access Golf Courses. Golf Magazine ranked it No. 8 overall on its list of top-rated golf courses in the world in its 2005 rankings. Golfweek ranked it as the No. 1 resort golf course in the United States, even ahead of Pebble Beach.

Bandon Dunes started off on several top-10 lists and is still in the top 30 of most lists. The less spectacular Bandon Trails ranks in the top 100 of most lists.

The original 18-hole Bandon Dunes course, designed by Scotsman David McLay Kidd, measures 6,732 yards from the longest tees for a par of 72. The course rating of 74.6 and slope rating of 145 are among the highest ratings of courses anywhere.

Kidd called the property at Bandon "the finest linksland I have seen outside of the British Isles" and said from the moment he saw it, he knew it was "the opportunity of a lifetime."

He made the greens quite large and gave ample room for most driving areas and designed holes so golfers would have to "bump and run" balls to many holes like a true links course. He also included several of those nasty pot bunkers that you want to avoid at all costs.

My son and I played Bandon in early August when the weather was still pleasant and the days long enough to be able to tee off at 4 p.m. and be finished by sundown.

With only two days to play, we had to decide between the three and opted for the original Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes, and leaving the newer, inland, Ben Crenshaw-designed Bandon Trails course for a later date.

We played the original Bandon the first day and were blown away by its beauty, especially late in the day as the sun starts to set over the Pacific Ocean.

The first hole, an uphill par-4, probably the easiest on the course, is as far away from the ocean as any on the course. You start working your way to the ocean and the dogleg-right fourth hole puts you right up to the cliff's edge when you get to the green.