Welcome To Bandon Visitors Guide 2009

• Golf Bandon Dunes

Golf Bandon Dunes Bandon Dunes Golf Resort's highly-ranked and world-renowned golf courses will be joined by an exciting new 18-hole layout in the summer of 2010.

The resort, which already draws tens of thousands of enthusiastic players from around the country and beyond throughout the year, also is expanding other facilities to serve its guests.

Built by Chicago businessman Mike Keiser and opened in May 1999, the resort features three top-rated, public 18-hole Scottish links-style golf courses. Keiser has invested millions of dollars in the 2,100-plus acre destination resort, which continues to expands its offerings and presence in the collective golf consciousness.

Complementing Pacific Dunes and Bandon Dunes - rated No. 2 and No. 7, respectively, on Golf Digest magazine's America's 100 Greatest Public Courses list - the much anticipated Bandon Trails course opened in June 2005. Since then, it has climbed to No. 21 in Golf Digest's 100 Greatest rankings.

Designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, Bandon Trails continues the tradition of excellence established at the resort's first two courses. The Trails is characterized by inland forests, meadows and rolling dune land with exposed sand, beach grasses and ocean vistas.

In addition to being named Golf Magazine's Best New Course of 2005, Bandon Trails debuted as the highest newcomer - ranked 17th - on Golfweek magazine's annual list of America's Best Modern Courses. On the magazine's most recent list, Pacific Dunes was No. 2, Bandon Dunes was No. 6 and Bandon Trails had climbed to No. 12.

All three courses are ranked in the top 10 in Golf Magazine's list of the Top 100 Courses You Can Play: Pacific Dunes is rated No. 1, Bandon Dunes is No. 5 and Bandon Trails is No. 10.

Hank Hickox, the resort's general manager, said that some guests have told him that Pacific Dunes may be among the 10 best golf courses on the planet.

"But we love all three golf courses," Hickox said. "All three courses are recognized as world-class destinations alone, and to now have the combination of three golf courses of this quality and renown in one location really has never happened anywhere in this country."

New course coming
Construction is well under way on the fourth course, which has tentatively been called Old MacDonald. A team of architects, including Pacific Dunes' Tom Doak, was hired to prepare a design in the style of American pioneer golf course architect C.B. MacDonald, who died in 1939.

Keiser was quoted as saying he employed the team "to design as C.B. MacDonald and Seth Raynor, his apprentice and successor, would build it if they were alive today."

The design work on the course, sited northeast of Pacific Dunes, is largely complete, and construction is continuing toward a projected opening date in the summer of 2010.

Facilities expanding
Guest accommodations and food and beverage options at the resort have expanded as more and more golfers add the resort's courses to their must-play lists.

In 2001, with the opening of Pacific Dunes, the resort added its Chrome Lake rooms. These are located in a series of two-story buildings in a rustic, forested setting east of the main lodge.

The Grove Cottages complex, opened in 2005, was designed specifically for a foursome of golfers, each cottage featuring four bedrooms with private baths and common areas. The resort's Lily Pond rooms are situated in serene settings overlooking ponds and the surrounding forest.

Accommodations in the resort's main lodge include single rooms as well as suites. Exercise and locker facilities, along with a spa and sauna, are among the lodge's numerous other amenities. In 2004, a large pro shop pavilion was constructed adjacent to the lodge.

Under construction this spring and slated for an Aug. 1 opening is the new Inn at Bandon Dunes, a 39-room, two-story facility located just across Cut Creek from the main lodge. The inn is just south of the 18th green at Bandon Dunes and only a short walk from McKee's Pub and the Bandon Trails clubhouse.

The new facility includes 21 single-king rooms upstairs, all of which face the 18th hole at Bandon Dunes, and 18 double-queen rooms downstairs. Guests will enjoy the comfortable furniture and common area with fireplace.

The opening of the Inn at Bandon Dunes this summer brings the resort's total guest rooms to 186, and its total beds to 372.

Construction also was under way this spring on a new 4,500-square-foot clubhouse to replace the temporary facility at Pacific Dunes. The new two-story golf shop, to open Aug. 1, includes a full-service restaurant. It overlooks the first hole at Pacific Dunes and also includes some views of the Bandon Dunes course, the Pacific Ocean and the western horizon.

The main lodge's elegant The Gallery restaurant has received rave reviews for its Oregon cuisine, prepared with fresh, local ingredients. The popular McKee's Pub offers casual dining with authentic pub fare, while the Trails End clubhouse, which overlooks No. 18 at Bandon Trails, provides an ideal spot to relax and enjoy a sunset after a round.

Many local golfers visit the resort just to take advantage of its practice facilities. The original 32-acre practice area has been expanded to include a challenging nine-hole, par-3 course known as Shorty's.

"Our practice center is very extensive and provides the golfer with every level of golf experience that they would have on the golf course," Hickox said. "You could spend a day just practicing your game without even going on the course."

The resort's PGA Professionals are available for a wide range of golf instruction, and various clinics and academies are offered. Bandon Dunes is the official course for Bandon High School's golf teams, and its facilities have been made available to other students of the game of all ages.

Hikers and nature lovers are invited to enjoy The Trails of Bandon Dunes, a system of creekside paths, beach, dune and woodland trails, and ridge loops developed to take advantage of the unique property. Meandering among lush coastal forests and the Cut Creek watershed, the paths link to more than seven miles of trails.

Championships
The resort hosted the 1999 Oregon Golf Association Team Championship and, in June 2002, the OGA State Amateur Championship.

The 34th biennial Curtis Cup matches were played on Pacific Dunes in July 2006.

The Bandon Dunes and Bandon Trails courses hosted the USGA's 264-player Mid-Amateur Championship in the fall of 2007.

The resort is hosting the 2008 Trans-Mississippi Golf Association's four-ball event and the 2009 Oregon Golf Association's Oregon Amateur. The Pacific Northwest Golf Association's PNGA Amateur will be played here in 2011, as will the Pacific Coast Golf Association's Pacific Coast Amateur in 2012.

Resort courses:
Bandon Dunes - designed by David McLay Kidd, par-72, 7,435 yards, six tees.
Pacific Dunes - designed by Tom Doak, par-71, 6,600 yards, four tees.
Bandon Trails - designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, par-71, 6,765 yards, four tees.

Greens fees:
From May 1 through Oct. 31, greens fees seven days a week are $210 for registered resort guests, and $265 for all others. The replay fee is $105. (Hotel guests can switch courses for their replays.)
Fees from Nov. 1 through 18 are $130 for hotel guests, and $175 for others. Replays are $65. From Nov. 19 through the end of 2008, hotel guests pay $75, and others pay $100. Replays are $40. Oregon residents receive the same rates as hotel guests during November and December.
More information on the resort, its golf courses and accommodations is available by calling 347-4380, 1-888-345-6008 or by visiting the Web site at http://www.bandondunesgolf.com

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