Field Of Dreams

For Two Decades, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Tucked Tight Along The Oregon Coast, Has Delivered (And Then Some) On Its Alluring And Enduring Promise: “golf As It Was Meant To Be.”

- Josh Sens

Twenty years ago, on a drizzly, slate-gray morning in southern Oregon, the opening shots were struck on a seaside layout that marked a stark departure from what golfers in this country had come to know.

Ever since the Caddyshack ’80s (nitpickers can quibble as to the exact date), the industry had fed its daily-fee consumers a steady diet of lushly tended courses within ready striking distance of major urban centers. Carts were the standard mode of transport. Real estate sales were a common path to profit. If you smacked a wayward drive, your ball was apt to land in a neighbor’s well-kept yard.

That was the blueprint. Golf stuck to it for decades.

Then along came Bandon Dunes.

As dreamed up by an understated golf nut from Chicago, and drawn up by an unknown architect from Scotland, Bandon was patterned on a familiar template—its inspirations were such storied links as Ballybunion and Royal Dornoch—but as a Stateside destination, it broke the mold. Its location was remote, its landscape rugged. Walking was not encouraged. It was required. There were no paths for buggies, and no man-made encroachments. Native grasses, not custom homes, fringed the fairways.