Bandon Dunes Golf Resort

Chicago greeting-card entrepreneur Mike Keiser built Bandon Dunes on a remote stretch of Oregon's southern coast to chase a purist, walking-only links ideal he called golf as it was meant to be. The eponymous debut course, laid out on Pacific bluffs by then-unknown young Scot David McLay Kidd, opened May 19, 1999 and won immediate acclaim, establishing the resort and Keiser's dream golf template. Bandon has since grown into one of the world's premier golf destinations, with a collection of links designed by leading minimalist architects: Tom Doak's Pacific Dunes (2001), Coore & Crenshaw's Bandon Trails (2005), Old Macdonald (2010), and Sheep Ranch (2020), plus the Preserve and Shorty's par-3 courses. Firm and fescued, weather-exposed, caddie-and-walking-centric, the courses are consistently ranked among America's best public golf and have hosted USGA championships including the 2020 U.S. Amateur.