Bandon Dunes Golf Resort - an overview

For the next 5 days, we are at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. Located in the state or Oregon, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is one of the world's leading golf destinations and possesses an amazing piece of property on the Pacific Ocean. Four world-class golf courses, shops to service each and an amazing practice centre, consisting of two ranges, one-acre putting green and a 9-hole par three course, club storage and shoe shine facilities. All of this, complimentary.

Off the golf course, there is a number of restaurants, fitness centre, sauna and a trail system offering great views of the golf courses and ocean while educating you about the sand dunes, the ecosystem that formed them and the plant and wildlife that inhabit them.

Each of the golf courses are located in different areas of the property. There are shuttle buses transporting all the golfers from course to course. Within two minutes of request, off you go. It really is an amazing set-up. The resort is the biggest employer in the area - there are over 700 employees!!

Now to the golf courses. As mentioned, there are four in total. In order of opening, Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails and Old Macdonald. Each of them walking only and the tradition of caddies is maintained.

Bandon Dunes is designed by Scotsman David McLay-Kidd and features expansive ocean views, sand dunes and knob-like hummock. The terrain is strikingly similar to that found in Scotland.

Designed by Tom Doak, Pacific Dunes emerges from shore pines to spectacular 60-foot dunes blanketed in native gorse. The green complexes are smalled but with greater undulation, requiring precise approaches.

Bandon Trails is designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and provides diverse terrain during the round. The elevation changes are dramatic while walking through the dunes, meadows and coastal forests.

The fourth and most recently constructed course, Old Macdonald, was inspired by the work of Charles Blair Macdonald, a famous American Golf Course Architect and founder of the U.S. Golf Association. Designed by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina, "Old Mac" as it is known, features classic principles and strategies that Macdonald incorporated into his own courses, chiefly National Golf Links of America.

From the moment we arrived, all I wanted to do was play golf. With still a week of solif golf left, we fet that we were best to conserve our energy when possibly. Instead, it was off to the practice range for some much needed improvement. After all, my father leads the series 2-0.

Pacific Dunes is first up on Tuesday morning. I can't wait!