My Dream 18 at Bandon: The Back Nine
Let's continue this thought exercise, since we can't play there today.
I recently posted my dream front nine of the five courses at Bandon Dunes. It’s a fun exercise, and one I quickly got carried away with, so it had to be two parts. Let’s jump back in and look at the back nine.
Hole 10: Bandon Dunes. Back to back yet again (and yes, Bandon Dunes and Old Mac are my two favorite courses), this short par-4 has a hidden green and, as Andy Johnson said, the worst place to be after your tee shot is in the center of the fairway. I love this hole, and it’s devilishly hard. (HM: Pacific Dunes - but only from the upper tees.)
Hole 11: Pacific Dunes. This par-3 on Pacific Dunes is such a challenge. I love the 10th there too, but it’s so much better from the upper tees that on any given day it can be much less special. Hole 11, on the other hand, forces a good carry into the wind and missing the green can be lethal, regardless of which milk carton bunker (hat tip Neil Schuster) you find yourself in. A true challenge. (HM: Sheep Ranch, Bandon Trails)
Hole 12: Bandon Dunes. I sort of love that I have back-to-back par-3’s, just like Pacific Dunes has on 10 and 11. This one on Bandon Dunes was literally the first hole built on property, and sent out to golf publications to hype the course. Mission accomplished. (HM: Pacific Dunes)
Hole 13: Pacific Dunes. This is one of those automatic choices for a list like this. If it’s not the massive, terrifyingly large bunker on the right side near the green, it’s the fact that there is a large carry off the tee if you go up the left side, which you need to do since the wind is usually pouring in from the left. (One day, I’ll play it without a gale force wind.) It’s a true “signature hole” on a course that’s full of them. (HM: Bandon Dunes)
Hole 14: Old Macdonald. Obviously, it’s not 14 on Bandon Trails (the most controversial hole on property) or on Pacific Dunes, a par-3 that feels jammed into the routing. The “Maiden” hole on Old Mac is truly memorable, straight uphill with a massive backboard shown below, and has provided a ton of fun both times I’ve been lucky to play it. (HM: Sheep Ranch, Bandon Dunes)
Hole 15: Bandon Trails. After the tragedy of the 14th on Trails (again, I used to defend it, but it basically requires only one way to play it and even that is too damn hard), there’s another par-4 but one that you can play strategically. A good drive will allow you to hit a shorter club onto a green that is set up to send your ball to a bad, bad place, but a good shot gets you in birdie position. (HM: Sheep Ranch)
Hole 16: Bandon Dunes. If you’ve never been to Bandon Dunes, but seen photos - it’s almost assuredly this hole. With a massive cavernous split in the fairway, similar to 8 at Pebble Beach (but so different) it’s a signature hole on property. (HM: Sheep Ranch, Old Mac.)
Hole 17: Sheep Ranch. I wanted to put in the amazing par-3 16th but you can’t ignore the above. But 17 is actually a better hole, a par-4 down the coastline, lined with ghost trees. It’s hard to put your tee shot in the fairway, due to wind coming off the ocean as well as how hard it is to test the cliffside. Going right takes you near, into or over a massive dune which makes the short approach shot suddenly much tougher. Behind the green is .. nothing. Just air and a cliff, so you have to be crafty in your approach. It’s a great test of golf. (HM: Bandon Dunes)
Hole 18: Old Macdonald. It’s kind of weird that most of the finishing holes are not great, but Old Mac is the exception. A stout par-4 that forces a decision about your line off the tee, it has a guarded punch bowl green that can help or hurt depending on your shot. If you can finish your round with two great shots (my boy AC put it super close, as you can see in the last photo), it is as good a closing hole as you ever need. (HM: Sheep Ranch)
It doesn’t escape me that my back nine is identical to The Fried Egg’s list, but I’ll state that I made my list before looking at what they chose.
The back nine is only a par-34, so we have ourselves a par-70, and that’s fine. Reminder: Par is just a construct. As for how it was distributed between the five courses, here’s the breakdown:
Bandon Dunes (6)
Old Macdonald (5)
Pacific Dunes (3)
Bandon Trails (2)
Sheep Ranch (2)
Not shockingly, when I rated the courses after my last trip, this was the exact order I ended up with. For sure, after my next trip (February 2023), these rankings will change. I look forward to the madness.