The 12th Holes at Bandon

We're on the back nine, but we're also where it all started.

I’ve been breaking down the best hole across Bandon Dunes Resort - the best first hole, the best second, etc. Below is the first installment, where I wrapped up the front nine if you’d like to catch up.

Additionally, you can just go here to find all my posts about Bandon on this Substack.

We are onto the 12th holes on property, and even though it’s the end of the second six, in some ways we are just at the beginning.

The Best 12th Hole

That perhaps not too clever sentence alludes to the winner of the best 12th hole on property, because it’s also the first one completed. It’s the 12th hole on Bandon Dunes, a scenic par-3 with the ocean behind it. Despite the course still very much being under construction, owner Mike Keiser knew what he had - and came from a greeting card background where he made his fortune - so he put this photo on postcard, sent it out to golf magazines and writers with something keen like “Coming Soon: Bandon Dunes.”

It’s not just the beauty of the hole, it’s that missing right puts that gorse hill in play, and missing left puts that brutal pot bunker between you and the flag. Like so many of the ocean holes on property, it is easy to just stand on that green and not really pay attention to the slope or line of your putt and instead just soak in the beauty around you. It’s the hole that started all the buzz about my favorite golf property in the world, and it’s the best 12th hole on property.

The Most Underrated 12th Hole

Part of me wants to go with the exceptionally long par-3 on Bandon Trails, and it is indeed one of the few par-3’s over 200 yards that I absolutely love, because the shape of the hole means you don’t have to necessarily fly the green in order to score. But at the end of the day, I can’t put a 235 par-3 on the list. Instead, I’ll give the nod to the 12th on Pacific Dunes, a par-5 that hugs the coast and sets up so well - there are fairway bunkers running down the left side, gorse on the right, but it’s a huge fairway so that’s mostly mental hopscotch. The green sits in front of a huge hill and is closer to the coast than the rest of the hole, and the shots into it - depending on how close you are - can be so fun.

The Worst 12th Hole

I’m not a huge fan of the 12th at Sheep Ranch - it’s often dead into a huge wind and it’s not that interesting on top of that - but for me, sadly, the worst 12th hole is clearly the Redan at Old Macdonald.

A redan hole is a par-3 template that slopes front to back, right to left, with at least one left greenside bunker. It forces the player to not aim AT the hole, which is always fun, especially on a par-3. But, it’s telling that the namesake Redan hole isn’t even the best redan hole on property. (That would be the 17th at Pacific Dunes.) But it’s also SO hard to keep your tee shot on the green, it often seems hard for hard’s sake. While I love a hole that asks you to run the ball onto the green, a good hole should have more than one way to play it. It often feels like a hole that with some modest tweaks could be a lot better, but I also feel like this hole is one of the main reasons people think of the 9th-13th at Old Mac as being a dry stretch of holes. If 12 was a lot better, I think the overall sentiment of the course would be higher.

Rounding up what we’ve gotten so far, here’s the count:

Best Holes: Sheep Ranch (2), Bandon Trails (2), Old Macdonald (3), Pacific Dunes (2), Bandon Dunes (3)

Worst Holes: Bandon Dunes (4), Bandon Trails (1), Old Macdonald (4), Sheep Ranch (3)

Most Underrated Holes: Sheep Ranch (3), Bandon Trails (3), Bandon Dunes (1), Pacific Dunes (4), Old Macdonald (1)

What’s your favorite and least favorite 12th hole at Bandon?