The 8th Holes at Bandon
Eight may or may not be enough, but it's time to look at each 8th hole on property
As noted, I’m doing a review of each hole at Bandon, by going through each numbered hole across the five 18-hole courses. If you want to start at the beginning, do so here:
I’ve been looking at each numbered hole at the Bandon Dunes resort, and there have been some tough ones. The 8th holes at Bandon are actually a bit weaker than others, so this is one of the bigger challenges of this exercise to date.
The Best 8th Hole
It should be stated, as I did in the above paragraph, that the 8th holes across the property aren’t universally GREAT holes. Usually in this exercise, I have to mentally debate which of my two or three favorites gets this slot. And while that’s still the case here, I wasn’t convinced of which hole I liked the most immediately, which is worth noting. But at the end, it’s the 8th hole I’ve thought about the most, and that’s “Biarritz,” the 8th hole on Old Macdonald.
Like many holes there, it’s named after a template hole, and there’s no better source to describe any template than The Fried Egg:
Biarritz holes are long par-3s, typically 210-240 yards, designed to test a player’s ability to hit accurate long shots. Its defining characteristic is the massive green that stretches up to 80 yards. The large green is bisected by a deep swale in the middle — usually 3-5 feet deep — and is protected by narrow bunkers on both sides of the green.
If you read that whole article, the holes it uses as examples come from some of the best golf courses in the world. (It notably doesn’t include Old Mac, which is worth noting too, though this article from LINKS Magazine does.) The hole on Old Macdonald is a bit shorter (and also hit from an elevated tee) which for me makes it more fun than the typical test.
This is the view from behind the green - you tee off atop that hill in the back. On the left side of this picture (the right side from the tee) is a bunker that shouldn’t really be in play but the wind can mess with a less confident strike. That HUGE shaded line across the photo here makes it a bit hard to reveal that that is all part of the green as is the level area behind it, closer to the tee. Typically, landing a shot on the green on a par-3 is a win, and gives you a reasonable chance for par. But in this case, if you aren’t on the right side of the swale, that’s not the case. It’s so, so fun. Here’s a more typical view, from the tee.
I love this hole, and I’m thrilled to select it here. Please disregard my prior ambivalence.
Worst 8th Hole
With the typical disclaimer that there are no truly bad holes on property, for me this is the 8th hole on Bandon Dunes. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the hole, it’s just …not truly interesting. You do tee off from an elevated green and there’s a MASSIVE fairway, which I appreciate. The green is a bit guarded in terms of accessibility, so where you hit from on your approach matters. And the green is really fun too. It’s not a bad hole. But again, this is a matter of degrees. And as noted with the 6th hole at Bandon, there’s a routing problem here, where when you finish the 8th hole, it’s a casual stroll (on perhaps the least attractive part of the course) to the 9th tee. Here it is - the red hexagon is the 8th green, the green circle the 9th tee. In between? There’s a bathroom, often a marshal to help you figure out where to go and a lot of dead grass. It’s weird, and I don’t love it.
The Most Underrated 8th Hole
All the rest of the 8th holes need some discussion here. Folks moan about the 8th at Sheep Ranch, but they’re crazy - it’s one of the best greens on property and forces a smart tee shot (those who try to cover the gorse with their drives better have at least 300 yards in the cannon and most do not).
The 8th hole at Bandon Trails is also really, really good - it’s a drivable par-4 for almost any golfer but you also better hit it straight. If you’re short, do NOT go long from that green as past that green lies madness. (OK, it’s just a very, very bad place to be with woods and a super tricky chip over greenside bunkers.)
But my favorite and I think the least discussed is the 8th at Pacific Dunes.
This shot shows most of the hole, but what you can’t really see is the green. And that’s also true for many tee shots. The green is really inaccessible from a lot of spots on the fairway - it’s tucked VERY far to the right, and if you also hit along the right side - or even short up the left - you often can barely SEE most of the green.
The green runs uphill and if you end up short of it and the pin is at the back, a really fun thing to do is try and see if you can possibly putt the ball TOO hard to get it there. I tried and failed.
The 8th hole is one of those I forget about between visits to Bandon Dunes and then remember as I walk to the tee, and I start grinning. It’s such a good test of golf.
Rounding up what we’ve gotten so far, here’s the count:
Best Holes: Sheep Ranch (2), Bandon Trails (1), Old Macdonald (3), Pacific Dunes (1), Bandon Dunes (1)
Worst Holes: Bandon Dunes (4), Bandon Trails (1), Old Macdonald (1), Sheep Ranch (2)
Most Underrated Holes: Sheep Ranch (1), Bandon Trails (3), Bandon Dunes (1), Pacific Dunes (3)
What’s your favorite eighth hole at Bandon Dunes Resort?