This course is in our GSPro library — pull it up in any bay and play it wall to wall.

"A nice historical counterpoint to the more famous Bandon courses already in the library — same coast, much older story."

Golf has been played on the dunes at Gearhart, on Oregon's north coast, since 1892 — with tales of Scotsmen knocking balls around as early as 1886 — making it the oldest course in continual operation west of the Mississippi. It grew from three holes to nine in 1901 and to eighteen by 1915, was reworked by Chandler Egan in the late 1920s, touched up by William Robinson in 1999, and then in 2013 the club tore out hundreds of trees to give the land back its true links identity. It's the humble, walkable ancestor of Oregon's Bandon boom, a century older and far easier to get onto.

Links romantics, Bandon-bound travelers wanting a warm-up steeped in history, and anyone who thinks golf peaked when it was a walk on the dunes with a bag on your shoulder.

It's the rumpled, tree-cleared dune holes — restored since 2013 — that carry the round: fairways that bounce and tilt like the 1890s, greens sitting naturally in the sand hills, and the Pacific wind rewriting your club choices from the first tee to the last.

One of the friendliest real-links introductions in America: moderate length, open dune fairways, a small-town welcome, and green fees that don't sting. The coastal wind is the only bully here.

Available in GSPro, and a lovely change of pace in a bay: shortish, bouncy, wind-driven golf where you learn to flight the ball down. A great pick for Clubhouse members who want links feel without Carnoustie-grade punishment.

Fully public with everyday-reasonable green fees — just book online. The on-site McMenamins Gearhart Hotel makes it an easy overnight on an Oregon coast trip.