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

"A fun one for members who enjoy golf history — every hole riffs on a famous template hole from Scotland/England (3rd Sahara, 7th Ocean, 8th Biarritz, 12th Redan). Available in GSPro as a free Tsquared-designed course (rated ~4.9)."

Bandon Dunes' 2010 tribute to Charles Blair Macdonald, the father of American golf architecture — Tom Doak and Jim Urbina built his template holes (Redan, Biarritz, Eden, Short, Road, Sahara) into wild Oregon dunes, forcing nothing where the land refused. The result is the boldest course at the resort: fairways a hundred yards wide, and greens so huge they out-acre the Old Course at St Andrews (6.5 acres to 6.1) — the only course in the world that can say so. Firm, fast, windswept, and endlessly strategic.

Architecture nerds above all — it is a living museum of template holes. Also anyone who slices: the width forgives, and the ground game teaches you shots you didn't know you had.

The 3rd (Sahara) asks you to fire over a 30-foot dune crowned by a famous dead tree. The 7th, one of the few non-template holes, is pure strategy across a rippling fairway. The 15th sweeps out toward the ocean and climbs into the dunes — the postcard. And the Biarritz green has a swale deep enough to lose a golf cart in.

Off the tee it is the friendliest course at Bandon — you almost cannot miss the fairway. The challenge moves to the greens: massive, heaving surfaces where a wrong-side approach means a 100-foot putt. Fun for all, scoring is another matter.

In GSPro via community recreation, and it is a fantastic sim course: huge targets keep beginners in play while the giant greens produce comedy lag putts. Crank the wind and firm the conditions for the real Bandon feel. Great Clubhouse group-night pick.

Public resort golf — anyone can book through Bandon Dunes. Peak-season rates run several hundred dollars, cheaper for resort guests and in shoulder season. Walking only, caddies available; build a multi-day Bandon trip around it.