Golf's New Mecca

Pacific Dunes ****½

This is a magnificent and breathtaking track and is without question the toughest course at Bandon. Forgetting the coastal winds for a moment, Pacific's blown-out bunkers tend to encroach more, and the fall-offs are steeper than at Bandon Dunes, its older sibling. As such, there are less options for bump and run approaches and it is less links-like as a result.

Tom Doak has built a reputation as a minimalist architect and he’ll never find better terrain in which to work with. It’s a quirky layout, which gives truth to Doak's stated aim of "discovering" the holes rather than forcing them upon the landscape. This results in a rather unusual routing – there are five par-3s, including back-to-back one-shotters at 10 and 11, and only two par-4s on the back nine – but this doesn't detract from what is a fabulously natural course.

The 18th tee provides one of the truly great vistas in golf, with much of the development visible and the Pacific Ocean beyond. Perhaps what separates Bandon and Pacific is that when the wind gets up, Bandon becomes a memorably great challenge whereas Pacific can become simply unplayable.

Par: 72. Yardage: 6,633.
Designed by Tom Doak.