All 5 Bandon Courses Rankings

[Matthew Essig]

Overall Ranking:
T1 Pac Dunes and Old Mac
3 Preserve
T4 Trails and Bandon Dunes***

10 round breakdown:
4 Pac Dunes
4 Old Mac
1 Preserve
1 Bandon
0 Trails (I liked the layout and overall architecture of the course but I wouldn't care if I ever played there again)
(The reason Bandon Dunes is tied with Trails even though I wouldn't care to play another round on Trails is because Trails is way better architecturally and some of Bandon's green complexes needs to be bulldozed and redone)

[Jonathan Mallard]

Is the Preserve now open? Headed there week after next and believed that the Preserve was set to open May 1 from their site.

http://www.bandondunesgolf.com/blog/bandon-preserve#comments

[Jim Tang]

With the opening of the Preserve, Bandon Dunes has a little bit of something for everyone.  I can't wait to get out there in July and see OM and the Preserve for the first time.

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I like Bandon Dunes, the course, quite a lot.  I'm not sure I would change much.

[Matthew Essig]

No but they are letting people walk it and take pictures. I did it on Tuesday and when I get back to a computer, I will post (possibly the first in depth photo tour of a par 3 course) pictures of Preserve. How would you rank preserve compared to the other courses??

[Garland Bayley]

No but they are letting people walk it and take pictures. I did it on Tuesday and when I get back to a computer, I will post (possibly the first in depth photo tour of a par 3 course) pictures of Preserve. How would you rank preserve compared to the other courses??

Sorry, other par 3 course tours have been done.

My vote

Old Mac 4
Bandon Trails 3
Pacific Dunes 2
Bandon Dunes 1
Preserve 0

[Mac Plumart]

My overall favorite rankings at Bandon...

Old Mac
Bandon Dunes
Pac Dunes
Bandon Trails
(haven't played the par 3)


Ten round breakdown...

5 Old Mac
1 Bandon Dunes
3 Pacific Dunes
1 Bandon Trails


But here is where I think sometimes there is a disconnect on GCA.com. 

-I think most people rank their round breakdowns and use them as a gauge regarding degree of preference (for example saying I'd play course X  10 to 0 over course Y is a ringing endorsement of Course X's quality, while a 6 to 4 split would imply they are close on your scale of preference)...

-While others use the breakdown as a measure of how much they want to play a course to discover things and find potential hidden nuances...this may, or may not, have the implied degree of preference imbedded in it.  (For instance, I chose to only play Bandon Dunes once in my split and Pac Dune 3 times.  I "like" Bandon more, but I wonder if I am missing something at Pac Dunes...so I want to play it a few more times to see if I discover something I missed in my first two plays).

[Ben Sims]

It never ceases to amaze me how little love there is for Trails. 

3 Pac
3 Mac
3 Trails
1 Preserve

[Matthew Essig]

My overall favorite rankings at Bandon...

Old Mac
Bandon Dunes
Pac Dunes
Bandon Trails
(haven't played the par 3)


Ten round breakdown...

5 Old Mac
1 Bandon Dunes
3 Pacific Dunes
1 Bandon Trails


But here is where I think sometimes there is a disconnect on GCA.com. 

-I think most people rank their round breakdowns and use them as a gauge regarding degree of preference (for example saying I'd play course X  10 to 0 over course Y is a ringing endorsement of Course X's quality, while a 6 to 4 split would imply they are close on your scale of preference)...

-While others use the breakdown as a measure of how much they want to play a course to discover things and find potential hidden nuances...this may, or may not, have the implied degree of preference imbedded in it.  (For instance, I chose to only play Bandon Dunes once in my split and Pac Dune 3 times.  I "like" Bandon more, but I wonder if I am missing something at Pac Dunes...so I want to play it a few more times to see if I discover something I missed in my first two plays).

I completely agree. I "like" trails more than Bandon dunes, but I would rather play Bandon over trails

[John Kirk]

It never ceases to amaze me how little love there is for Trails. 

3 Pac
3 Mac
3 Trails
1 Preserve

Hey now!  If you never play Bandon Dunes, you are missing something.  Beautiful and great course, even better in a big wind.  The original.  Look at that golf course man, that is huge!

Lifetime I've got 'em about:

Pacific Dunes 3
Bandon Trails 3
Old Macdonald 2
Bandon Dunes 2

Currently, I want to play Bandon Trails and Old Macdonald.  Every now and then play the others, to make it special.  Trails and Macdonald have the pure fescues now, and both play great.  Trails had very fast greens last fall.  Call me crazy but I think Bandon Trails is one of the most beautiful places to play golf.  There's a good feeling out on the course, and it does not hurt that the course empties out most afternoons for late fast golf.

I've also played Old Mac about ten times.  Not as photogenic but a shotmaker's dream, big and wide with complex greens.  Hard to score on, but yields fun shots.  There are a couple holes that don't work for me, #8 and #10.  #8 would be helped by opening up short pins, which would be wild and fun.  #10 is among the most difficult tee shots to clear all the trouble in my little world.  I cannot do it; I have to settle for long iron or wood from the right side.  But good players carry it 40-80 yards further, so courses should have a hole like this.

I've played them all quite a few times, and have opinions.  Happy to have this great golfing thing here in Oregon.





 

[Tim Bert]

Ben - in my opinion Trails is proof that architecturally interesting isn't necessarily fun when it is also too hard for the average golfer.

Plus, there is a small group of people out there like me that think 7-12 is mostly a snooze.  If I were basing the course on 1-6 and 13-17 it would be as highly regarded as any course out there.

[Jud_T]

Ben,

I'm with you.

Tim,

I'm sure you'd categorize me as an average golfer.  I love Trails.  I find it quite playable and I'm certainly not a glutton for punishment on tough tracks.