I recently returned from a second trip to Bandon and came away with a better appreciation of each course. Having played each a few times now, I can see how any one of them could be someone's favorite. That's what makes Bandon special, is that all courses exude great design and not one can be considered the "signature course", akin to Pebble or Pinehurst No. 2. Sure, you may have some that detest the wild greens at Old Mac or love the exhilaration of hitting shots along the ocean at Bandon, but no course ranking is consistent among all guests. No trip is complete without seeing all of them.
The original Bandon Dunes was obviously routed with the subsequent courses in mind. The resort wouldn't have been viable with just one course, however, my recent trip made me wonder: how good could Bandon have been if a great architect used the best land possible for just one course?
Very amateurishly, I came up with a routing on my way home from Bandon that used the idea behind Cypress Point's routing - combining forest, dunes, and ocean. I've attached it below, but know the qualms of attaching images here. It incorporates holes 1, 2, 16 (in reverse), 14, 15, 4, 18 at Trails before heading across the green to the 10th green at Bandon, proceeding with 11, 12, 16 on that course, a driveable hole from the 17th tee to about the 14th green, before turning back to the dunescape that lies on and beyond the current Preserve (I noticed on a run down to the ocean both how large and cool the property west of the preserve is).
Where would you have routed a course if you were tasked with building one fantastic course on Bandon's massive property? Do you think that such a feat could have made the resort viable or as successful?