HenryE,
you might first want to ask what those invasive, exotic gorse plants were doing there in the first place that overran the site and the entire stretch of Oregon coastline since they were brought there in 1873 by settler George Bennett from Ireland and established in the name of coastal dunes stabilization. They are the local equivalent to Southern kudzu or Australian cane toads -- without predator or constraints. Gorse, while pretty when in bloom, is also highly volatile -- flammable. The oily bush ignites and spreads into a wildfire, and at least twice burned the town of Bandon to the ground. What predators and checks to growth that exist in Scotland and Ireland are not there in Oregon.
Part of the environmental mandate for the Bandon Dunes Resort was gorse eradication. The monostand reduces biodiversity and is an ecological disaster. So on habitat and safety grounds it needed to be cut back, and as Tom Jefferson can tell you, the maintenance crew at Bandon regularly cuts back 20+ acres of the stuff a year that's growing back -- this just to keep things in check.
One first vew and covered with gorse, the interior bowl of about 230-acres in which most of Old Macdonald sits appeared to have precious little contour. But with the gorse thinned out and cut back dramatically, the underlying terrain proved itself to be ideal for golf features. Lots of scattered pines were left standing, by the way. But the gorse, once shaved back, reveals perfect ground for golf.