An “Early Thoughts” Followup with Shorty’s, Bandon Dunes Newest Golf Course from Whitman, Axland, and Cutten

Like so many other golf trips heading to Oregon to play the coastal mecca with designs from Bill Coore, Tom Doak, and David McLay Kidd at the famed Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, it begins at Portland International Airport (PDX) landing on a cloudy, slightly rainy day. Sure, you might be able to fly into North Bend closer to the resort in the summer through connecting routes in San Francisco or Denver, and perhaps you even try to fly to Eugene, but Portland is the major airport in the state of Oregon, and almost everyone I know who has gone on a golf trip here ends up flying to Portland for convenience. As expected, the weather in the Pacific Northwest is unpredictable for the trip: a bit of sun and everything else, with rain being a constant in this area, especially from, say, October 1-May 15. So, too, is the wind, especially at the coastal town of Bandon, Oregon draped over the seaside shores of the stunning Pacific Ocean, though that is a five-ish hour and one In-N-Out stop away in advance.

Checking the forecast, a “less-than-ideal” reality greets us, with the south wind dominating the trip. For regular Bandon visitors and locals, that wind direction indicates cooler, winter conditions, and in this case, rainy and wet expectations. The golf courses are built for both winds and any sort of weather conditions, yes—and that is, largely, credit to the architects of each golf course, who managed to make each hole work in each condition or wind direction—but the summer season is the “high” season for the resort, and each golf course seemingly benefits from the summer wind. Take Pacific Dunes as the example: the longer par 4’s come at the 4th (south), 7th (south), and 13th (north), favouring the wind coming from the north, while the par 5’s are seemingly made to play longer with the short 3rd and 12th heading northwest and north, respectively, and the long 18th heading south home. The par 3’s and the short and middle-length par 4’s balance out in a variety of directions. Suddenly, with the winter south wind, the difficulty of Pacific Dunes is elevated, with more long par 4’s into than not, and the longest hole on the golf course (18th) playing straight into the teeth of it.

Luckily, I have played each course at the resort numerous times, so a bit of rain and wind and some coolness never hurt anyone. I had my opinions on the courses, and a bit of weather would not damage that necessarily—for better or worse, I guess… I’m stubborn!—so I was there to enjoy the celebration of 25 years at this momentous resort in the world of golf. On the golf side, my priority was a full dissertation of Shorty’s, the newest golf course at the resort and the first design from the newly-established design firm of Rod Whitman, Dave Axland, and Keith Cutten, known as Whitman, Axland, and Cutten or WAC, for short. The crew have contributed to numerous designs either separate or together, though this is their first official golf course to open under their new firm.

Having spent a good chunk of two days walking around this property in March of 2023 getting into the routing and natural features before any golf was in the dirt, I was excited to see the property evolve from the sandy scrub and dunescape into a short-course playground. In fact, my walk around the 7th course at Bandon Dunes was so early that the name “Shorty’s” was not official, instead writing about “Bandon No. 7” as part of the “Early Thoughts” series.

I was explaining all this to my dad as I prepped him for his first time to Bandon Dunes, southbound on the Interstate-5 before heading to the coast on the windy, curvy roads through the Evergreens and eventually the sandy seaside dunes in Florence. Having been to the resort three times prior to this edition, I was familiar with the excitement building as we got closer and closer. On my first visit, a road trip from Arizona to British Columbia let me explore Highway 101 up the Oregon Coast, somewhat interrupted by the fact that Bill Coore and Mr. Keiser were exploring the original Tom Doak version of Sheep Ranch. I was supposed to play the 13-green Sheep Ranch before a random phone call from an Oregon number a few days before I was supposed to play told me I couldn’t be on property anymore, even if I had already sent in my cheque of $100 to a random PO box in the town. As a result, I ended up playing Pacific Dunes and Bandon Trails on a last minute booking—a good compromise, but I digress, having never experienced the OG Sheep Ranch as one of my biggest ‘close calls’ in my golfing life. The second time, another road trip from San Francisco, was me squeezing in a full three days of golf at the resort between California Golf Club of San Francisco and Lake Merced Golf Club on either side, fully indulging into the entire resort’s offerings. I played everything on that trip—Old Macdonald, Bandon Dunes, and Sheep Ranch for the first time, plus a maiden voyage around Preserve—and walked away with a burning desire to get back immediately. Finally, the third time at the resort, filled with golf at the usual offerings and exploring Charlotte’s when it was called Shorty’s and the current Shorty’s not even having a name yet. Each return visit meant another trip to golf’s greatest resort, and yet, each time, I felt like I wanted to return again as soon as I walked off the property. There is no such thing as “Bandon Fatigue.”

This trip, though, was a bit more exciting for a variety of reasons. For one, it was the 25th anniversary celebration of a resort that largely shifted the culture of everything we consider to be contemporary golf architecture and golf travel. Yes, we look at Sand Hills (1994) as the watershed moment for the minimalism movement, but I contend that without Bandon Dunes (1999) and especially Pacific Dunes (2001), steering into Mr. Keiser’s “one course is a curiosity, two is a destination” philosophy, the general public would not have been exposed to the movement, and it likely would not have caught on to the extent we experience golf architecture and the boom of destination golf in 2024. That is where Bandon Dunes comes into play, and its influence into that architectural philosophy and cultural shift in how we experience golf trips is a key byproduct of the resort’s success.

What isn’t under-appreciated, however, is its influence on other resorts. Dream Golf’s portfolio, now extending to Sand Valley in Wisconsin and the forthcoming Rodeo Dunes in Colorado, is an impressive spin-off series from the OG in Oregon (impressive referring to Sand Valley… jury is still out on Rodeo Dunes!). Ben Cowan-Dewar’s Cabot Collection, once part of Dream Golf, includes stops in Nova Scotia, Scotland, Saint Lucia, and Florida, with more coming in British Columbia and elsewhere, too. Oh, and don’t forget about Streamsong and Forest Dunes, which have surely capitalized off the increased interest in remote destinations filled with great golf.

Secondly, this visit to Bandon Dunes meant the reality than Rod Whitman is, in my opinion, finally getting the credit he deserves and gets to stand against the industry leaders so many insiders have claimed his talents rival. Having grown up playing junior golf events at Wolf Creek’s Old and Links courses (Whitman’s first solo effort in Ponoka, Alberta), before eventually realizing his genius at Sagebrush in British Columbia, and enjoying his brilliance at Blackhawk and Cabot Links, Shorty’s felt like the “coming out” party where the world gets to realize what his architecture is about. Same for Keith Cutten and Dave Axland as well, Whitman’s partners in this endeavour (among many other active designs the trio are cooking up, including The Tribute in Bend, Oregon, The Ranch in Stuart, Florida, and others). For those three, this is the major label debut EP… the one that will get radio plays and be seen by a wider variety of people.

Though the debut LP, so-to-speak and to keep the music metaphor alive, will come at a later date to the US market in either Oregon, Florida, or elsewhere, all the trappings of talent are prevalent throughout the layout.

At Shorty’s, the layout is cut into some of the most dynamic land on the entire resort, though this meant it was likely too aggressive for anything more than par 3’s. There is a reoccurring theme of greens situated into the dunescape, as if they are sitting in the low portions of the property rather than up high on top of the dunes. That becomes evident with the opening hole’s surface tucked at the base of the large dune running to the right of the opening two holes of Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw’s Bandon Trails, and all throughout this golf course as well. Nevertheless, this archetype never feels overdone or overplayed, and in truth, my assessment from 2023 seems a bit suspect looking back now [editor’s note: I did recant that statement later in the article]. Given the surface selections across the entire golf course and the choppy property, I suspect one of the biggest hurdles the trio had to overcome was making sure the green surrounds were varied and unique. Even on the opening six holes—which, for those who remember, are the additional holes (plus the 19th) that got the golf course from the originally planned twelve to nineteen)—feature a variety of looks. The opening hole (below) has the dune high on its left side, while the 2nd has a depression up the left seemingly falling off into the nearby forest separating Shorty’s from the Pacific Ocean. The 3rd is at the base of the big dune the 1st played against, backing the green and creating a stunning vista with the 19th perched above, while the 4th, 5th, and 6th all feature a variety of looks that never really blend together. Even when holes occupy the same elements—say, the 1st with the dune up the left and the 11th with the same dune up the right—the green surfaces are so wildly different that the holes do not feel like a mirror of each other, and the concepts presented are fresh across the entire layout.