Bandon Dunes was this first course at the resort It opened to raves in 1999 And rightly so David McLay Kidd s design may labor under the everlengthening shadow cast by Pacific Dunes but it s still one of the best tracks you ll ever play The course picks up steam at the 428 yard 5th hole where your drive and approach shots must thread rough strewn mounds The bunkering is masterful deep sodwalled affairs that goad aggressive players into foolhardy plays while steering higher handicaps to safer terrain No 13 a 553 yard par 5 has no bunkers at all but the rolling ground presents no shortage of quandaries Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore were given the least impressive property at Bandon and did a decent job with it But Bandon Trails is just that a decent resort course The terrain is ho hum tee shots end up in divot riddled collection areas and the greens are so slippery and prone to sudden unexplained shifts in direction that only a masochist or congressman could love them The Trails has some fine holes No 14 is so perversely tricky that your caddie may advise you to intentionally miss the green but it s just not in the same league as its siblings Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes Pacific Dunes opened in 2001 and is considered by many to rival Pebble Beach as the finest public access course in the country At 6,633 yards Tom Doak s layout is a bantamweight by modern standards and there are some quirks two greens at No 9 and consecutive par 3s at Nos 10 and 11 but the entire package falls together seamlessly There are many superb holes like No 13 a long par 4 teetering atop the dunes and the 208 yard 17th where the heaving green will either funnel your ball to the hole or kick it into a chipping area off the back But the strength of Pacific Dunes doesn t lie in single holes it is in the dizzying array of options you face at every turn Navigating the route less traveled is the joy of a course like this That s why numbers are as irrelevant here as at the Old Course in St Andrews It s just man against course and weather And golf really doesn t get much purer than that The only weak hole is No 18 a nondescript par 5 But perhaps it seems weak only when measured against the strength of the seventeen holes that precede it To learn more about the resort read this GOLF Magazine article or go to bandondunes com