Old Macdonald

Old Mac may not be everyone's highest rated course at Bandon Dunes, but it is an excellent links experience and should not be missed by anyone visiting the resort. The green complexes alone are a study in golf architecture and the conditioning was the best of all we played this week. The front nine is a fun scoring opportunity, while the back nine (3 strokes more and 700 yds longer) is a hang on for dear life to save your score experience. This is the closest course I have ever seen to the "feel" of playing The Old Course at St Andrews. No, there's no town next to 18, but the roll of the land and the grandness is there. This is also certainly the easiest course to walk at the resort. The giant greens will test your short game and you'll begin to realize that just getting a GIR doesn't mean much here. You really need to dial in and hit exact quadrants of the greens to score. Fun and exciting, this one should not be missed.

This was without a doubt one of my biggest mistakes ever. Took 2 of us nearly 5 hrs to walk. Nobody behind us and nobody in front of us. Was the Bataan death march. Some of the holes were so over designed as to be silly. Was looking for the clown and the windmill on some greens. Advertised as a links course. EXCEPT you cannot bounce the ball on the green on most holes. Tricked up in front of almost all greens unnecessarily. A "links" course where you have to hit a high 2nd or 3rd ball in on a WINDY course. Save your $ and play Pacific Dunes (which I have played 5 times, Bandon Dunes 4 times, Bandon Trails 4 times). If it was free, I would decline.

I like it a lot, didn't love it though.

I think if I played it again I'd grow to love it more. There were just several blind shots that I thought were forced and unnecessary. They were there for the sake of it.

But it was another fun walk and it was the second round of a 36-hole day for me.