Editor's note: When it came time to roll out our (long overdue) new website we wanted to do something celebrating the people we've met through golf and the places that are still out there for us to explore. We've only scratched the surface on who we need to meet and where we need to go. Jim Hartsell embodies that spirit to the fullest. I met Jim through Sweetens Cove a few years ago and we became fast friends. He's spent the last two-and-a-half decades exploring Scotland and digging deeper than nearly any American I know, non-Tom Coyne division. As an Registered Building Architect, he brings a unique perspective to golf travel, both on and off the course. We're thrilled to roll this series out over the next few months and hope you enjoy. - Tron

War Memorial, Anstruther Golf Course.  Located next to the 2nd green, this monument memorializes the men and women from Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester who died in WWI.  

"Golf is preeminently the game of the Scot: slow, sure, quiet, deliberate, canny even – each man playing for himself.” – Arnold Haultain, The Mystery of Golf, published in 1908

The town of Anstruther, about 20 minutes southeast of St Andrews, has everything you could wish for as a visitor on holiday in Scotland. It’s a beautiful seaside fishing village with pubs, shops, restaurants - all easily walkable – and with the first tee of a brilliant golf course right in the middle of it all. If you don’t have the best fish and chips you’ve ever had in one of the town’s many “chippies”, then you must be a vegetarian. The ubiquitous food staple of Scotland is prepared at a higher level in Anstruther. There is much for the non-golfer to enjoy in “Ainster”or “Anster.” (the local pronunciations). However, golf is our main focus. The game has been played on the links at Anstruther Golf Club, originally known as Billowness, since approximately 1890.

Recently there has been a growing acceptance of golf courses with less than 18 holes and/or a par other than 72, some of which I will examine in detail as this series progresses. Additionally, the idea that a course must have a certain mixture of long and short holes to be a real test of golf has come under welcome scrutiny.  If there was one, Anstruther Golf Club would be a 10 on the Hartsell Scale.  Easily described as – 

“A superlative golf course with unlimited architectural character, just exceptionally fun. Play it all day with your friends and then have fish and chips in the clubhouse, with a pint of Tennents.”

The par of a golf course is more or less irrelevant in Scotland; as the golf is so dependent on the conditions of the day.  It may take two well struck shots to reach a par 3 or a par 4 might be driven with a well struck 4 iron. This is especially true at Anstruther, which is a totally exposed headland links. Additionally, the main objective in golf is to get the ball in the hole in less strokes than your opponent. Given these facts, does it really matter if a course is a par 34, 66 or 73? I believe that it does not. Any golfer would be pleased to go around Anstruther in level fours at 36.  It has one of the most unique mixes of golf holes that I have ever played, with 4 par fours and 5 par threes for a total par of 31.

Anstruther Golf Club. Photograph by Jim Hartsell

Standing on the first tee - with the green located somewhere in the distance on a plateau at least 50 feet higher than the tee - you immediately know a special day is imminent. It is a scene unique in the world of golf.  An imposing granite monument, originally dedicated to the local heroes of World War 1, sits at the top of the hill. It has silently watched over the links since 1920.  Leave it to the Scots to place an important monument on a golf course, where it is sure to be seen and remembered on a daily basis.

Play at Anstruther is, of course, dependent on the wind. On the day of our visit it was steady at 15-20 mph, which I imagine is probably the daily standard.  This gentle breeze completely changed direction between our morning 27 and afternoon 18, resulting in a drastically different golf course in the evening. Before lunch, the first hole played straight downwind.  The steep summit could be reached with a well struck driver, leaving a traditional Scottish run- up shot to the green as the correct play. After lunch, the wind changed direction and the hill could not be carried with the tee shot, thus rendering the 2nd shot completely blind and vastly more difficult. Playing downwind, this 270 yard par 4 is an opportunity for a birdie. It would be wise to take advantage of this hole, because it is one of the few relatively easy chances on the course.  This is one of my favorite opening holes in Scotland.

The 1st tee at Anstruther Golf Club. Photograph by Jim Hartsell

Once the summit of the 1st is reached, the joys of the Old Tom Morris designed links are fully revealed. The golfer can be forgiven for pausing a moment to take it all in – the town of Anstruther sweeping away below, the monument and the rocky shores of the Atlantic.  The 2nd - a 160 yarder aptly named Monument - plays straight out to the ocean in a strong crosswind. The green is sited on the edge of the cliff with the expanse of the ocean as a backdrop; a memorable and testing par 3.  Headland golf of this caliber is a rare and special pleasure.

The 3rd and 4th, both par fours, play on top of the plateau. The 3rd is a longish hole at 402 yards, has fairway bunkers to be avoided, but with a helping wind actually plays much shorter than the 4th at 286 yards. The 4th hole, Magazine, is one of the best par 4’s in Scotland.  It plays along the clifftop, with the ocean on the right, dead into the prevailing wind. There is safety to the left.  However, in taking the cautious route off the tee, the approach must played over an old stone wall and remnants of an old World War 1 arsenal building used for the storage of ammunition that was used for a gun training building on the 5th tee. The correct angle is down the right side of the fairway, but this brings the cliff into the equation. Whether you are bold or hesitant off the tee, the green seems to float above the ocean below. This is the Scottish golf of your dreams.

The 4th green at Anstruther Golf Club, viewed from the safe line off the tee. Photograph by Jim Hartsell

This brings us to the 5th hole, called Rockies.  In my experience, it is a one-off in the world of golf. A blind, dogleg 247 yard par 3 played from the clifftop to well……the sky. It was once voted the toughest par three in the UK by readers of Golf Monthly, as a plaque by the tee proudly reminds us.  I asked a  friendly member in the bar if he thought it was indeed the toughest par 3 in the country, “Oh aye,” he replied matter-of-factly, “because it’s a par 4.”  The majority of members do, in fact, treat the hole as a par 4.  Many of the older men, and a lot of the ladies, play back down the 4th fairway to pitch straight down onto the green from the upper level. I played the hole 5 times and I am still at a loss to see how the green could actually be hit in regulation. There is a smallish strip of fairway on the beach level, where the green sits. There is the potential to lay up there as there, with an iron, and play a wedge in. All that said, a “bogey 4” on this hole feels like a very good score. It is an altogether beautiful, bizarre and laugh-out-loud fun golf hole.

The Rockies.  Bizarre, fun and one of a kind. Photograph by Jim Hartsell

The 6th hole is another brilliant par 3  - with the green sited on the same lower level as the 5th - in the base of the cliffside.  It plays 128 yards from both the lower Members tee, as well as from the much more dramatic Medal tee on top of the hill.  In our ignorance and excitement, we had started our first nine of the morning playing the Medal tees.  Climbing back down from the unbelievably good 6th Medal tee, we were caught red-handed by the Greenskeeper, who had shown up to work on the 5th green. “You shouldn’t be playing the Medal tees,” he said sternly. “Well, I’m sorry, it’s our first time here and there was nobody in the clubhouse when we started,” I said embarrassingly. He smiled and said, “Aye. In that case, I’m glad you got to see the view from up there, but stick to the yellow tees for the rest of the day.”  This is the type of welcoming attitude that prevails at Anstruther.

The Medal Tee on the 6th. Photograph by Jim Hartsell

The tee shot to the 171 yard par three 7th (three consecutive par 3’s!) plays back over the 6th fairway to a green located back on the upper headland.  I hit a full driver on this hole in three of our five rounds. Par is well-earned and will likely be a winner in virtually every match.  At this point, we have climbed back up to the upper plateau level to play the par four 8th, a difficult and longish hole with an out of bounds fence down the left. A par here is also to be respected, for it will be hard-fought. This hole is very difficult when played into a strong wind.  The closing 9th is a 230 yard par 3, playing back into town from the previous heights of the 1st green.  It is a unique and dramatic finishing hole that is perfect for match play. It actually plays much more like a par four, reinforcing one final time that par is irrelevant at Anstruther.

In the welcoming bar, Matt Maclachlan, the friendly Clubhouse Manager for over 10 years at Anstruther Golf Club, came to our table to visit as we had our requisite Tennents and perused the bar menu. (There is a brilliant full service restaurant on the other side of the bar called fittingly, The Rockies.) He was genuinely interested in our feelings about the course and introduced us to a few of the members who were in for a late afternoon pint.  In a wonderful phenomenon that I have only seen in Scotland, everyone we met was genuinely interested in our thoughts about their wee course. We had a lively discussion about how to play the 5th and where to get the best fish and chips in Anstruther. (The clubhouse received a deservedly high recommendation.) I followed up with Matt recently to talk about working at Anstruther:  

“Believe it or not when I first walked in the door I had no interest in golf and I wasn’t even all that keen on golfers. Needless to say, that is not the case today and those feelings were gone after only a few months in the job.”

I asked what he enjoyed the most about his job at the club: 

“I couldn’t narrow it down to just one thing. From the always changing fantastic views up and down the firth and the North Sea, the interactions with the members and visitors each day, the staff team we’ve put together, it all just adds up to a fantastic place to work. Everyone that walks through the door here gets afforded the same welcome, as if we’ve known you all our life. Whether it’s a member, visitor or just someone visiting the Rockies Restaurant, our aim is to have people say to themselves as they leave “well we will definitely come back here” and 99% of the time it works.”

 I can personally attest that it does work, as I plan on returning to Anstruther for a second time as soon as international travel is allowed once more.  A more welcoming golf club cannot be found.

I touched on this in my inaugural piece in this series, 

. We only visited Anstruther by chance that day, because we were shut out of playing The Old Course. Missing out on The Old might seem an impossible blow to recover from on a Scottish golf trip. Instead, Anstruther Golf Club became a highlight of our visit to Scotland. It has now been almost two years and we talk about Anstruther every time my son and I get together.

After playing all morning, we decided to cancel an afternoon round at the historic Lundin Links so we could keep playing Anstruther. We did not want to leave. Walking off the 9th green, after our 45th hole of the day, I could tell that Jake wanted to keep playing. There was still enough daylight left for at least 9 more holes, but my old legs were failing.  As I shook my son’s hand in the never-ending Scottish twilight, he said, “Dad, this is the most fun I’ve ever had playing golf.” I could only smile and say, “yes, me too.”

view from the Anstruther Golf Club bar. Photograp

Anstruther is famous for its fish and chips and deservedly so. You can’t go wrong eating fish and chips in the clubhouse bar at the club or at any of the several of the “chippies” in town. I almost always default to having lunch in the clubhouse, and in this case it was great. If you want something a little more adventurous, The Rockies Restaurant in the Anstruther clubhouse is excellent.  The Dreel Tavern in Anstruther is also a brilliant restaurant that I would love to visit again. You should give yourself a few hours just to walk around the seaside town itself. It is one of my favorites in the world.

St. Andrews is only a 20 minute drive away from Anstruther.  The town is one of the best places on earth, whether you are a golfer or not.  Even if you miss out on playing The Old, as we did, an afternoon and evening walking around St. Andrews is worth the precious time away from the course. You may find a bookstore that you never want to leave. For food and other refreshments, everybody knows The Dunvegan, but it’s reputation is well-earned and is a must visit for a pint and/or a meal. We had a wonderful pub meal at The St. Andrews Brewing Company on a cold, rainy night, trying several of their excellent beers - the Oatmeal Stout and the Pale Ale received high marks from our table.

Hidden Scotland: Anstruther Golf Club

A couple of days before embarking on a dream golf trip to Scotland with my son Jake in May of 2019, I had set the alarm for 4 am to enter the online ballot for a tee time at the Old Course. To my surprise, I found that the course was to be closed for visitor play for the duration of our visit to St Andrews. As it turned out, this was a blessing in disguise. On the day we had devoted to playing the most famous course in golf, we instead drove twenty minutes south to Anstruther Golf Club. We put our green fee in an honesty box and proceeded to spend the day on a wild Old Tom Morris nine hole layout by the ocean. It was the most fun I’ve ever had playing golf.

2nd Green at Anstruther Golf Club.  Photograph by Jim Hartsell


Golf is supposed to be fun. This concept has been lost for a long period of time, especially in the United States. For many years, courses were designed and promoted based on their length and difficulty. As part of this trend, courses that did not fit the standard of 7000 plus yards, 18 holes and par 72 were relegated to the semi-derogatory category of “short courses” or “holiday golf.”  With the increasing popularity of nine hole courses like Sweetens Cove Golf Club in South Pittsburg, Tennessee and Winter Park Golf Club in Florida, Americans are slowly starting to realize that the Scots had it right all along.

The somewhat arrogant implication by certain golf experts has often been that these non-standard, “quirky” layouts are not serious golf, or should even be played by serious golfers. If a golfer is going to the trouble of crossing an ocean to play, they must surely test themselves at championship venues like Carnoustie, Troon and Turnberry. The day we played Anstruther, I hit a full driver into the 7th, an uphill 145 yard par 3. This seems like serious golf to me. Each successive hole asked a new and exciting question. We could not wait to go back around.

Fun and challenging courses can come in all formats and lengths. Par really doesn’t matter at Anstruther Golf Club, other than as a vague frame of reference. The concept of playing golf simply  for the sheer enjoyment of it has never been lost in Scotland, a country that has the best collection of fun, “quirky” layouts in the entire world. Seemingly every small town you pass through has a golf course that serves as the social center of the community.

We arrived at Anstruther Golf Club around 8:30 am to find the clubhouse was locked, except for one door leading into a small vestibule outside of the locker rooms. Nobody was around, except for a local member about to go out alone. Perhaps sensing my confusion, he said, “Normally you pay in the bar, but they don’t get here until 10. Just put your money in the wee honesty box and go play.”  What followed was a collection of five par 3’s and four par 4’s (Par 31) that almost defy description. Every hole was memorable and fun. How often can you recall every hole in detail after only playing a course once? Anstruther is that kind of place. We played all day.  When we came in for lunch following our first 18 holes, I asked the helpful bar manager if I should give her additional money for a day ticket. She looked a bit confused and asked, “You want to play all day? Oh I don’t know, just give me 10 pounds to cover the both of you.” When I told her how much we loved the golf course, she immediately handed each of us an Anstruther ball marker. It would be difficult to find more generous and welcoming people than the Scots.

Yardage is also completely irrelevant when you are playing by the ocean in Scotland.  The downhill 238 yard par 3 9th at Anstruther, playing right back into the lovely fishing village, required anything from a 5 iron to driver and full 8 iron during our 45 holes that day. We did not want to leave the place. Matt Maclachlan, the friendly General Manager, met us in the clubhouse bar after we finally decided to stop playing. “I’ve been following your day on twitter, he said. I’m so pleased you’ve enjoyed the course.” We discussed strategy on the various holes with Matt and some older members who were in the bar for an evening pint. When I asked one elderly gentleman how to play the tee shot on “The Rockies” -  a blind 238 yard par three 5th played over a cliff and down to the rocky beach located precipitously below -  he shook his head slowly and said, “Hit it and pray.” At Anstruther, there is a sincere appreciation for the game and a genuine interest in how visitors feel about the course. A day playing golf at Anstruther, with the sun out and the sparkling ocean in full view, is a perfect day.

5th Hole at Anstruther Golf Club.  Photograph by Jim Hartsell

After visiting the Golf House Club at Elie, we reluctantly left the Kingdom of Fife and headed north.  Following rounds at Cruden Bay and Fraserburgh, we reached Cullen Links. Cullen, which lies about 3 hours north of St. Andrews over the Firth of Tay and up the coast, is 18 holes. That is where the similarities to a standard 18 hole golf course end.  It is a par 63. It is 4800 yards. There is only one par 5.  Several shots are played over and around massive red rock formations that look like a scene from Frank Herbert’s Dune.

Many golfers in the USA were first introduced to Cullen through the popular YouTube travel series Tourist Sauce by the golf merchandise and multi-media group No Laying Up. In the video segment,  the NLU boys are seen playing with two time club champion and lifetime Cullen member, George Clark. We were able to arrange to play Cullen with George and he greeted us warmly in the clubhouse bar upon our arrival.  After a nice lunch - and requisite pint of Tennent’s - we paid the modest green fee at the bar and went out to play.

Cullen Golf Club.  Photograph by Jim Hartsell

With a short and efficient Scottish swing, George was a joy to play with. He gave us the grand tour of the ethereal Cullen Links. You could sense his pride in the course and excitement in the fact that it was starting to receive some notice in the golf world due to the visit from NLU. “I had a man stop me on the street in Aberdeen and shake my hand.  He said, “You’re George from Cullen in the No Laying Up video!” It’s all been amazing. Our visitor play is up 30% just now.”  He hopes the time has come for more acceptance in the game for courses like Cullen. “I live in Aberdeen now and I’m a member at Murcar, but I drive up here as much as possible to play.” You cannot play Cullen Links without a smile on your face. You might even shoot around par. You may not lose any golf balls. You will play fast. You will hit shots on the ground and over towering red rock obelisks. These are all good things.

Jim with Mr. George Clark at Cullen.  Photograph by Jim Hartsell

After saying goodbye to George in the small Cullen car park, we were off to Covesea Links, about a 45 minute drive up the coast on the A96. Despite having already played 36 holes, we reckoned there was just enough time to get in 9 more holes before dark. We didn’t know much at all about Covesea, save for a few random pictures on Instagram and twitter. Even most of the Scots that I had talked to on our trip were not familiar with it. Despite our growing weariness, the lure and excitement of another 9 relatively unknown holes of Scottish seaside golf was too strong to pass up.

Following a ¾ mile drive down a single lane gravel track off the B9040 just past Lossiemouth, we entered the hidden world of Covesea. Angela Burnett came out of her trailer to greet us - the lone car on site. She and her husband Andy, the course designer and builder, are the owners of Covesea and live on the property. The course is obviously a labor of love for both of them. She told us she was very happy that we had made it to their wee course and mentioned that the American author Tom Coyne had visited previously. Concerned that we might not be able to find a place to eat dinner after our round, she made us reservations at a nearby local restaurant in Lossiemouth. We were treated to these types of small kindnesses time and again at places like Covesea.

The course itself is nine holes, 2,000 yards, with a par of 31. There are five par 3’s and four par 4’s. I got the impression that very little, if any, earth was moved to create these natural golf holes in this almost mystical, secret cove. We played when the sun was low and the course was bathed in a golden hue, accentuating the vibrant yellow blooms on the gorse. The uphill par three 5th and the short downhill par three 9th are brilliant. It is a relatively new course and not that well known, but one of the most beautiful settings for golf that can be imagined. We left feeling that we had experienced something really special and unique in the world of golf.  Our dinner reservation in Lossiemouth ended a perfect day.

2nd Fairway at Covesea Golf Links.  Photograph by Jim Hartsell

After a beautiful and leisurely drive through the Scottish Highlands, we based the remainder of our trip in Kintyre and Arran, a veritable treasure trove of hidden and generally unknown (to Americans) golf courses. I had heard of Carradale Golf Club, but had never made the sometimes harrowing drive from Campbeltown up the B842 to this beautiful spot on the headlands overlooking Kilbrannan Sound and the Isle of Arran. We were greeted warmly in the small car park next to the tidy clubhouse by the club secretary Rhona Elder. “We are so pleased you made it to Carradale,” she said formally. “The committee has met and decided that you can play off the medal tees today. We want you to get the full experience of the course. Robert, our Greenskeeper, is out there as well, if you have any questions.” We put our green fee in the honesty box and walked out to the first tee, all alone in the stunningly beautiful landscape of the Kintyre Peninsula. On a clear Tuesday morning, we had the course to ourselves, other than several people walking their dogs.

6th Hole at Carradale.  Photograph by Jim Hartsell

The blind uphill par three 1st lets you know immediately that this is pure, thrilling Scottish golf. Robert Strang, the Greenskeeper, met us at the top of the hill by the 1st green. I asked him if the course was in good condition at the moment. “Oh aye, aye. It is indeed. Ken Brown was out here last week and was very complimentary.” I can confirm that the former European Ryder Cupper was correct in his positive assessment of the links. The downhill second, with an approach shot played over an old stone wall, was a particular standout.  When we reached the 4th, we understood why Rhona and the Committee had given us the wholly undeserved honor of playing off the medal tees. The 4th tee at Carradale commands a view of Scotland that may be unmatched in the world of golf. We stood in awed silence for 5 minutes, taking in the entire world of this underrated links, before hitting our tee shots. Carradale is a sheer joy to play.

We were based in the lovely town of Campbeltown - home of the legendary Springbank Distillery - for this part of the journey. Machrihanish Golf Club - 10 minutes from town on the B843 - is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest courses in the world, and rightfully so. I first played it in 1994 when it was virtually unknown to American golfers. It has remained the standard by which I judge all other true links courses. However, the ultimate revelation of our journey lay not at legendary Machrihanish, but in the penultimate round of our trip. Located some 15 minutes south of Campbeltown on the B842 in the village of Southend, Dunaverty Golf Club is 4799 yards with a par of 66. There is 1 par 5 on the course. The western side of the course is leased from a local farmer, who has grazing rights. I had played the course on previous trips as a much younger man, including a wonderful day in 1994 with my Dad. Yet somehow Dunaverty had not remained as prominent in my memories as Machrihanish.

Machrihanish Dunes.  Photograph by Jim Hartsell

The magic of golf twitter had allowed us to join up at Southend with Robbie Wilson, a Machrihanish member and fine local golfer from Lochgilpead who plays the course frequently. Robbie looks after historical monuments in Kintyre and Argyll for Historic Environment Scotland, a job which fascinated me as an Architect. We had much to discuss as we walked this mighty golfing ground with our new friend. Scots play golf with remarkable and admirable speed, but we never felt rushed as Robbie gave us the grand tour of the world of Dunaverty. He pointed out the correct line on every shot and offered advice on strategy that we would have never known to employ. We laughed out loud at the sheer brilliance of hole after hole. Just when we thought we must’ve seen the unfathomable heights of the course, the next hole would somehow top it.

Dunaverty Golf Club.  Photograph by Jim Hartsell

I cannot pick a favorite hole at Dunaverty. I love all of them. The punchbowl par three 4th, the thrilling par four 5th, alongside and above Brunerican Beach, the uphill par four 9th over a ridge and down to yet another fantastical punchbowl green. The downhill par four 11th, with all the mighty world of Dunaverty laid out below you. The brilliant par five 13th, with a blind second to a wonderfully sited green, played alongside a 5,000 year old standing stone. The unique 17th with the brilliant 2nd shot over the Coniegien Burn and back onto Machribeg Farm. All of these are great golf holes. The local cows, sensing our approach, joined us in the 18th fairway for a perfect finish on a perfect golf course. The great British golf writer Bernard Darwin wrote about the feeling of “pleasurable excitement” you have when playing a great links course. Dunaverty gives you much more than just that feeling. It is a fantasy world of true links golf.

After one last day in Campbeltown and an incredible tour of the Springbank Distillery, we left the Ardshiel Hotel early to catch the first ferry to Arran, from Claonaig to Lochranza. We were to cross the Kilbrannan Sound, which we had viewed previously from the unforgettable 4th tee at Carradale. Our trip to the fringes of Scottish golf could only end with 2 rounds at the mythical Shiskine Golf Club in Blackwaterfoot. The ferry foreman, seeing our golf caps, asked quickly, “Where are you going to play? Arran has more brilliant wee courses than any place in Scotland.”

When we mentioned the entire day was planned for Shiskine, he said, “Aye, indeed. You cannot go wrong there. Great golf course. If you have time, try to play Corrie on the other side of the island. You must play there too. 9 holes. Absolute stunner of a course.”  Our gears started turning and we called Caledonian MacBrayne to change our ferry reservation to the last one of the day. Maybe we could play Shiskine twice, and somehow get in 9 at Corrie Golf Club, before the 7:20 ferry departed for the mainland.

6th at Shiskine.  Photograph by Jim Hartsell

How do you begin to explain heavenly Shiskine? It has 12 holes, a front six and a back six, with a par 21-21-42. There is a single par five, four par fours and seven par threes. It may be the perfect golf course. Every hole is memorable. The par three 3rd and 4th holes are brilliant and unmatched in the game. The par four 6th, the Shore Hole, is a potentially drivable hole to the most perfectly sited green I have ever seen. What you see in front of you almost does not seem real, as if you are in some wild fever dream of golf. The greens are fantastically sited in natural dells or on precarious plateaus. We lost 1 ball between us in 24 holes. Yet to consider this mere “holiday golf” is to do a disservice to the course. You must think about the correct line for your tee shots and the proper way to play your approach shots. The correct shot may be 40 yards off line from what appears before you. As you walk off the 12th hole, you immediately want to go back and start again.

7th at Shiskine.  Photograph by Jim Hartsell

We ate lunch in the lovely clubhouse and quickly headed back out to play another round. Checking in with Head Professional Douglas Bell, in his well-stocked golf shop by the first tee, (complete with Isle of Arran ice cream) we began to tell him how much we loved the course. “Aye, it’s a nice spot indeed,” he said simply. Scots are masters of understatement. I told him every hole was great and he nodded his head in agreement, “Aye, they are.”  When Jake informed him of our plan to try to quickly play 12 more at Shiskine and then rush over to Corrie to play before catching the last ferry to Ardrossan, his mood suddenly grew serious.  “Corrie is a fine course and not to be missed, but I urge you to take your time and enjoy your last 12 holes here at Shiskine,” he said while gesturing out to the links. “You don’t want to rush this. Look at what is out there in front of you. Enjoy the walk and remember your time here together.”

Heeding Mr. Bell’s wise advice, we savored each perfect hole that sunny afternoon at Shiskine Golf and Tennis Club. Corrie Golf Club would have to wait for another trip. The true soul of the game of golf resides in places like Anstruther, Cullen, Covesea, Carradale, Dunaverty and Shiskine. To dismiss these courses as mere “holiday golf” is a mistake that should not be made. Show up, put your money in the honesty box, and try to stop smiling for the next 3 hours. You might even take a trip where the green fees are not a major expense. There is a lesson to be learned from the Scottish game. Golf is supposed to be fun.

Hidden Scotland: The Fringes of Scottish Golf

Over the past year, we haven’t done a great job of showcasing the public courses that make up the bulk of America’s golfing landscape.

Introducing, STRAPPED, which will force Randy and Neil to try to explore and highlight these places. And they’ll do it on a budget of $500.

Episode 1 takes us to the heart of Iowa. Catch each part below (we’ll release a new one each Tuesday over the next three weeks).

STRAPPED: Iowa (The Maize Runners)

Soly and I had a chance to play this year’s U.S. Open venue a few weeks ago and were blown away by the potential of this year’s tournament. The USGA keeps calling the U.S. Open “golf’s ultimate test” and if they get the weather they are hoping for, Shinnecock Hills will be a very fitting venue for it. It’s the perfect combination of a million different factors and after seeing in person how good it is, it’s kind of shocking that it’s taken 14 years to get back here.

The course was (understandably) playing really soft and slow when we saw it a few weeks ahead of the tournament, but if the USGA can dodge the rain that softened things last year at Erin Hills, and if the wind gets up the way it typically does in Southampton, ejections will be imminent.

The course has undergone a number of changes since 2004 – fairways were widened during a restoration by Coore & Crenshaw and then narrowed for the event. Greens have been expanded to their original sizes and surrounds have been cut tight to provide options around the putting surface. We outlined what to look for in the video below.

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Video: Playing Shinnecock Hills

Winter Park Golf Course has had a special place in my golfing heart since 2010, when it was really the only place I could afford to play during an unpaid internship in Orlando. Since then, it’s undergone a massive overhaul that helps provide a model for what municipal golf should be in the United States.

For my Special Ops project this month, I wanted to shine some more light on a place nearby that deserves all the accolades we have to give.

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NLU Special Ops: Winter Park GC

(Photos courtesy of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort)

The hardest thing to explain about Bandon is how you feel when you’re there.

You’re isolated in the middle of nowhere – and make no mistake, it’s not an easy place to get to – but that isolation brings with it a sense of calm and serves as the best reminder we’ve seen of how infrequently you actually feel carefree, on the golf course or otherwise.

That feeling is only possible because of the restraint of Mike Keiser and the entire group that shaped the resort into what it is. They are confident in never taking anything to its excess. The golf courses carry that mantra; they let the spectacular land do all the talking instead of letting egos get in the way. The lodging feels that way; at the end of a day, you don’t have much more than good food and a comfortable bed and there’s nothing else you could possibly want.

It’s a feeling you have to experience for yourself, but until you do, we wanted to spell out what our trip was like, course by course. If you’ve already been, hopefully some of these write-ups will bring back some good memories.

You can also hear the breakdown of our trip on the NLU Podcast, 

NLU Special Ops: The Bandon Experience

I tend to gravitate toward hipster things. Hipster music, hipster movies. Give me all of it. I just want to say that up front because I want us to all be on the same page here regarding my biases.

“My favorite Bandon course is Trails” can often sound like the “that single is the worst song on the album” of golf takes. In my experience, it’s typically uttered by 19th hole contrarians looking for an argument and an excuse to grab one more cocktail before calling it a night.

But now, as I’m sitting on the flight home, my feet sore from logging north of 150 holes in four days, I’m trying to silence the contrarian part of my brain. It’s attempting to surface some wild ideas about my experience on the central coast of Oregon and wreaking havoc on my personal course rankings.

Here’s where I’ve landed: Bandon Trails 

 the best golf course at Bandon Dunes. (Don’t stop reading; I’m going to bring this home.) It’s the best golf course, but it’s not my favorite course on the property. It can’t be. That would be ridiculous. Right? Shit, I don’t know.

I’m not sure about their cinematic and musical tastes, but Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw are hipsters, too. You can tell from the feeling you get while you’re playing their courses. Hipsters care about the really little things – especially the really little things that take time to discover and are easy to miss. That’s what I always seem to take away from playing C&C courses. They are so subtly brilliant that it’s really easy for the beginner and average player or architecture fan to miss the simplistic beauty of what they’re looking at. On the first trip I took to Bandon 3 or 4 years ago, Trails was far and away my least favorite course because I just didn’t get it. I couldn’t process what I was looking at. I hated that my ball kept getting ejected like a cursing baseball manager and I definitely couldn’t comprehend why the hell I flew to the middle of nowhere to 

 be looking at the ocean. This time I’m leaving the resort wearing a Bandon Trails sweatshirt. People change.

This time around, feeling a little more seasoned and well-read – as always, shout out to The Fried Egg – the loop felt as serene and gratifying as any round in recent memory. It was an 18-hole nature walk that was as challenging as you wanted to make it on yourself. In relation to the resort’s other courses, where vast, wide-open seaside scale is on display, Trails plays through intimate corridors of tall, rail-thin pines that kept making Neil shout lines from 

. (“GET THE PELTS!”) But despite the hallways you’re playing through, you have as much width as you need, while still being challenged constantly by strategic ridges and centerline bunkers.

The greens are by far the calmest on the property and rely more on pin placements to change strategy than the dramatic contouring you’ll see on the other courses. The subtlety throughout the course makes for a weird conundrum – the first time you play it will probably be your least favorite. But the second and the third and the fourth times around, more and more of those little things start to come into focus. C&C are masters at this. It’s the way they use one seemingly random, seemingly irrelevant bump in the landscape to change the entire strategy of a hole (see: Streamsong Red No. 7). Or it’s the way they trick your eye with deception bunkers or ridges that appear closer to the green than they really are. It sounds like a cliché, but if the average player truly plays the course within themselves, playing to the fat parts of fairways and greens, they can easily put up a score they’ll be happy with. But C&C know that people don’t think that way and they make the hero shot look so appetizing that you can’t resist. They give you just enough rope to hang yourself. (Doak also does a great job of this at Pacific Dunes.)

The reason that I say that Trails is the best course at Bandon, but not my favorite course at Bandon is admittedly very stupid. It’s a victim of circumstance. Without an ocean there are no shots on Trails that make you feel the way you feel standing on the fourth holes of Pacific or Bandon Dunes, which is a sensation you just can’t replicate, no matter how great the architecture is. This is, again, an unfair and dumb way to rank things, but I suspect many people feel the same way. It reminds me of an exchange I have almost monthly with one of my friends:

“Pebble Beach is overrated and wouldn’t be nearly as good if it didn’t have the ocean.”

Trails is fantastic in every way, just like it would be if it was in North Carolina or Texas or New Jersey. If you were ranking golf holes on a scale from 1-10, I’m not sure Trails has many 10’s – the big, bold, dramatic holes that get painted and hung in gray-haired people’s tasteful dens. But the difference is that it is almost entirely 7’s, 8’s and 9’s. It doesn’t let up.

The thing that Trails has working against it – the lack of any seaside holes – also makes it stand out amongst its neighbors. Since getting to Bandon is such a pilgrimage, people tend to play all four courses on their visits. Spending four hours walking through the woods not only gives you a chance to play an excellent golf course, it also just reinforces how spectacular the other three happen to be.

– Don’t let the opening hole scare you. It was my least favorite opening hole on the property and feels like a connector from the dunes and the clubhouse (which is shared with the par 3 course, The Preserve) to the dramatic wooded parts of the property, which make up the vast majority of the course.

– No. 2 sets the tone for a great set of par 3’s. You’re playing downhill into a green that’s sandwiched between the forest you’re about to enter and the massive ocean dunes you’re about to leave. The entire shot is a trick of the eye – the scale of the dune, the height of the trees, the deceptive native grasses short of the green – it all makes you feel claustrophobic and tight. But when you get to the bottom, you’ll see that you have plenty of room to miss short and left. Like always, C&C are there to catch you if you fall, provided that you fall in the correct spot.

– No. 3 was among my favorite par 5’s I’ve ever played. The tee shot is the first real play into the tree-lined corridors you’ll see for the rest of the day and a smattering of land mine bunkers throughout the fairway keep you thinking on every shot.

– The hog’s back ridge on No. 4 was a perfect example of creating strategy with land forms. Play as safe as you want up the weak right side and leave yourself a longer, blind shot into the green. Or swing away to clear the ridge and leave a flip wedge, but take on the pot bunkers you can’t see on the other side.

– No. 5 was just a fantastic short par 3. When the pin is in the front, you are convinced you’re going to make a one. When it’s tucked in the back, you’re holding on for 3.

– No. 8 is tremendous drivable par 4 that is too tempting to waste time hitting iron off the tee. The green, especially the front portion, swings wildly from right to left, making the laid-up approach shot all the more dicey.

The driveable eighth hole at Bandon Trails.

– No. 9 is reminiscent of No. 3; it’s just a classy, handsome af par 5 packed with strategy on every shot.

– Eleven was among a favorite of our group. The tee shot feels bombs-away; wide open and down a slingshot slope (stay left). The approach shot sets up as an inverse of No. 11 at Augusta National and the view of the greenside pond catches you completely off-guard in a fun way as a stark contrast to everything else you’ll see on property.

– The 12th hole was another fantastic (and totally different) par 3. It’s long and the tee shot almost feels like a really short 4 – players have the whole world right to miss and set up an easy four at worst. But the way the mounding fronting the green sets up, it just tempts players to take on the flag, usually missing left. Long story short, it’s a really fun bogey to make.

– No. 13 was another serene par 4 – Trails might be the best collection of medium-length, interesting par 4’s I’ve seen. There is plenty of room to hit your tee shot and plenty of room to miss left of the green, but again, as soon as you get cheeky, you’re bringing a DAF bunker (Deep as F***) into play that is so severe it kind of makes you want to drop a ball in to see if you can get it out.

– No. 14 is the most talked about hole at Bandon Trails and not necessarily for good reason. It’s a driveable (for long players) par 4 with a green so severe that they’ve already had to re-do it multiple times. I’m of two minds on this hole: Yes, it would be great to see them flatten more of a shelf on the left side of the fairway to give players short of the green an actual chance to hit the green. But also, it’s just really hard and semi-unfair and in a weird way, it’s absolutely fun to try to conquer it and watch yourself get ejected. It gives you something to talk about that night. (For what it’s worth, Soly and Randy both birdied the first time around, so it’s not impossible.)

– Fifteen has a really cool diagonal cross bunker that makes you really think about angles and WHO CARES I HOLED OUT FROM THE FAIRWAY FOR EAGLE THIS IS THE BEST HOLE EVERRRRRRRRR

– No. 17 was another dynamite par 3, especially if you’re willing to move around tees if you’re able to play it more than once. The whole aesthetic of this hole feels like the Sand Belt in the foreground, but from the top tee, you can still see past it to the ocean. It’s so uniquely cool.

– The finishing hole was just OK; like the first, it feels like a connector from the Trails clubhouse to the land that makes up the bulk of the course.

: There’s a trail behind the 14th tee that leads to a clearing and a bench. That spot, with its expansive view of the woods, the dunes and the ocean was apparently the Eureka! moment for owner and developer Mike Keiser, convincing him the project would be successful.

WHAT SHOULD I DO BEFORE PLAYING THIS COURSE?

 to hear where he came from, his approach to strategy and much more.

: Our favorite clubhouse of the bunch, with the simplicity and aesthetic you’d find in a Japanese lodge. The only thing more on point than the feng shui was the lunch menu, which featured subtle Asian takes on traditional staples (see: the scrumptious spicy caesar), along with a few wholly-Asian flourishes (Tron ordered the noodle bowl and was blown away!) Never has a clubhouse so perfectly matched it’s course.

The Bandon Experience: Bandon Trails

The defining landmark of Old Macdonald is a bare Port Orford cedar standing alone at the crest of a sand dune which juts into and across the third hole. The “ghost” tree is assuredly the most photographed on all of Bandon’s property, one you’ve likely seen even without realizing what or where it is. Besides being quite photogenic it plays a vital strategic role as its position atop the dune provides a crucial reference point for players navigating a blind tee shot below. It’s my belief the significance of this stately old cedar extends far beyond its immediate role on the Sahara hole, and in fact serves as a beautiful metaphor to the spirit and experience of Old Macdonald.

Nostalgia can be a funny thing. What is it about certain settings, particular atmospheres, that will strike competing chords of tranquility and longing? How can the yearning to return to a particular time, or a specific place, be present in a body which has never experienced anything of the sort? Scratch at the surface too long on questions like this and the mind goes to some heady places. Yet these inquiries were precisely what was swirling around my head as I walked the first couple holes.

The soundtrack accompanying these existential musings is the persistent rumble of waves breaking in the distance beyond the dunes. The thunderous echoes permeate across the course, beginning in earnest as one walks down from the ghost tree to the third green. From here it’s impossible not to feel the ocean, to appreciate its proximity and scope. The routing of the course through the fourth, fifth and sixth holes weaves closer to the dunes at cliff’s edge as the symphony of the ocean’s waves strike up their intensity each step along the way. By the time the seventh hole, “Ocean,” comes along, the anticipation is at a maximum. The details are for you to discover on your own, I’ll merely say that the reveal is extraordinary. Among the highlights of any trip to Bandon.

Apart from a few locations like the aforementioned seventh, Old Macdonald is likely the least picturesque of Bandon’s courses. It’s certainly not an unattractive piece of land – no such spots exist – but the routing doesn’t yield the same volume of postcard images inherent on other tracks. The course itself lays sprawled out across a hollowed-out piece of the property framed on one side by the dunes and the sea, and more foliated, undeveloped parts of property on the other side. What Old Mac does possess is a grand scale – wide open sightlines and massive greens – that are digestible at many points throughout the walk. Pause every now and again, take a look around, and soak it in.

Old Macdonald is the creation of architects Tom Doak and Jim Urbina, who set about crafting the course in the spirit of, and as an homage to, Charles Blair “C.B.” Macdonald, widely regarded as the “Father of American Golf Architecture.” Each of the eighteen holes are named for and utilize characteristics of the various classic-age design templates used by Macdonald and Seth Raynor. Several of these names (and concepts) are self-evident, such as the “Short” and “Long” holes, while others describe a defining feature of the hole, for example the “Double Plateau” and “Hog’s Back.” Even if you know the holes these templates are based on, it still leaves you wondering about names, origins, history and a million other things. (“Westward Ho” and “Eden” and “Littlestone” spring to mind, specifically). It’s by no means essential one has any architecture knowledge to play or enjoy the course, lord knows I have a cursory understanding at best, but I do think it’s helpful to carry an open mind into a round at Old Mac, along with an inquisitive attitude. For better or worse, it’s a chance to connect with the past.

Twisting the tenets of space and time is at the core of Old Mac. It brings forth people and ideas from the past while carrying back modern minds. It is a valuable reference point for where the game was, and importantly, where it is today. It is a ghost tree amongst the modern golf landscape. For a guy from Ohio who’d never played links golf, never set foot on the sandy soil of Scotland or Ireland, and certainly never experienced a classic template design, the unmistakable, unshakeable feeling of nostalgia – nostalgia for something I’d never experienced – came as quite a wonderful surprise. My parting words for anybody embarking on the journey of Old Mac: enjoy the ride.

1) “Double Plateau” –refers to the green feature here. It is the best opening hole at Bandon in my opinion. A shorter par-4, it’s a very comfortable drive, especially early in the morning, as you can practically hit any club anywhere you wish.

3) “Sahara” –is home to the famed ghost tree. The blind tee shot is one of my favorite shots on the property, one greatly enhanced by the presence of our caddie.

4) “Hog’s Back” –in my opinion the hog’s back at Bandon Trails (hole #4) is probably a starker example of this design feature.

5) “Short” –as the name suggests, a diminutive par 3. The green here is massive and undulating—lots of fun pin positions. A two-putt par is a hell of a result.

6) “Long” –maybe more than any other hole this transported me to Scotland. Or, as I’ve never been, my idea of Scotland.

7) “Ocean”–home of the big reveal. The green complex is massively elevated from the fairway and sits between dunes. Hope for a wait on the 8th tee so you can snap a picture or three.

8) “Biarritz”– is a par 3 with its name referring to the swale in the middle of this green.

9) “Cape”–finisher on the par-34 front nine. Things most likely will get more difficult on the back nine.

10) “Bottle”–another fun drive. A series of fairway bunkers narrow the landing area forcing you to pick a line and commit.

11) “Road”–as you might have guessed, named after the famous hole at St. Andrews. Not quite the same without the hotel squarely in play off the tee.

12) “Redan”–another hole where I think a better example exists elsewhere on the property, specifically #17 at Pacific Dunes.

14) “Maiden”–I quite enjoyed this short par 4. It plays all the way uphill with bunkering protecting a direct line and lots of room to bailout right. There is a large dune behind the green which serves as a backboard for shots played long. The view up here is probably second best at Old Mac behind “Ocean.”

16) “Alps”–another really fun hole where the second shot is a blind approach over a bulky dune to the green. There’s a signal board on top of the dune to help with aim. Enjoy the walk up and surprise (or disappointment) of where your ball finishes.

18) “Punchbowl” is a rollicking way to finish an inward par 37. The green is a large punchbowl which funnels everything to the middle. You kick yourself if you scrape an iron right and don’t get the full effect of the contouring.

: The genesis for Old Macdonald came from Mike Keiser’s affinity for the Lido, a hallowed CB Macdonald course on Long Island thought to be the equal of National Golf Links but lost during the Great Depression.

: The short answer is as much, or as little, as you want. If you are so inclined, I offer up the following:

There’s an awesome run down of Tom Doak’s hole-by-hole descriptions of Old Mac’s

Good friend of NLU and architecture nut, Andy Johnson (

. These are great places to begin for anybody wishing to dip their toes in the water of architecture.

For those looking to go further, the rare book

Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair Macdonald

 may be more up your alley. As the link shows, Amazon sells it, but it’ll set you back a bit. The book 

 offers really good insight into Old Macdonald as well.

: We spent the least amount of time in this one and it appeared the least distinctive, however the breakfast sando’s we did have were delicious. Old Mac also has a cool logo and the pro shop there had some of the best merch on property.

The Bandon Experience: Old Macdonald

Though we’ve never met in person, I have a tortured relationship with the Doakito.

Our first interaction was at Streamsong Blue. It was hot and heavy from the start and then things kind of faded and conflict abounded. The foundation for my relationship with Doak was the very idea of Doak – opinionated genius, keenly invested in history, painfully truthful, hard-headed and stubborn. All of those traits resonated with me. On subsequent trips to Streamsong the relationship started to feel emotionally abusive and one-sided. But then I’d head home and dive back into the angsty takes in the Confidential Guide and forget about the bad stuff. We reconciled at St. Andrews Beach down in Australia on a whim last year and I decided to give things another go (for the kids, ya know?). We were back in a good place. SAB was minimalist and sat light on the sandy terrain. Then we hit the rocks again a few days later in Tasmania at Barnbougle Dunes. Tom’s mean-spirited side came back out. The place was too extreme, he’d asked too much of me and thrown too much at me, and I harbored some frustration and angst in the deepest recesses of my soul for the next five months. I was done with Tom forever, frustrated that he lacked nuance and had a propensity for messing up good land with unnecessary tricks and sleight of hand.

It was under these auspices that I reconnected with the Doakito on the Oregon coast. It was the second day of the trip and it felt like heading into a mediation with our lawyers; I was going to be forced to appreciate it because it was such a great piece of land, but I didn’t have to enjoy it. Additionally, the windy conditions we experienced the first day at Preserve and Bandon Dunes caused some consternation that we were absolutely going to get our shit pushed in out in the wind. To our surprise it was as calm and benign a morning as one could ask for, yet I still braced myself to get my ass kicked for four hours, keenly aware of tricky bunkers in spots that kicked you when you’re down. To my surprise, the first few holes showed a deft touch, each progressively harder than the next, but all offering the subtlety absent at other Doakito designs. Bunkers weren’t quite as deep, nor as plentiful; the surfaces, both fairways and greens, were longer, broader, more grand and befitting the surroundings. Was it still hard? Absolutely. But the layout was an eminently fair progression, ebbing and flowing to allow the occasional breath.

Many people talk about golf courses being a canvas and the architect being an artist. The land upon which Pacific Dunes sits feels more like the finest marble a sculptor could ever ask for. Doak freely admitted that he got the best piece of land at Bandon, and that he had the benefit of going second. Chip away at it. Don’t do too much, don’t fuck it up. And Doak seemingly put that philosophy into practice. It feels wise and elevated. And while Barnbougle was completed three years later, it sits on an equally spectacular piece of property but feels more the product of a more temperamental, arrogant artist – too many wrinkles, rumples and over-the-top flourishes that were needlessly penal. And the flow was far too extreme – the holes were great on their own but the dunes were so massive that the course didn’t quite flow or speak in harmony. Maybe that’s just a commentary on the site at Barnbougle and just how extreme it is.

And therein lies the key to Pacific Dunes in my opinion: the routing. Yes, the individual holes are strong, the views resplendent and the land upon which it sits is perfect. In his seminal thesis, 

, and later repeated in Stephen Goodwin’s 

, Doak says “On choice property architects must discover the correct routing through the natural terrain, and thereby claim it’s advantages… But the architect cannot decide upon his best alternative until he has put together several different schemes.” Well, Doak certainly avoided the obvious scheme (nine holes inland and nine holes along the cliffs), deciding instead upon a layout reminiscent of an earlier trip he’d taken to Royal Portrush. In Goodwin’s book, Doak’s former associate Jim Urbina offers the following: “Our routing kept looping, looping, looping.” And I think that’s what spoke to me the most, the symphonic, circular nature of the course. The first three holes are eminently fair, and you’re gradually introduced to the ocean playing up to the third green. Then you get your ass kicked along the cliffs for 15 minutes on the fourth hole, but not in a way that’s unfair or mean-spirited. It’s more like you’ve been rewarded with the view and you need to sack up and hit two good golf shots. Then you get a straightforward, yet handsome par three to catch you breath, moving inland just a bit but still in earshot of the ocean. After that you hang out inland away from the water and the golf is just as good. This is the pattern and it’s great.

Despite moving farther inland, the sixth offers another mini-crescendo, with a salacious short four that’s an eminently fair par but tough birdie, as it should be. Depending on how you play the sixth you can either take a little break or buckle up and try to be a hero. Regardless, the seventh hole might be the toughest on the entire property. If your tee shot is even remotely out of position then you’re pretty much dead and left to extricate yourself from a bad situation by laying up. I ignored my caddie Squid, attempted a heroic recovery, and ended up looking like a dipshit traipsing through the remarkable natural bunkering up the left side (Doak’s words) and making a triple bogey for which I was solely responsible. Despite this, at no point did I feel like Doak was reverting back to his mendacious, mean-spirited habits. When I stepped on that tee I knew what I was in for, and looking back, the hole rewarded placement and precision rather than brute strength, which is a rarity for a long par four.

The inland jaunts away from the coast hold your attention with stern, but fair, golf. Perhaps this stretch of the course also resonated more deeply than it would have during other times of the year due to the honeyed hues of the blooming gorse.

The eighth hole was another highlight for me. The drive was fair and forgiving and the approach featured far more than what met the eye from the fairway. A massive false front on the left intimidated you, but as Squid noted, there was more room right of the green than you could imagine and the green offered up a half-punchbowl. It also felt like the start of a new journey back down to the ocean, with palpable suspense building on 8 and 9. You get back down to the 10th and you’re given a chance to breathe – a medium-length, bunkerless par three awaits and allows you to level out in the presence of the sensory overload in front of you. The scenery is one thing, but along the way you’re hitting cool pockets of ocean air sitting snugly among the dunes, smelling the salty humidity, and hearing the dull roar of the waves drifting up from below. You’d gotten a dose of this earlier and here you’re getting a second chance to relive it all, but with the key learnings from earlier. And then you get to the 11th and you’ve got another par 3, well-bunkered yet shorter, and you can maximize the enjoyment of that piece of land that much more with the quick flourishes inherent in one-shot holes. In all, there are four par-threes on the back nine and at no point does it feel gimmicky or cute.

The 12th offers a wide-open, yet thought-provoking, par 5 ripe with strategic options. The thirteenth was one the highlights of the entire trip. It’s long, uphill, into the wind, but easier than it looks from the tee, and buffeted by bunkers up the right side and cliffs down the left. Instead of bitching about how hard this hole is, take it with a grain of salt and treat it like the pay-off for the four par threes on the side. The green site on 13 backs up to Old Mac and is one of the more spectacular perches on the property, isolated and rugged. After that you start heading back to the clubhouse (realizing at this point that you haven’t been back there since the first hole).

I found the closing stretch a bit uneven, which isn’t surprising given what you’ve just experienced. However 16 is a cerebral par 4 up the hill to a challenging green and 17 is a spectacular long, redan-ish par three set among the gorse and befitting the land movement quite well. The 18th leaves a bit of a sour taste in your mouth, as if Doak couldn’t quit without a parting shot. The par 5 features a penal drive; the gorse cuts in way too much down the right to the point where even well struck drives get punished, and then the green side features some unnecessary bunkering. I was left to stew on what I had just experienced over lunch on the veranda overlooking the entire property. Man, those oceanfront holes were *heavy* and I immediately wanted another crack at the whole place. It certainly wasn’t the ass-kicking I’d expected.

The next afternoon saw our second loop around Pac Dunes and those sour notes completely dissipated. Perhaps it was the beers at lunch, or the rapidity with which the weather the turned and the cold fog rolled in just in time for our second oceanfront climax (the fog was just thick enough to shroud the course in mystery and make each hole feel distinct and remote from the others). Or it could have been the fact that I played more patiently or that we’d been on property for long enough to adjust to the slower rhythms. Whatever it was, I felt all of the positive things I’d felt the day prior, just more acutely. The characteristically extreme elements were all still there – the unforgiving green on four, the massive blowout bunker on six, even the encroaching gorse on eighteen – but they all felt complimentary, natural, and essential to the larger ebb and flow of the round. This course is truly a give and take. It’s both thoughtful and emotional; but above all else, it’s restrained.

So where does that leave me and the Doakito? At this point I’m seeing other people (Coore & Crenshaw) but Doak and I remain good friends (think the movie “It’s Complicated”). I’m unsure what brought on his restraint (perhaps Keiser, perhaps just a dutiful responsibility to that piece of land). Whatever it was, it offered up the best golf experience of my life.

 The restroom/concession stand/bomb shelter that you hit on 4 and 13 features outdoor urinals which Keiser says are among his “favorite places on the course” according to Dream Golf.

WHAT SHOULD I DO BEFORE PLAYING THIS COURSE?:

 I actually wouldn’t do anything. It’s better to go in open-minded and untarnished by specific expectations – just wing it!

 The aesthetic is very Pac-Northwest and the space is airy upstairs. Breakfast here was the best of the bunch. Drinks and appetizers on the back deck were also essential.

The Bandon Experience: Pacific Dunes

The most distinctive characteristic of the massive, 2+ acre putting green/course at Pacific Dunes is the soundtrack: the raucous bursts and deep groans that alternate and grow louder as the afternoon wanes into evening and the beverage service does it’s job. You can hear the soundtrack as Pac Dunes winds nearby on the seventh hole, and again as you’re finishing up on 18. Our experience was slightly different than that enjoyed by most during the warm summer months, as our evening spent at the Punchbowl was foggy and cool, which added an element of surrealism. After playing a skins game on the 18-hole putting course (which changes its holes daily), we elected to create cross country holes, some of which were 60 yards long.

Another memory of the punchbowl that will stick with me came from our lunch after our first loop around Pacific. As we sat there nibbling a dozen members of the grounds staff was hard at work below, mowing, cutting new holes, trimming surrounds, etc. It was a symphonic performance that serves as a good analogy for the resort as a whole – a chorus of individuals coming together to create and sustain something you’d never be able to dream up if you tried.

The Bandon Experience: The Punchbowl

I love Bandon Dunes. She only loves me when she wants to. I think about her a lot, but often my outreach goes unreturned. I see that she’s read my text, but she hasn’t responded. When she does reply, my heart flutters, I get too excited, and it shines through in my response. And she pushes me back away.

In 2013, my dad dangled the ultimate temptation in front of me. Almost a half decade had passed since my first attempt to pass the CPA Exam, and it was extremely apparent that standard measures were not going to be successful. Needing to pass the exam to get promoted to manager, the bribe that was proposed was that if I managed to pass all four parts, we would go on a father/son trip to Bandon Dunes. I wasn’t sure if he was serious about the offer, but it was that carrot at the end of the rope that motivated me to start taking the exam more seriously. Is there any wonder now as to how I made golf my career instead of accounting?

I kept a browser window open on the Bandon website as I studied. When tempted to start perusing the internet, I would see those pictures and remember that there was a prize at the end of the tunnel, and that I needed to keep that nose buried. When I finally did pass, the old man pulled through with the most simple of texts. “When are we going?”

The trip was off to a poor start, as our clubs did not make our connection to Eugene. The staff at the resort was more than helpful getting us sorted in a rental set, but I regrettably chose irons with regular flex shafts. After an embarrassing 93 strokes around Pacific Dunes (things were moving VERY quickly), we woke up the next morning to see that our clubs had been delivered. Compared to the previous day, my comfort level had increased dramatically, and I got the sense that the actual trip was now just beginning.

My play was infrequent during this phase of my life, but I could still take it low from time to time. The winds were up, but I felt up to the challenge with the proper arrows in my quiver. I try as best I can when evaluating a golf course to separate out how well I played and the weather conditions. But that first walk around Bandon spoke to me in a more visceral way than I had experienced on a golf course. It was my first real links golf experience, and the shots just seemed to fit my eye. Perhaps it was the hours spent perusing the photos on the website before boarding the plane, but most likely it was because I had found a course that I connected with. If only she connected with me.

From the fourth tee, you can see the ocean, but I wouldn’t call it a view. It gives you a glimpse into what you’re about to see, but it doesn’t properly prepare you for the unveiling once you (hopefully) reach your ball down the fourth fairway between two sizeable dunes. The hole bends to the right, directly at the Pacific Ocean. I’ve played seaside holes before, but had never seen anything that looked like the fourth green. Set like an infinity pool against the horizon, it looked like it was about to fall off into the ocean behind it. It wasn’t until I got greenside that I realized just how high up above the ocean these cliffs sat, and how special this property was.

Playing the back tees in a stiff breeze, I was quite pleased to sign for a 77. We were set to get another round in at Pacific Dunes that afternoon. But when presented with the option of almost immediately replaying Bandon, both pops and I were keen to go right back around.

I golfed my ball miraculously around this golf course. Flighting the ball under the wind, getting up and down from everywhere, and making birds on the holes that I should. As the sun began its dip on the horizon, I stood on the 16th green 15 feet away from moving to 2 under.

“For good golfers, Bandon seems like the most ‘gettable.’ And that leads to overly aggressive play. At least, that’s my read.”

I can’t get this recent message that I got from David McClay Kidd out of my head. I gassed the birdie putt by, missed the comebacker. I was in shock. After a par on the 17th, I stood 230 out on the par-5 18th. I blew my 4-iron way right into the hazard, made bogey, and was ready to vomit. As soon as I tried to put the gas pedal down, Bandon Dunes slapped me in the face.

I’ve thought about that round way too often over the last few years. On this return trip, I was chomping at the bit to get deep in Bandon’s ass.

I shot 87 and got Punched. In. The. Face.

I stepped next door to Pacific Dunes. 73. Across the property to Bandon Trails. 74. Old MacDonald. 73. Back to Pacific. 73. Bandon Trails. 72. The only way to end this trip was to finally conquer the elusive Bandon Dunes.

Admittedly, I was too gassed up. The winds were down and the course might actually have been too gettable. I missed in places you can’t miss, fiddled away easy birdie opportunities, and made sloppy bogies. Worst of all, I kept insisting to my partner, Big Randy, that the tides were turning. So we kept pressing. And pressing. And pressing.

We ended up losing ten ways. I walked off the property more confused than ever by the first course built at Bandon, and it’s still the one I’m thinking about. Often I’m a victim of tying my best rounds to my enjoyment of the course. In the case of Bandon Dunes, it’s the opposite. By far my two highest rounds of the trip were at Bandon, and the old girl is still my favorite. I’m still checking my phone to see if she texted back.

 McClay Kidd made three changes to the course recently. The changes were to encourage more aggressive and free swinging play.

“Nothing got easier, at least in terms of making par for birdie.”

Bunkers were removed from the left side of 11, mounding adjusted to the left of the par-3 15th, and bunkers removed from the left side of the 17th fairway.

 The clubhouse at Bandon is the hub for the golf operation at the resort and is also the main lodge. Something for everyone – the Gallery serves up quality golf club fare and looks out at the expanse of the golf course and the ocean beyond. The Bunker Bar is (predictably) downstairs and the perfect spot to tie one on. Also, adjacent to the main clubhouse is McKee’s Pub, which offered up the best food we had all trip. We ate their almost every night. Chicken Pot Pie, Shepherd’s Pie, nightly specials, all of it was spectacular.

The Bandon Experience: Bandon Dunes

Nary a better warm-up or cool-down exists than the Preserve, Bandon’s 13 hole short course. In lieu of hitting the range (amazingly we didn’t hit a single range ball the entire trip), we started our trip off on Preserve and then thought it the only fitting way to end the trip, as well. Occupying some of the most spectacular land at Bandon, The Preserve offers up an eclectic mix of half-shots and full-throated eight irons as it meanders down from the Trails clubhouse toward the secluded forest and beach below, and then back up along a gorge. Aside from featuring the best logo on property, Preserve allows eightsomes and the layout is extremely conducive to betting. That’s a recipe for fun.

As for specific holes, the first two are relatively standard fare before you get to the 75ish yard third, which tests your touch like no other hole on property. The fourth features a double green (shared with seven) and can play anywhere from around 80 to 120 yards, a common theme. The sixth might be the hardest hole on the entire property, regardless of which tees you play. The green is seemingly 60 yards long and is fronted by bunkers on the left side and cliffs beyond those.

The seventh can stretch all the way to 147 yards and features a massive green with girthy swales. The eighth was my favorite on the whole course, despite the fact (or rather because of it) that it measures just 40 yards from the front tee and 63 yards from the back tee. A mound guards the front of the putting surface and distorts the view of the half-punchbowl green. You’ve just gotta get it there, which is trickier than it seems! The ninth is spectacular and juts out on a promontory – the views and the natural mounding around the green are delicious. The eleventh is another standout and plays along the creek, demanding a well-struck short iron to reach the green. The home hole comes in at around 100 yards and offers the opportunity to play anything from a lofted wedge to a putter or bumped 3-wood.

Bookending the trip with the Preserve allowed us to apply what we’d learned during our time at Bandon and play the holes differently than how we’d done the first go-around. We were also fortunate to have our caddie, Squid, come play it with us and display some of the butteriest hands on the planet and the creativity that could only be gleaned from years working at Bandon. I felt like I was watching Mark Burke on Golf Channel’s seminal masterpiece “Pipe Dream.”

The Bandon Experience: Bandon Preserve

Most people reading this have probably never heard of Whistling Rock Country Club.

Before the 2015 Presidents Cup, I was definitely one of them, as I could not name a single golf course in South Korea. But I saw the look in D.J. Piehowski’s eyes when he reported back about his experience at this club about an hour and a half east of Seoul. I knew that I had to try to see it for myself.

“It was without a doubt the coolest, weirdest golf experience I’ve ever had,” he said. “The service felt way too good to be true. Like, you couldn’t shake the feeling the entire day that they were confusing us with someone far more important.”

When the opportunity to come over and cover the inaugural CJ Cup at Nine Bridges came up, I immediately began trying to find a way to visit this remote destination.

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