No corner of America has reshaped modern golf like the wild dune land south of Coos Bay. The Bandon Dunes Golf Resort gathers five of the finest links courses built this century in one walking only sanctuary above the Pacific, and the wider Oregon coast adds a few more worth the drive. Here are the ten we rate most highly, ranked, with our verdict on each and how to play it.
Photograph: Agate Beach Golf Course, Agate Beach Golf Course, via Google
The story of Oregon coast golf is really the story of one man's gamble. In 1999 Mike Keiser opened Bandon Dunes, a David McLay Kidd links laid straight onto the dunes and gorse above the Pacific, and bet that Americans would walk, carry or take a caddie and play golf the way the Scots do. They came. Tom Doak's Pacific Dunes followed in 2001 and was hailed almost at once as one of the best courses of the modern era. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw added Bandon Trails in 2005, Doak and Jim Urbina built the wide, Macdonald inspired Old Macdonald, and Coore and Crenshaw returned for Sheep Ranch in 2020, a clifftop routing with no bunkers and nine greens on the ocean's edge.
We ranked on architecture, the drama of the land, conditioning and how a travelling golfer actually experiences each round, which at Bandon means walking, weather and caddies rather than carts and cart paths. The five full courses are so close in quality that the order is a matter of taste, so treat our top five as a single great destination played in any sequence. Beyond the resort we have added the genuine coastal options that stand on their own, at Florence and Gleneden Beach, while leaving out inland tracks that happen to sit near the coast highway. Every designer and opening year here was checked at the time of writing. The order and the verdicts are our editors' view. If you want this built into a costed trip with tee times secured, that is what our concierge does.
Tom Doak's masterpiece and, for many, the finest course built in America this century. Opened in 2001 on a tighter, wilder dune corridor than its older sibling, it runs hard along the cliff tops with back to back par threes, blind shots and greens that sit perfectly in the land. Nothing feels forced. If you play one round on the Oregon coast, play this, ideally into a stiff afternoon wind.
The course that started it all, a David McLay Kidd links opened in 1999 that proved the dream and launched the resort. Big, bold and gorse lined, it climbs to a famous run of holes on the bluff with the Pacific spread out below. Slightly more forgiving off the tee than Pacific Dunes and every bit as memorable, it is the sentimental and historical heart of the place.
The resort's fourth course, a Tom Doak and Jim Urbina tribute to the template holes of C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor. Enormous, rumpled greens and acres of width make it the widest and most strategic test at Bandon, a course you can play a dozen ways. It rewards imagination and the ground game more than raw power, and it grows on golfers with every round.
The change of pace, a Coore and Crenshaw design opened in 2005 that begins in the dunes, climbs through coastal forest and meadow, then returns to the sand. The only course at the resort that leaves the ocean for a stretch, it is a beautifully varied walk and an architectural gem in its own right. Many regulars rate the closing holes among the best at Bandon.
The newest of the big five, a Coore and Crenshaw routing opened in 2020 across roughly 6,785 yards with no bunkers and nine greens perched on the very edge of the bluff. The exposure is total and the views relentless, which makes club selection in the wind the whole game. Bold, minimalist and thrilling, it completed the set and instantly joined the world rankings.
A thirteen hole par three course by Coore and Crenshaw set on a glorious patch of dunes above the ocean, and far more than a warm up. The short holes are genuinely strategic and the views are some of the best on the property, while net proceeds fund the Wild Rivers Coast conservation work. Reserve a late afternoon loop and you will not want it to end.
The resort's newest addition, a relaxed short course from the Whitman, Axland and Cutten team that opened in May 2024, named for the late caddie master. Loose, fun and free wheeling, it is built for music, a drink in hand and golf without a card, the perfect evening counterpoint to a long day on the championship links. Proof that Bandon keeps finding ways to add joy rather than just length.
Not a course but a vast, wildly contoured putting green above the ocean beside Pacific Dunes, and a Bandon institution. Free to resort guests, it fills each evening with matches, laughter and long curling putts as the sun drops into the Pacific. No list of the Oregon coast experience is complete without it, even if you never keep score.
An hour and a half up the coast at Florence, a well regarded public course that mixes open links style holes among the dunes with tree lined parkland stretches inland. It will never rival Bandon, but it is a fine, good value round in its own right and a natural add on for golfers driving the coast highway between Bandon and the central coast. Conditioning and the dune holes are the draw.
The resort course at Salishan on the central coast near Gleneden Beach, a long established layout that runs from forested hillside down toward the Siletz Bay estuary. More sheltered and parkland in feel than Bandon, it suits a relaxed coastal break with the family rather than a pilgrimage, and it rounds out a full tour of Oregon coast golf for those making the drive north.
Designers and opening years verified June 2026; the Bandon Dunes courses are walking only and resort access is required. Course profiles are added across the site as the directory grows. Always confirm access and tee times directly before booking. Check tee time availability.
Tell us how many rounds you want at Bandon, your group size and roughly when, and whether you want caddies throughout. One concierge secures the tee times and the lodge, then costs the trip to the head, with no obligation.
Tom Doak's Pacific Dunes, opened in 2001 at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, is the most highly rated course on the Oregon coast and one of the best modern courses in the world, with David McLay Kidd's original Bandon Dunes its closest rival. Reasonable people swap the top two, but the resort holds the top five places on any honest Oregon list.
Yes. Every full course at Bandon Dunes is open to resort guests, and the resort is walking only, with caddies and pull carts rather than ride on buggies. Tee times are released to the public and book up far ahead, especially May through October, so the practical route for a serious trip is a multi night stay with rounds locked in early. Always confirm directly before booking.
There are five full eighteen hole courses, Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald and Sheep Ranch, plus the thirteen hole Bandon Preserve par three course, the Shorty's short course that opened in 2024, and the Punchbowl putting course. A full trip plays the five big courses with the short courses as evening extras.
Late spring through early autumn, roughly May to October, gives the driest and longest days, though the firm coastal turf and the wind make it links golf in any month. Summer is busiest and books out first. Hardy golfers play the shoulder seasons for value and solitude, packing properly for wind and rain. Always confirm conditions before booking.
Bandon tee time windows, new course news and the best value weeks for an Oregon coast pilgrimage. Every other week.
Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Course designers and opening years verified June 2026 where stated. Last reviewed June 2026.