Old Macdonald, Bandon Dunes
The fourth course at Bandon Dunes is a love letter to Charles Blair Macdonald, the father of American golf architecture. Tom Doak and Jim Urbina opened Old Macdonald in June 2010 on the biggest, most open dunes on the property: a 6,944 yard par 71 with the widest fairways and the largest greens at the resort, where every great template hole in the Macdonald canon gets a Pacific coast encore. Here is the verdict, the facts, the holes and how to get on.
Photograph: Matthew Lloyd, via Google.
The verdict
Old Macdonald is the thinking golfer's round at Bandon Dunes. Doak and Urbina set out to honor C.B. Macdonald, the man who built the National Golf Links of America, by reimagining his template holes on Oregon sand: the Redan, the Biarritz, the Eden, the Cape, the Road, the Short and the Long all appear, not as copies but as arguments restarted on better ground. The fairways are absurdly wide and the greens are among the largest in American golf, which fools first timers into thinking the course is soft. It is not. Every pin asks for a specific angle, every green has wings that feed a careless approach forty feet away, and the wind grades the exam.
Within the resort's running order, Pacific Dunes is the masterpiece and Bandon Dunes the founding text, but Old Macdonald is the course the architecture obsessives replay in their heads on the flight home. Play it with a caddie, putt from twenty yards off the green, and accept that the ground game is the whole point.
Old Macdonald at a glance
- Opened
- 2010
- Designers
- Doak and Urbina
- Par
- 71
- Length
- 6,944 yds
- Type
- Links
- Green fee
- ~$120 to $420
Designers, opening and layout verified June 2026. Old Macdonald was designed by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina and opened in June 2010 as the fourth course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. It plays as a par 71 of 6,944 yards from the longest tees. Indicative 2026 green fees across the main Bandon courses run from roughly 120 to 370 dollars for resort guests and Oregon residents and 170 to 420 dollars for day guests by season; fees change by season and year, so always confirm directly before booking.
The holes worth the trip
The early stretch announces the scale: by the third, named Sahara, you are hitting a tee shot over a vast blind dune in the spirit of the original at Royal St George's, trusting the caddie's line and grinning when the ball reappears on short grass. The Eden green, ringed by trouble in front and disaster behind, and the Short, a tiny par 3 to an enormous green with a horseshoe ridge, show how much menace Macdonald could pack into a wedge shot.
The climb to the seventh, named Ocean, is the emotional summit. The fairway rises to the highest point of the routing and the Pacific opens up across the whole horizon, with the hole tumbling down toward the sea. The eighth's Biarritz green, with its famous deep swale running through the middle, may be the most entertaining putting surface at the resort: three putts feel like victory from the wrong shelf. The Redan tilts everything toward the back left corner the way the original at North Berwick always has, and the Road hole green, with its blunt shoulder and gathering hollow, ends arguments the way it has since 1900.
What stays with you is the freedom. There is almost always a way to run the ball home, almost never a forced carry that decides the hole, and the course gets better every time you play it because the questions are about geometry, not muscle.
How to get on
| What to know | Detail |
|---|---|
| Access | Fully public as part of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort; resort guests get booking priority and lower rates, and tee sheets open well in advance through the resort |
| Green fee | Seasonal pricing. Indicative 2026 rates roughly 120 to 370 dollars for resort guests and Oregon residents and 170 to 420 dollars for day guests, with discounted same day replay rounds |
| Booking | Summer tee sheets and lodging book many months out; plan a multi night stay and reserve golf and rooms together, or target April, May and October for value |
| On the day | Walking only, caddies available and recommended; firm fescue turf, a full practice center and the resort's famous 13 hole Bandon Preserve par 3 course nearby |
| Getting there | On the southern Oregon coast at Bandon, around 30 minutes from regional flights into North Bend and roughly 4.5 hours by road from Portland |
| Best months | May to September for prime weather and long days; winter golf is cheap, windswept and beloved by purists |
Access and indicative green fees verified June 2026; they change without notice, so always confirm directly before booking with Bandon Dunes or your trip planner. Check tee time availability.
Where to stay nearby
Stay on property. Bandon Dunes is a true golf resort in the Scottish mold: lodge rooms, cottages and the Inn sit minutes from every first tee, the restaurants are built around 36 hole days, and the shuttle system means the car keys stay in the room for the week. Groups favor the multi bedroom cottages near the Lodge; couples tend toward the Inn. The town of Bandon, ten minutes away, adds chowder and a working harbor for the rest day.
A Bandon buddies trip usually rotates all the big courses, with Bandon Trails and Sheep Ranch completing the set. Our 4 day Bandon Dunes itinerary shows how the rotation fits together.
Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts around Bandon and the southern Oregon coast.
Build a Bandon Dunes golf week
We arrange tee times on Old Macdonald and the full Bandon rotation and build them into a complete Oregon coast trip, lodging, replays, transfers and every detail, costed to the head. Tell us roughly when and who is travelling and one concierge does the rest, with no obligation.
Old Macdonald questions
Who designed Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes?
Old Macdonald was designed by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina and opened in June 2010. The course is a tribute to Charles Blair Macdonald, the father of American golf architecture, and reinterprets his famous template holes on the open dunes of the Oregon coast.
What par and length is Old Macdonald?
Old Macdonald plays as a par 71 of 6,944 yards from the longest tees. The fairways are the widest at Bandon Dunes and the greens are among the largest in American golf, so the examination is about angles and the ground game rather than raw carry.
How much does it cost to play Old Macdonald?
Green fees at Bandon Dunes are seasonal. Indicative 2026 rates run from around 120 to 370 dollars for resort guests and Oregon residents and roughly 170 to 420 dollars for day guests, with winter far cheaper than peak summer. Replay rounds are discounted. Always confirm directly before booking.
Is Old Macdonald walking only?
Yes. Like every course at Bandon Dunes, Old Macdonald is walking only, with caddies available and recommended. The terrain is rolling rather than punishing, and the wide corridors make it one of the friendlier walks at the resort.
When is the best time to play Bandon Dunes?
May through September brings the most reliable weather and the longest days, with peak pricing to match. October and April are excellent value shoulders. Winter golf is real golf at Bandon, far cheaper and often playable, but pack for wind and rain and embrace the links conditions.
Related
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Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Designers, opening date and layout verified June 2026; indicative green fees verified June 2026. Last reviewed June 2026.