Seasoned travelers know that the number of amenities offered by a resort is too often in inverse proportion to the quality of the golf. A spa doesn't make up for mediocre courses. At Bandon Dunes, the opposite approach has won out. There are no frills: It's about golf the way Bali is about beaches. And with three of GOLF MAGAZINE's Top 100 Courses, it's the best one-stop shop you'll find anywhere. Pacific Dunes
6,633 yards, par 71
No. 8, Top 100 Courses in the U.S.
Pacific Dunes opened in 2001 and is second only to Pebble Beach in GOLF MAGAZINE's ranking of the best public-access courses in the U.S. Let this stand as a vote for Pebble's ouster from the throne: Pacific Dunes is America's finest public-access course. You got that, Clint? At 6,633 yards, Tom Doak's layout is a bantamweight by modern standards, and there are some quirks — two greens at No. 9 and consecutive par 3s at Nos. 10 and 11 — but the entire package falls together seamlessly. There are many superb holes — like No. 13, a long par 4 teetering atop the dunes, and the 208-yard 17th, where the heaving green will either funnel your ball to the hole or kick it into a chipping area off the back. But the strength of Pacific Dunes doesn't lie in single holes; it is in the dizzying array of options you face at every turn. Navigating the route less traveled is the joy of a course like this. That's why numbers are as irrelevant here as at the Old Course in St. Andrews. It's just man against course (and weather). And golf really doesn't get much purer than that.
The Card Wrecker
Pacific Dunes:
No. 16, 338 yards,
par 4
You haven't faced this much heartbreak from one so short since your grade-school crush told you to take a hike. Architect Tom Doak tells you how to survive the secondshortest par 4 on his course.
6,633 yards, par 71
No. 8, Top 100 Courses in the U.S.
Pacific Dunes opened in 2001 and is second only to Pebble Beach in GOLF MAGAZINE's ranking of the best public-access courses in the U.S. Let this stand as a vote for Pebble's ouster from the throne: Pacific Dunes is America's finest public-access course. You got that, Clint? At 6,633 yards, Tom Doak's layout is a bantamweight by modern standards, and there are some quirks — two greens at No. 9 and consecutive par 3s at Nos. 10 and 11 — but the entire package falls together seamlessly. There are many superb holes — like No. 13, a long par 4 teetering atop the dunes, and the 208-yard 17th, where the heaving green will either funnel your ball to the hole or kick it into a chipping area off the back. But the strength of Pacific Dunes doesn't lie in single holes; it is in the dizzying array of options you face at every turn. Navigating the route less traveled is the joy of a course like this. That's why numbers are as irrelevant here as at the Old Course in St. Andrews. It's just man against course (and weather). And golf really doesn't get much purer than that.
The Card Wrecker
Pacific Dunes:
No. 16, 338 yards,
par 4
You haven't faced this much heartbreak from one so short since your grade-school crush told you to take a hike. Architect Tom Doak tells you how to survive the secondshortest par 4 on his course.
TOM DOAK ON PLAYING IT
