Commonalities such as waterfront sites, sandy soils and long sight lines are repeated throughout Golfweek’s Best annual course rankings.
What do the highest rated courses on Golfweek’s Best lists have in common? As a course designer I have spent the past 20 years trying to figure out the key ingredients of great courses. And in studying what goes into a great course, we found a few interesting tidbits.
One might think having a famous architect or famous tour pro design the course is essential. In fact, pro golfers are not a good bet for such, especially if rated by percentage of their portfolio. Also, many of the top courses were designed by architects before they became famous. And we found that the age of the designer was not a great indicator, as there are top courses designed by architects in their 20s up to their 70s.
You do notice that most of the Classic courses are located in urban or suburban areas, while most of the top Modern courses are in remote locations largely due to modern land costs, zoning, environmental restrictions and land availability. Most of the top Modern courses also feature on-site lodging.
And while each project is different and offers varying levels of potential, in my opinion and as evidenced by this year’s Golfweek’s Best lists, greatness often is a byproduct of three key factors: the site, the design and the culture.
Sand Hills in Nebraska (Courtesy of Sand Hills)
The site
Sites vary. A layout on an inland parcel bordered by freeways and power plants would not garner the same love as the same layout on coastal duneland. So what are the components of a site that would provide the best chance for success?
Sand: Fifteen of the top 20 Classic (before 1960) courses are built on sandy soils. Even more noteworthy, nine of the 10 highest rated Modern courses sit on sand. Sandy soils provide an ideal growing medium, offer exceptional drainage, promote firm turf and are easier and less expensive on which to build. In golf, sand is gold.
Core golf: Sixteen of the top 20 Classic courses are core golf, meaning no public roads or houses bisect the course. Eighteen of the top 20 Modern courses are core layouts. Essentially, core golf means that golf is the focus – not tennis, swimming or weddings. Core golf provides the best opportunity to fully immerse yourself in nature.
Open site with long views: Thirteen of the top 15 Classic courses are open by nature, as are nine of the top 10 modern courses. Open sites may have trees but don’t isolate the holes, meaning there are long views across the property. Open sites allow the wind to play a role, and the designs often have more width and offer more strategic options.
Waterfront: Seven of the top 13 Classic courses reside on a major body of water, as do six of the top nine modern courses. Any property on a major body of water is valuable and alluring, and it’s especially so for golf. Not only is the water pretty to look at, water is often closely tied to the sandy soils and open sites mentioned before.
Shadow Creek in Nevada (Golfweek archives)
The design
A golf designer is tasked with meeting a client’s goals on a particular site. In some cases the mandate may be to create the best possible course, but other times it may be to construct a demanding championship layout or a fun and quirky track. Here are some elements that top courses have regardless of setting or client.
Sense of place: This refers to what is inherently special or unique in a setting. In golf it is often a landscape, but it also could include a site’s history. Each of the top 20 Classic and Modern courses captures the sense of place. Augusta National sits on a former nursery and does a great job showcasing the tall pines and azaleas. Bandon Dunes highlights the great linksland as opposed to importing lakes, waterfalls, trees and flowers. The top courses, even when the design is manufactured, try to capture a sense of place. Shadow Creek is 100 percent artificial, but the goal was to create an oasis in the desert, which its layout does perfectly – it screams Las Vegas.
Variety: The best courses maximize variety. They have short, medium and long holes. The holes move left to right, right to left, uphill, downhill and sidehill. The hazards (bunkers, water, hollows, etc.) are in different spots, sometimes in front, sometimes on the side and sometimes behind. And you don’t see many parallel fairways on these lists.
Walkability: The top courses are usually designed with walking in mind. This means the holes flow with the land, the tees are often near the previous green, and paths do not impact strategy or aesthetics. All 20 of the top Classic courses are easily walkable. The top nine, and 15 of the top 20, Modern courses are very walkable.
Many top courses, such as Augusta National with the Masters, host major championships. (Rob Schumacher/USA TODAY Sports)
The culture
While a site is a product of mother nature and the design is crafted by an architect, the culture is often a byproduct of the owner-developer.
Golf first: Many clubs or resorts offer numerous amenities, but the top courses are found where golf is the priority. This means golf gets the best land and the other elements support the golf. None of the top five Classic courses (all private) have a pool or tennis. Seven of the top 20 Modern courses have water frontage, and in each case golf got that prime real estate as opposed to a clubhouse or lodging.
Championships: Many of the top courses host major championships. Hosting these events can bring prestige to a club or course, but it also means giving up your course for weeks or more, repairing any damage and often a financial loss to the facility. The top courses have a culture of giving back to the game by hosting these events. Sixteen of the top 20 Classic courses have hosted a top-tier event on the PGA Tour.
Golfweek’s Best looks at the elite clubs in each state to determine which states have the greatest public access or private courses in U.S.
So, where’s the best golf in the United States? Turns out, it’s almost everywhere, as evidenced by this year’s Golfweek’s Best rankings of great courses. From Hawaii to New York, South Florida to northern Michigan, fantastic layouts – new and old – are sprinkled across a diverse landscape.
But an analysis of the new Golfweek’s Best rankings does of course show that some states are sprinkled a little more densely with top tracks. And to answer that question about the location of best golf, we must follow with another question: What type of golf do you prefer?
The Golfweek’s Best rankings are categorized in many ways, from public-access layouts on the Best Courses You Can Play lists for each state, to the top 100 private clubs. Want to play a great modern course? The states that show up most on that list are very different than the states with the most top classic courses, with 1960 serving as the demarcation between those categories.
(Fair warning, this story has enough ranking talk to make a golfer’s head spin like a balata ball struck by square grooves. Don’t worry, each of the lists discussed is displayed on these pages.)
Various states score highly on some of the lists, not so much in others. And for some golfers who haven’t closely followed the evolving golf scene over the past 20 years, there certainly might be some surprises.
For a fun comparison, we averaged the ratings of the top five public-access courses in each state to compile a list of states where a traveling golfer has the best chance to play a great track. We also compared states’ representation on a separate but similar list, the top 100 Best Courses You Can Play in the U.S.
While sunny stalwarts such as California and Florida rank highly on the list that compares each state’s top five public-access courses, it’s Oregon that steals the show with an average rating of 8.00 for the top five tracks. And largely on the strength of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (pictured atop this story is Bandon Dunes’ Old Macdonald) and the newer Silvies Valley Ranch, the Beaver State places eight layouts among the top 100 Best Courses You Can Play in the U.S.
Erin Hills in Wisconsin (Courtesy of Erin Hills/Paul Hundley)
Then what might be another surprise for some: Wisconsin is second on the list that compares the top five public-access courses in each state. The Badger State has become a must-see golf destination over the past 20 years despite a shorter-than-normal golf season. Whistling Straits, Sand Valley, Erin Hills and a handful of others have powered the climb in the rankings, and Wisconsin has eight courses among Golfweek’s Best top 100 courses you can play.
California ranks third in our data that compares each state’s top five public-access courses, no surprise there, thank you very much Pebble Beach and other coastal stars. And California tops the list of 100 Best Courses You Can Play in the U.S., showing incredible depth with 10 courses.
What’s not a surprise is New York’s domination of the list of Golfweek’s Best Private Courses, with Long Island the jewel in the crown. Again averaging the top five courses as ranked on the state-by-state list for top private tracks, New York beats out California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Georgia for the top spot for elite private clubs.
Shinnecock Hills in New York (David Cannon/Getty Images)
The disparity in New York’s private and public-access golf is certainly interesting. When comparing the ratings of the top five courses in each state, public versus private, the Empire State’s private courses are leaps and bounds ahead of its public-access courses – certainly no surprise to most golfers in the state. The top five private courses in the state average an astonishingly high 8.82 rating on Golfweek’s 10-point scale, while the top five public-access courses average 6.76.
The gulf between private and public is greater only in neighboring New Jersey. The top five private courses in the Garden State average an 8.11 rating, while its top five public-access tracks average a 6.03 rating.
Another interesting comparison is a state’s placing on the Golfweek’s Best classic and modern lists. Not surprising is that New York leads the country with 32 of the top 200 classic courses in the U.S., followed by Pennsylvania and California. But New York doesn’t fare so well on the modern list, with only four courses ranked among the top 200. Clearly the best available sites in the bustling state were taken before 1960, which is in line with the fact that early golf in the U.S. was developed mostly in the Northeast.
Florida tops the list of top 200 modern courses with 19 while placing only five tracks on the top 200 classic list. California is second on the modern list, followed by South Carolina, Arizona and Texas. Golf apparently expanded into warm states at a similar rate as did the availability of air conditioning in and after the 1960s.
Which still leaves the initial question: Where to go for great golf?
One state pops up in the top five of each of the lists discussed here: California. The Golden State is No. 1 on the list of top 100 Best Courses You Can Play in the U.S with 11 courses on that list. It also ranks No. 2 when comparing the top five private courses in each state (8.43 average rating), No. 2 on the top-200 modern list (16 courses), No. 3 when comparing the top five public-access courses in each state (7.55 average rating) and No. 3 on the top-200 classic list (18 courses).
So, for sure, California has it all: public, private, classic and modern. But there’s one more combination of rankings worth checking out: each state’s combined representation on the top 200 modern and classic lists. Based on the strength of its private clubs, New York has a combined 36 courses on those lists. California ranks second (34), followed by Florida (24), Pennsylvania (22), New Jersey (21), Massachusetts (20) and North Carolina (20). In all, 44 states have at least one course on either the top 200 classic or modern lists.
One other thing is also for sure: There’s great golf to be found at all points on the compass, as evidenced on the many lists in this issue. All you have to do is look, and to know what type of golf you are looking for.
The original Bandon Dunes course at the Oregon resort (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort)
States ranked by elite public-access courses
This list was compiled by averaging the ratings, on a scale of one to 10, of the top five public-access layouts in each state on the Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list:
1. Oregon, 8.00
2. Wisconsin, 7.56
3. California, 7.55
4. Florida, 7.34
5. North Carolina, 7.17
6. South Carolina, 7.11
7. Michigan, 6.94
8. Hawaii, 6.92
9. Washington, 6.92
10. Virginia, 6.77
11. New York, 6.76
12. Nevada, 6.70
13. Mississippi, 6.65
14. Nebraska, 6.65
15. Arizona, 6.55
16. Minnesota, 6.47
17. Texas, 6.46
18. Utah, 6.43
19. Georgia, 6.40
20. Colorado, 6.39
21. Missouri, 6.38
22. Arkansas, 6.30
23. Indiana, 6.29
24. Alabama, 6.29
25. North Dakota, 6.28
26. Massachusetts, 6.27
27. Tennessee, 6.22
28. Illinois, 6.21
29. New Mexico, 6.20
30. Pennsylvania, 6.16
31. West Virginia, 6.12
32. Maine, 6.09
33. New Jersey, 6.03
34. Idaho, 6.03
35. Ohio, 6.02
36. Connecticut, 6.01
37. Vermont, 5.97
38. Oklahoma, 5.94
39. Montana, 5.92
40. Maryland 5.91
41. Louisiana, 5.90
42. Iowa, 5.85
43. Kansas, 5.77
44. South Dakota, 5.75
45. New Hampshire, 5.69
46. Wyoming, 5.69
47. Rhode Island, 5.49
48. Kentucky, 5.47
49. Delaware, 5.15
50. Alaska, 5.06
Pebble Beach in California (Courtesy of Pebble Beach)
Each state’s share of the Top 100
Best Courses You Can Play
This list shows how many courses each state has on the Top 100 list for public-access courses in the United States. Only 32 states are represented on the list, with 18 states having no courses on the list.
1. California, 10
2(t). Florida, 8
2(t). Oregon, 8
2(t). Wisconsin, 8
5. North Carolina, 7
6. South Carolina, 6
7(t). Hawaii, 4
7(t). Michigan, 4
7(t). Virginia, 4
7(t). Washington, 4
11(t). Arizona, 3
11(t). Mississippi, 3
11(t). New York, 3
11(t). Nevada, 3
15(t). Colorado, 2
15(t). Georgia, 2
15(t). Minnesota, 2
15(t). Missouri, 2
15(t). North Dakota, 2
15(t). Nebraska, 2
15(t). Texas, 2
22(t). Alabama, 1
22(t). Illinois, 1
22(t). Indiana, 1
22(t). Massachusetts, 1
22(t). Maryland, 1
22(t). New Jersey, 1
22(t). New Mexico, 1
22(t). Oklahoma, 1
22(t). Tennessee, 1
22(t). Utah, 1
22(t). West Virginia, 1
Bethpage Black in New York (Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports)
States ranked by the Classic list
These 31 states have courses among Golfweek’s Best list for top 200 Classic courses built before 1960, and they are ranked below by number of courses on that list:
1. New York, 32
2. Pennsylvania, 19
3. California, 18
4. Massachusetts, 17
5. New Jersey, 13
6(t). Illinois, 11
6(t). North Carolina, 11
8. Ohio, 10
9. Michigan, 9
10. Connecticut, 8
11. Georgia, 6
12. Florida, 5
13(t). Maryland, 4
13(t). Minnesota, 4
13(t). Rhode Island, 4
13(t). South Carolina, 4
13(t). Texas, 4
18. Wisconsin, 3
19(t). Colorado, 2
19(t). Iowa, 2
19(t). Kansas, 2
19(t). Missouri, 2
19(t). Tennessee, 2
24 (t). Alabama, 1
24(t). Kentucky, 1
24(t). Nebraska, 1
24(t). Oklahoma, 1
24(t). Oregon, 1
24(t). Virginia, 1
24(t). Vermont, 1
24(t). West Virginia, 1
The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Florida (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
States ranked by the Modern list
These 42 states have courses among Golfweek’s Best list for top 200 modern courses built in or after 1960, and they are ranked below by number of courses on that list:
1. Florida, 19
2. California, 16
3. South Carolina, 15
4(t). Arizona, 10
4(t). Texas, 10
6(t). Georgia, 9
6(t). North Carolina, 9
6(t). Oregon, 9
9. New Jersey, 8
10. Michigan, 7
11(t). Hawaii, 6
11(t). Virginia, 6
11(t). Wisconsin, 6
14(t). Minnesota, 5
14(t). Washington, 5
16(t). Colorado, 4
16(t). New York, 4
16(t). Nebraska, 4
16(t). Ohio, 4
20(t). Idaho, 3
20(t). Illinois, 3
20(t). Indiana, 3
20(t). Massachusetts, 3
20(t). Mississippi, 3
20(t). Nevada, 3
20(t). Oklahoma, 3
20(t). Pennsylvania, 3
20(t). Tennessee, 3
29(t). Alabama, 2
29(t). Utah, 2
29(t). West Virginia, 2
32(t). Arkansas, 1
32(t). Connecticut, 1
32(t). Kansas, 1
32(t). Kentucky, 1
32(t). Maryland, 1
32(t). Missouri, 1
32(t). Montana, 1
32(t). New Mexico, 1
32(t). Rhode Island, 1
32(t). South Dakota, 1
32(t). Wyoming, 1
Winged Foot’s West course during the 2006 U.S. Open in New York (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
States ranked by elite private clubs
This list was compiled by averaging the ratings, on a scale of one to 10, of the top five private layouts in each state as ranked by Golfweek’s Best (Alaska has no courses on that list):
Watch this golfer make an ace at No. 16 at Bandon Dunes’ Sheep Ranch course.
This week Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on Oregon’s coastline is playing host to the best men’s amateur golfers in the world for the 120th U.S. Amateur.
While all eyes will be on Saturday’s semifinal matches at Bandon Dunes with Tyler Strafaci taking on Aman Gupta and Matthew Sharpstene squaring off against Charles Osborne, there’s more amazing golf being played on the property.
Over at Bandon’s newest feature, the Sheep Ranch course that opened on June 1, Allison Koehnke made an incredible ace on the 16th hole with her putter. There’s no other way to tease it, and frankly no need to. Check it out.
Amazing golf isn't just being played on #BandonDunes in the #USAmateur this week, it's also being played on #SheepRanch. Check out this ace by @the4koehnkes (IG) on No. 16 with her putter! The boys on Bandon may want to take notes on playing the ground game more often. 😉 @USGApic.twitter.com/hvaAuqzn72
The match play bracket for the 120th U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes is set after an 18-for-3 playoff Wednesday morning.
What a way to start match play.
After two rounds of stroke play, 18 players were on the 2-over cut line at the 120th U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes on Oregon’s coastline. Three spots in the Round of 64 for match play were up for grabs, meaning 18 of the world’s best would play until the spots on the bracket were filled.
First up was the par-4 10th. If necessary, the remaining players would play the par-4 11th and then the par-3 12th. The playoff never made it to No. 12.
Arizona State junior Cameron Sick and Duke senior Evan Katz each made birdie on No. 10 to qualify. Thirteen others made par to advance to the next hole. Ryan Gerard (North Carolina), Isaiah Jackson (Memphis) and Thomas Johnson (Oklahoma) were eliminated after making bogey.
Only one player, incoming Cal Bears freshman Aaron Du, made birdie on No. 11 to claim the 64th and final spot in match play.
Round of 64 matches began at 12:15 p.m. ET. You can check out the bracket, scores and times here.
McClure Meissner closed with birdies on 14, 16, 17 and 18 to post an 8-under 64 at Bandon Dunes in the first round of stroke play to hold the lead at the 120th U.S. Amateur.
Texas is known for producing great wind players, and two of the three leaders after the first round of stroke-play qualifying for the 120th U.S. Amateur at breezy Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon are from the Lone Star State.
McClure Meissner of San Antonio finished with a flurry of birdies on Nos. 14, 16, 17 and 18 to post an 8-under 64 Monday at Bandon Dunes to lead the 36-hole stroke-play qualifying. Travis McInroe of McKinney, Texas, shot 65 on Bandon Dunes and was in third place at 7 under. The Baylor junior birdied every other hole on the front nine.
Aman Gupta of Concord, N.C., also opened with a 64 and was 7 under on Bandon Trails, the second course used in qualifying. He did all his damage on the front nine, posting seven birdies and making the turn in 29. He parred all nine holes on the back, and the USGA reported his 64 broke the competitive record on Trails – formerly held by Chris Williams and Kevin Lim – by two shots.
Both Meissner took advantage of their early tee times before afternoon gusts made scoring more difficult.
Gupta, who plays at Oklahoma State, was added to the field after Florida’s Ricky Castillo, who would have been the highest-ranked player in the U.S. Amateur, withdrew, telling GolfChannel.com that he has experienced extreme fatigue leading up to the week. According to the report, Castillo tested negative for COVID-19 twice but wanted to protect the field just in case.
Meissner plays at SMU in Dallas. He won the Southern Amateur in July for the biggest win of his career to date.
Defending champ Andy Ogletree shot a 3-over 74 on Bandon Trails and was T-101 after one day.
The U.S. Amateur features 18 more holes of stroke play Tuesday. The 264-player field will then be cut down to the low 64 (there will be a playoff if needed to determine the final spots among the 64), setting up the match-play portion of the championship.
Match Play will be exclusively on Bandon Dunes on Wednesday through Sunday.
How to watch
Wednesday Aug. 5 (Round of 64 matches): 6-7 p.m., Peacock (streaming); 7-9 p.m., Golf Channel
Thursday, Aug. 6 (Round of 16 matches): 6-7 p.m., Peacock; 7-9 p.m., Golf Channel
Two par-3 holes at the Sheep Ranch share a massive green on 100-foot cliffs above the Pacific Ocean, one of the most dramatic sites in golf
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(Editor’s note: June 1 is the opening of Sheep Ranch, one of the most highly anticipated course openings of the last decade. Golfweek will have additional coverage all day long, including hourly photos on Instagram, and an Instagram Live with Golfweek Travel Editor Jason Lusk. Follow us on Instagram here.)
BANDON, Ore. – There are plenty of cliffside holes to love at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort’s new Sheep Ranch, which opens June 1 and features nine greens on the 100-foot cliffs above the beach and Pacific Ocean below.
But the focal point clearly is the giant, undulating, made-for-selfies double green perched atop Fivemile Point.
One piece of advice: If you’re afraid of heights, don’t look down. Plenty of photos and drone videos show the steepness of that edge of North America, but it feels even more dramatic when you take a break from reading putts to sneak a peek westward.
Jutting toward giant rocks breaking free beyond the water’s edge, the double green built by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw is the target for Nos. 3 and 16. Both are par 3s, with No. 3 playing a mere 120 yards off the back and the 16th playing 151.
Simple, right? Short little par 3s, flip in a wedge or short iron, maybe make a putt and walk off with a smile? Not so fast. The wind that sometimes howls across Fivemile Point has to be felt to believed – it’s not an exaggeration that some players might discuss a four-club wind with their caddies. Balls that climb high into that breeze could land anywhere. Great fun.
No. 16 plays northward along the cliff to the massive double green atop Fivemile Point at Bandon Dunes’ Sheep Ranch. (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort)
The green is massive, with separate tall dunes blocking the right-side entrances to both holes. No. 3 plays almost directly west from the interior of the course, while No. 16 stretches along the cliff from a tee box set south of the green. The highest portion of the green serves as the front for No. 3 and is not really in play for No. 16. From that high point it’s down, around, over lumps and swales to the lowest portion of the green just a step from the cliff’s edge.
If the surface of the double green has any likeness at the entire resort that features four other highly ranked courses, it might be the Punch Bowl putting green, which isn’t even part of an 18-hole course. The Punch Bowl invites players to sip cocktails and compete against each other on a ridiculously large practice green that falls away from the first tee of the Pacific Dunes course. Likewise, players happily could spend hours tumbling balls across the double green atop Fivemile Point, if only there weren’t another tee box waiting.
Speaking of that next tee: The rear corner of the double green even serves as the par-4 17th’s back tee box, from which strong players can send a ball over the cliffs edge, across the yellow gorse and toward the ancient stumps of trees and fairway beyond.
For years the site was the focal point of the site’s previous 13-hole course, also called Sheep Ranch, that was built by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina. But that routing didn’t host much play, and Fivemile point was mostly a distant dream for players looking north from the No. 7 snack shack on the resort’s Old Macdonald course.
The double green for Nos. 3 and 16 at Bandon Dunes’ Sheep Ranch sits atop 100-foot cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. (courtesy of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort)
Now it’s the new reality, and it will be among the most-talked-about acreage at the resort. Think No. 7 at Pebble Beach or No. 16 at Cabot Cliffs for North American cliffside comparisons – the site is that dramatic, with perhaps only No. 16 at Cypress Point surpassing it for heroics.
“Five Mile Point is a focal point for the whole property, no question about that,” Coore said. “It was that way with the original Sheep Ranch, and it’s the thing people talk about the most. It was the face of the Sheep Ranch property, I guess. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say it’s the cornerstone. You certainly won’t forget it.”
Bandon Dunes’ new Sheep Ranch golf course by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw features amazing terrain that dictates strategy
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(Editor’s note: June 1 is the opening of Sheep Ranch, one of the most highly anticipated course openings of the last decade. Golfweek will have additional coverage all day long, including hourly photos on Instagram, and an Instagram Live with Golfweek Travel Editor Jason Lusk. Follow us on Instagram here.)
BANDON, Ore. – The cliffside holes at the new Sheep Ranch – at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort as a whole, really – tend to steal the spotlight. They are stunning, perched 100 feet above the Pacific Ocean on nearly vertical rock walls.
But don’t think the new inland holes fashioned by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw are any less intriguing. With rolling terrain and wind-sculpted contours that constantly ebb and flow like the waves of the adjacent Pacific Ocean, the inland holes at the Sheep Ranch are stars on their own.
Take Nos. 8 and 11 as examples.
The eighth hole on the new course, which opens June 1, is a dogleg-right par 4 that plays 429 yards off the back tees. There are no trees or sand traps – the entire Sheep Ranch has no traditional bunkers – to protect the dogleg. Instead, it’s native grasses, rolling contours and wind that dictate how best to play the hole.
A large ridge runs down the wide fairway as it curves rightward toward the green. Place your tee shot atop the ridge, and you will be rewarded with a view of the green and a clear approach shot. But if you try to take the shorter route to the right side, you likely will find your ball in a fairway swale with no view of the green and a much tougher approach.
Much of that depends on the wind. On a south wind the hole will play shorter, allowing long hitters to bang their tee shots close enough to the green that an open sightline won’t much matter. But into a north wind, the placement of the tee shot is crucial.
“The goal is to get up on that ridge,” Coore said. “It’s an interesting hole. We hope that people will look at it and try to figure out what they need to do. … The terrain makes all the difference.”
No. 11 is no less interesting. The 529-yard par 5 climbs the tallest hill on the property towards the green, with a scattering of pine trees down the left. An indifferent second shot – either a layup or an attempt to get home in two on a south wind – can sail into a hazard or bluff on the right side, or down a steep embankment to the left from where a player faces a blind wedge shot straight up to the green.
And the approach to that green is the most secluded spot on an otherwise exposed course. If any of the Sheep Ranch’s holes remind a player of the other four highly ranked courses at the resort, No. 11 is it.
The second green at Bandon Dunes’ new Sheep Ranch is perched above the fairway, forcing players to choose from where to best approach the putting surface. (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort)
Nos. 8 and 11 are just two examples of using the contours to shape challenges without bunkers or trees impeding the line of play. The par-4 14th has a dramatic swale along the left side of the fairway, forcing a blind approach shot over a hilltop. The short par-4 second dares players to swing for the fences to get nearer the green with the help of a north wind, but a long tee shot into the left side of the fairway leaves a player with a delicate uphill, downwind pitch that is difficult to control.
It’s all about placement and strategy. And it’s all dictated by the terrain.
“When you get out there walking, you realize, man these contours are just beautiful,” Coore said. “We tried to let those contours and the coastline dictate the type of course. It’s hard to describe in words, but if you’ve seen it, you know.”
Sheep Ranch opens at Bandon Dunes with clever routing, extreme contours and nine greens perched on cliffs above the Pacific Ocean
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BANDON, Ore. – We could see forever on the downhill stroll to the first green at the new Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. The view from that northernmost point of the resort was all Pacific Ocean to the west, while the panorama to the south appeared as exposed land that somehow has taken on the shape of ocean waves, rising and falling at the whims of the wind. Flagsticks dotted the exuberant landscape, dancing in the seaside breezes.
Built upon a mile of jagged coastline, the tract initially looks huge. The ninth green sits at the far southern end, nearly reaching the bluffs at Old Macdonald and the rest of the famed golf resort. On an early preview round before the course’s official June 1 opening, it was a thrill to know we would play from here to there, then back again – we could see almost all the challenges waiting ahead. With few trees to block the sightlines, it looks like one giant playground.
But looks certainly can be deceiving.
The design team led by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw had to dig deep into its bag of tricks to make this highly anticipated course work on a deceptively small piece of land that is roughly 600 yards across at its widest. With only about 140 acres for the course before the land climbs into trees to the east, Coore and Crenshaw fashioned a genius routing that plays as wide open as the views.
The grand opening of the Sheep Ranch will reveal several differences to the resort’s other courses – all of which rank highly in the Golfweek’s Best ratings of greatest modern golf courses in the United States. Pacific Dunes is ranked No. 2, Old Macdonald is No. 5, Bandon Dunes is No. 8 and Bandon Trails is No. 14.
Greens stretch along the cliffs at the Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (David Davis/Statesman Journal)
The most immediately noticed difference is that the Sheep Ranch’s cliffs are not as linear, with promontories jutting 100 feet above the beach that afforded somewhat surreal opportunities to build several greens and tees almost entirely surrounded by open sky. And second is the ground itself, with little natural foliage to hide the sweeping internal contours.
“For the most part we did what we always try to do,” Coore said. “If you find a site that has a lot of inherent qualities, natural qualities for golf, you just let that guide the process. Certainly at the Sheep Ranch, the site was inherently different than any of the courses there. It definitely had different contours than most of the other courses. It wasn’t sand, wasn’t dunes. It just had such interesting natural contours for golf, amazingly interesting contours. We tried to let those contours and the coastline dictate the type of course.”
A few things to know going in: The Sheep Ranch is a compact course that is much more exposed to sometimes extreme wind than the other tracks at Bandon Dunes. The views are ridiculous. It has nine greens on those incredible, 100-foot Pacific cliffs. The fairways are wide, but that fact alone doesn’t necessarily make it easy to hit them when the wind is howling. For the first time at the resort, players can intentionally hit balls over the cliffs to targets perched on those dramatic promontories instead of just alongside the cliffs.
And there are no traditional sand bunkers. Not one. More on that later.
There are nine greens on the coast at the Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. (Gabe Gudgel/Golfweek)
As for the question I get most after my preview round: No, I won’t call it my favorite of the now five 18-hole courses at the resort, simply because it’s impossible for me to choose. Golfers will gather in McKee’s Pub and around the fire pit to figure out that argument, and they’re all right no matter which course they choose. My favorite at Bandon is always the next one on my schedule.
“I think it was Willie Nelson who said, you just do the best you can – in his case music – and then you throw it out there for everyone to judge,” Coore said. “Somebody will tell you if it’s any good or not. The Sheep Ranch is a little like that in the sense it’s quite different than the other courses at Bandon. We think it’s good, and we’re very pleased with what happened there. How it will be perceived is up to others to determine.”
The fact that the Sheep Ranch is even part of the discussion as the best course at Bandon Dunes involves some sleight of hand that has holes zigging and zagging across the landscape with so many greens perched above the ocean. It’s that intimacy with the cliffs that turn this course into one continuous photo op. That was the goal from the outset for Sheep Ranch co-owners Mike Keiser and Phil Friedmann.
“Mike and Phil are very good natured, but they had a very pointed directive: Try to use every single foot of that coastline. Every foot. And I can’t say it enough, I mean every foot,” Coore said with a laugh. “We all like to have fun with that kind of stuff in conversations, but it’s hard to do. We could have said we’re just going to run some holes along the ocean and along the cliffs, but if you do that, you get very few holes on the ocean.”
The highlight of the cliffside holes – and the focal point for the entire course – is the giant double green for Nos. 3 and 16. Jutting into the ocean atop Fivemile Point, suspended above dark rocks that rise from the water, it was obvious from the outset that this spot was special. It surely will take its place among the best spots for a golf selfie on the planet – the caddies will be busy here, handing off putters in exchange for smartphones for the obligatory shot.
No. 16 green at the Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Gabe Gudgel/Golfweek)
But much of what makes the Sheep Ranch work was not so obvious. Routing is a common term in golf, frequently used to casually describe a course as a whole. But to a course designer, it’s the nuanced art of fashioning 18 holes into a cohesive experience. And at the Sheep Ranch, the routing is everything.
The new course replaces a 13-hole track on the site that was built by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina and which also was named Sheep Ranch. It was owned independently by Friedmann, who along with Keiser was a co-founder of Recycled Paper Greetings, Inc., in 1971. That version of the Sheep Ranch wasn’t open to standard resort play and didn’t always follow a traditional routing, as the handful of players who experienced it could choose their tees and greens in a golf version of the basketball game Horse.
So how did Coore and Crenshaw approach the task of making 18 holes fit onto the piece of land that previously held just 13?
“The big thing, because of the small size of the property and the effects of the wind out there, we did have some concerns that if we built a bunch of holes that paralleled each other, balls could go anywhere,” Coore said. “Once balls get airborne on that kind of wind, they could go laterally a long way – they can go anywhere. We tried to figure out, the most interesting ground is here along the cliffs and, say, 400 yards inland – how do we best utilize that? But we can’t just line the holes up in a paralleling fashion because we were worried about where some of these tee shots would go on that wind.”
Turns out, the secret is in the clever and shared arrangement of the tee boxes.
No. 7 at the Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes)
If a course is built with parallel holes, each tee box consumes a sizeable chunk of land. Then there is all that ground stretching from tee to fairway. Factor in the space to keep the holes far enough apart so that each has its own identity – and so that players are less likely to send tee shots screaming on a crazy wind into other groups – and a designer will have used a lot of land that isn’t even really in play.
Instead, Coore and Crenshaw created several tee boxes that serve as hubs from which multiple fairways radiate outward and away from each other. Consider the spokes on a bicycle wheel: The spokes grow farther apart as they stretch outward from the hub.
Same thing with several of the Sheep Ranch tee boxes and fairways, with key examples being Nos. 2 and 18, Nos. 5 and 15 and Nos. 8 and 10. Placing the tees close together allows the fairways to extend farther apart while consuming less land.
(Routing graphic courtesy of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort; Map by Google Earth)
“Ben and I both agree, if we did anything that was maybe a bit unusual but was actually key to unlocking the routing there, it was combining those tee complexes,” Coore said. “By pulling tee complexes very close together where they almost become common teeing grounds for two different holes, it allowed us to really make it compact in the teeing areas. Then as the holes go away from the tees to the landing areas, they can get wider and wider. That was one of the absolute keys to the routing of the golf course.”
It also creates what can be a fun, communal vibe on the tee shots. Whereas most top courses revel in a sense of isolation, with one group rarely coming in contact with another, players will frequently come face-to-face with others at the Sheep Ranch.
“You’ll see a lot of other folks hitting golf shots, and they’ll be seeing you hitting golf shots too,” Coore said with a laugh. “If it were at a municipal golf course some place, it would be harder to pull this off because you would have to be so aware of which tees you are going to and which way you’re playing. It would be easy to get up there and play down the wrong hole. While we tried to delineate the lines of play very distinctly, it helps that Bandon Dunes has caddies and the vast majority of players choose to use them.”
One thing those caddies won’t need is a rake.
Instead of traditional sand traps, the Sheep Ranch features a wide range of shallow areas dug out like bunkers, but with variations of grass instead of sand. Some are partially mowed, while others have taller and wispier grass. Coore described them as looking like old, abandoned bunkers that have grown over with grass.
One of the main reasons for skipping the sand was the strong winds so prevalent at the Sheep Ranch. Wind over 30 mph – common at all the cliffside holes at the resort and even more so at the Sheep Ranch – can blow sand out of a bunker, making the traps a maintenance headache. And because the Sheep Ranch isn’t built on sandy terrain like the resort’s other courses, instead being laid out over what Coore called “red shot clay,” having sand blow out of the traps would leave hard-pan clay bottoms exposed.
No. 17 at the Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes)
For inspiration on how to handle that problem, Coore and Crenshaw looked to a classic golf architecture book, The Links by Robert Hunter that was first published in 1926.
“There’s an old black and white photograph of contours that are just so incredible, and there’s a caption that says one day there will be a site with contours so interesting for golf that bunkers will be unnecessary,” Coore said. “And we thought if we were ever going to build a golf course with no formal bunkers, this is probably the place. Given the weather conditions, given the soil type and given the amazing contours, this is the site. So that was the beginning of the idea.”
Coore said that Keiser, the original developer of Bandon Dunes who has built a network of top courses around North America, got on board quickly. Friedmann, however, needed a little convincing to leave out what is typically one of the most recognizable features of a great course.
“Phil, I guess, was a bit more hesitant, and for good reason,” Coore said. “His comment was that we could build some of the most spectacular bunkers on earth here, and he was absolutely right. We could, and I could see how there would be bunkers looking like waves crashing against green sites. But again, we get back to long-term maintenance, and did we want to do that? Or do we want to try something a bit different?”
Coore expects that the lack of sand bunkers will make the course play easier for mid- and higher-handicapped players.
“But for the best players who can spin a bunker shot and control those shots consistently, I have an idea they will find those grassy bunker-type areas to be more unpredictable and more difficult,” he said. “All those things have been involved in the thought process collectively.”
No. 9 green at the Sheep Ranch, backed by a gorse-covered gorge and hillside (Gabe Gudgel/Golfweek)
The lack of bunkers is just one more example of different being interesting. Coore and Crenshaw didn’t set out to copy Pacific Dunes or Old Macdonald. With the eyes of the golf world on the much-heralded site, they understood that they needed to embrace the differences.
“We knew the expectations would be extreme because of the spectacular nature of the site and the coastline being so different, exposing it differently and play-wise to the ocean than the other courses,” Coore said. “And we knew people would focus on the spectacular potential and not so much on the restrictions of the site. That can be daunting, because people will think that if you can’t build the best course at Bandon on that site, you’ve done something wrong.
“The potential is extreme, but the restrictive nature of it is extreme as well. How do we work these things together? We knew the expectations would be very high, but the downside could be very high too. It’s a site where you can succeed spectacularly, or you can fail miserably. … I will say, we’re thrilled with how it turned out.”
Golfweek’s Best top resorts plan their reopenings in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The top golf resorts in the country have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic. With revenues tied to accommodations and food services as well as to their golf courses, even the resorts that have been able to keep their courses operational have sustained more than a month of lost bookings throughout the properties.
Most states have reopened their golf courses – only Vermont, Maryland and Massachusetts have remained closed to golf with no announced plans to reopen. And now that many states are trying to restart businesses, several top resorts have announced reopening dates of at least some non-golf operations as they plan a return to normalcy.
As examples of how resorts around the country are trying to get things started as governors allow businesses to open, we offer the following look at Golfweek’s Best top resort courses and proposed timelines for the full resort operations to open. Each resort has stressed its efforts to provide sanitary playing opportunities with social distancing and other modifications such as leaving the flags in the hole while putting and using modified cups to prevent players from having to reach too deeply into the holes.
No. 1 Pebble Beach Golf Links
The famed course in Pebble Beach, California – host to six U.S. Opens – reopened Monday. Hotel operations are slated to begin June 1. Spyglass Hill at the resort, No. 11 on the Golfweek’s Best list, also reopened Monday. Tee times are typically reserved for resort guests with only limited non-resort public access, but during May the golf courses will be open for public-access bookings with reduced green fees: $495 for Pebble Beach, down from the normal $575, and $325 for Spyglass Hill, down from the normal $415.
