Old Macdonald

Old Macdonald is the Tom Doak and Jim Urbina course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, designed as a tribute to Charles Blair Macdonald, the pioneering architect who imported strategic hole concepts from Scotland and England and adapted them for American soil in the early twentieth century. The course opened in 2010 as the fourth 18-hole layout at the resort, and it is the most intellectually demanding round on the property.

Macdonald's legacy rests on his template holes: the Redan, the Biarritz, the Alps, the Cape, the Eden, the Short. Each template embodies a specific strategic concept. The Redan presents a green angled away from the line of play with a false front that rejects anything short or right. The Biarritz features a long, narrow green bisected by a deep swale. These are puzzles that require you to recognise the template, understand its intent, and execute the shot it rewards.

At 6,944 yards from the tips and par 71, Old Macdonald is the longest course at Bandon Dunes. The slope of 131 is lower than Pacific Dunes or Bandon Dunes, a paradox explained by the wide fairways and sheer size of the greens; several putting surfaces exceed 10,000 square feet. Finding the green is not the challenge. Finding the correct sector, the one with a realistic birdie putt rather than a 60-foot lag, is where Old Macdonald separates the thoughtful player from the merely accurate one.

The bunkering is the most aggressive at the resort. Deep pot bunkers guard strategic positions around the greens and along the fairways. Unlike Sheep Ranch, Old Macdonald uses its bunkers as signposts that tell you where the architect does not want you.

The par 3s are the showcase. The 5th is a Redan, angled right-to-left with a collection area left of the green; the shot to play is a low draw that lands short and right and feeds across the natural tilt. The 15th is a Biarritz with a green well over 100 feet deep, divided by a pronounced swale.

Old Macdonald sits slightly inland, which reduces the ocean presence but allows for the expansive scale the template concept requires. On a calm day, this plays as the most accessible of the resort's championship courses. On a windy day, the enormous greens and fierce bunkering expose flaws in strategic thinking.