Bandon, Oregon, has emerged as the new mecca for golf aficionados.
When Mike Keiser hired architects David McLay Kidd and Tom Doak to build the
first two Bandon Dunes Resort courses, both were relative unknowns. Now both are
now considered leaders in their field.
Among the many golfers who found
inspiration at Bandon Dunes was Rex Smith, a podiatrist from Eugene. But
Dr. Smith’s passion transcended that of the typical resort visitor. It served as a
catalyst to pursue his own dream of building a golf course. Down the coast from the resort, Rex and his wife, Carla, gave promising local architect Dan Hixson an opportunity to the way Keiser opened doors for Kidd and Doak. The
result is Bandon Crossings.
Hixson comes from a prominent Oregon golf
family. Before venturing into course design, he was head pro at Columbia
Edgewater Golf Club for many years. Hixson had designed two courses and remodeled
about fifteen more before being interviewed to build Bandon Crossings. Within an hour of their first meeting, Rex and
Carla gave Hixson his first chance to both
design and build a golf course.
The Smiths purchased a 340-acre ranch adjacent to highway 101,
about a mile from the Pacific shore and three miles south of the town of Bandon. The property is divided into three
sections by the south and lower forks of Two Mile Creek. These wide waterways,
also called bottomlands, define the usable property for golf. The course begins
and ends on the more open northern land, and ventures into the rolling, forested
southwestern property. The transition between the two sections was accomplished
by building up the bottomlands to create the 5th and 14th greens. The
course is easy to walk, if you are willing to take a few extra minutes to trek
up and back through these bottomlands.
The first four holes traverse the least interesting property, and
though they are strategically sound, the player is now looking for more. The
excitement begins in earnest with the approach shot to the green of the short par-5 5th
, and continues with the excellent stretch of holes from No. 6 through the 13th.
The 6,855-yard layout ends with two gambling par 4s, a short par 3, and the unusual par-5 18
th, a sharp dogleg right that tumbles down to a hollow next to the 1
st tee.
Hixson and his small team of shapers, led by Tony Russell,
spent more 300 days poring over course details. Bunkering is tastefully
designed, with simple amorphous shapes and rough edges. The team mined the sand for the bunkers from the area that is now the 5th fairway. Bentgrass greens are gently sloped
with subtle contours, and portions of several greens are hidden from the
fairway. In particular, the five par 3s are varied and excellent.
Hixson’s willingness to present the occasional blind shot or
greens that naturally slope away show his sensitivity to the existing
landforms, and identify him as a student of minimalist design. The charm of this
beautiful coastal ranch shines through. For a public facility, the course feels
very private. A day at Bandon Crossings feels like playing golf in a good friend’s
backyard.
