Oregon Drift

World File Photo by John Gunther - Workers spray grass seed while finishing the planting of Old Macdonald in 2009. The remaining construction planned for the resort is a 12-hole par-3 course.

Old Macdonald is the fourth 18-hole golf course at Bandon Dunes. It also will be the last.

Resort owner Mike Keiser said this week that he has no plans to build a fifth full-length course at the resort.

‘Four is enough,” he said. ‘Four is perfect.”

That gives golfers coming from across the country plenty of reason to stay for several days and play all four of the resort’s courses — Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails and now Old Macdonald.

There are plans for another course — a 12-hole par-3 course being designed by Bill Coore, who partnered with Ben Crenshaw to build Bandon Trails.

That course is scheduled to be playable in 2012, said resort General Manager Hank Hickox.

Before then, the resort also will host its third United States Golf Association event, and biggest to date.

The U.S. Amateur Public Links tournaments for both men and women will be played at Bandon from June 27 to July 2, 2011. It’s the first time both tournaments have been played concurrently at the same location.

While Keiser doesn’t plan to build any more 18-hole courses at Bandon Dunes, he is involved in another development he hopes will have similar success.

Keiser has joined the group developing Cabot Links on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, an eastern Canadian province.

He flew to the site this week to check on progress. The course will open in its entirety in 2012, with 11 holes open for preview rounds in 2011.

‘I’m quite sure it will be linksy,” Keiser said. ‘Bandon East.”

The course could be reminiscent of Scotland or Ireland. It starts in the town of Inverness and golfers travel out to the beach on the Gulf of St. Lawrence for several holes and then return to the town.

The architect for the course, Canadian Rod Whitman, spent time learning his trade working with renowned American architect Pete Dye, just like Old Macdonald’s two architects, Tom Doak and Jim Urbina, and also worked with Coore.

Keiser has purchased additional land in the area.

‘If the first one works, we will build a second,” he said.

– John Gunther