Old Macdonald
Resort turns back the clock – Course pays tribute to classic architect
Bradley Klein, one of the consultants for Old Macdonald, watches his putt role toward the hole on the first green during a round last week. World Photo by John Gunther
One hundred years ago, Charles Blair Macdonald opened a golf course that he hoped would introduce America to the best that golf had to offer.
Macdonald, who learned golf course architecture at St. Andrews in Scotland, the birthplace of the game, brought back ideas from many of the great European courses and put them to use at the National Golf Links in Southampton, N.Y.
A century later, a course that pays homage to Macdonald’s vision and ideals opens next week on Oregon’s South Coast.
Old Macdonald, the fourth course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, makes its official debut Tuesday.
Early reviews suggest that course architects Tom Doak and Jim Urbina, working with a consulting group of experts, have hit a figurative hole-in-one.
‘This is Scotland,” said Gary Morrow, who has played enough golf courses to know what he’s talking about. ‘You’ve got the gorse. It’s in bloom. It’s just gorgeous.”
Morrow was at Bandon Dunes recently for the Old Macdonald Cup, a tournament that brought together players from eight of the courses built by C.B. Macdonald.
Each of the courses — National Golf Links, Piping Rock, Sleepy Hollow and The Creek Club in New York; Chicago Golf Club; St. Louis Country Club; The Course at Yale; and Mid-Ocean Club in Bermuda — was invited to send eight members. Most sent many more, with the players eager to see a layout that has been touted by some as having the most anticipated opening of any course in years.
Fun is the name of the game
I didn’t need a good and/or lucky omen to know that the new course at Bandon Dunes was going to be special.
I’ve been following the plans for Old Macdonald since the announcement of the course in 2007. I learned about Charles Blair Macdonald, the classic architect the course is named for. I walked holes under construction with resort owner Mike Keiser and course architects Tom Doak and Jim Urbina. I had a chance to play the 10 preview holes last summer.
Resort activity picks up with new course
The opening next week of Old Macdonald already has provided a big boost for Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
‘The summer looks good for the whole resort,” said Hank Hickox, the general manager at Bandon Dunes.
The hype for the new course has led to strong reservations throughout the summer, with tee times filling up, though Hickox said, ‘We’ll always try to get people on.’”
Opening completes Bandon Dunes quartet
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.
