Sheep Ranch

[Portions of this post are repeated in the other courses making up the Bandon complex: Pacific Dunes, Bandon Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald, Bandon Preserve, and Charlotte’s]

General Course Description

Sheep Ranch is the most recent addition to the world-class collection of golf courses that comprise Bandon Dunes. Of all the Bandon courses, Sheep Ranch is the most exposed to the wind, the most open (more so than Old Mac), and fully embraces the ocean, with views of the ocean from every hole. It is also the only course without any sand bunkers or sand-based waste areas (there are many grass (sometime dirt) bunkers and waste areas).  The course, particularly the greens, seems to be a bit more forgiving than the other courses (the wind on the exposed setting may lower the margin of this difference).  The overall result is a challenging but fun golf experience that you cannot help but enjoy. Forward tees (there are family tees) provide the benefits of easier angles and shorter distances. A very nice walk.

Course History

Opened in 2020.  Not part of the original Bandon Dunes property bought by Mike Keiser. The property, north of Old Mac, was purchased by Mr. Keiser and Phil Friedmann (classmates at Amherst College and later co-owners of Recycled Paper Greetings).  There was an issue concerning getting a permit to operate a golf course on the property, so Mr. Keiser suggested calling it a “Sheep Ranch,” where players would simply go around the property hitting balls.  Tom Doak then designed a course with crisscrossing fairways and 13 greens (it was then called “Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch”).  The course was shaped and seeded, but marginally maintained (some referred to it as “wilderness golf”).  But if you knew the right person and paid the right fee, you would be given entry into the gate with the course beyond.  When Messrs. Friedmann and Keiser agreed to make it a public 18-hole course, they invited Mr. Doak, Bill Coore, and Gil Hanse to submit proposals.  Mr. Coore’s proposal was selected and construction started in 2018.  Golf Digest selected Sheep Ranch as the best new course of 2020. In 2021 Golf Digest ranked the course 16th in it’s list of America’s Greatest Public Courses.

Why It Is There

After the success of Bandon Dunes and its related courses, and the golfing public repeatedly seeking out and paying to play the rugged version of the Sheep Ranch, Mike Keiser finally agreed with Phil Friedmann to build the course.

I Wish I Would Have Known Before I Played

It’s the greens. Although generally kinder than the other courses, the greens still have undulations, ridgebacks, and mounding. It’s a great course to bring a caddy, just to have guidance as to how to approach a green (the wind can swirl; some greens, like 7 and 9, run away from the fairway; eight sit above the ocean cliff and some of those have edges that run away from the hole and towards the ocean) or how to putt once you get on the green. If you don’t take a caddy, you may have to play the course several times, taking copious notes. And be careful of the routing, which can be confusing at times (another reason to take a caddy – at least the first time).

Did You Know

In the 1970s the property was owned by a utility and operated as a wind farm. But the property was so windy that the windmills fell apart.  The 11th green, and the area around it, was a former sand quarry where an earthen wall collapsed to expose a cavity that is now the green.

Good For Them

These folks do a lot of good things. Received an award as one of the Best Green Workplaces in 2016 by Oregon Business. The resort won the 2012 Golf Digest’s Green Star Award for its efforts in conservation and environmental protection. The Director of Agronomy, Ken Nice, received an award in 2017 from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America as an environmental leader in the Resort Course Category for overall course management practices in the areas of water conservation, water-quality management, energy conservation, pollution prevention, waste management, and wildlife and habitat conservation.  The complex is a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. Teaching host course for Southwestern Oregon Community College and Bandon High School. Evans Scholarship participant course. Historically, complementary junior clinics have been conducted by Scott Millhouse, head pro at Bandon Trails.

Why Play This Course

It’s a Bandon course (and it lives up to that standard); that should be enough reason to play it. It is a challenging course, but possibly the most golfer-friendly of the Bandon courses (when the wind is not up) that fully embraces the ocean. To just walk the course would be a special outing; to play it is a real treat.

General

• • Type: 18 hole public course
  • Price: $$$$$
  • Phone/webpage: (541)347-4380/www.bandondunesgolf.com
  • Address: 57744 Round Lake Road, Bandon, Oregon 97411
  • Owner: Bandon Dunes, LP
  • Designer: Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore
  • Pros: Ryder DeSteunder (PGA Associate)
  • Practice Facilities:  The course has its own driving range and putting green. You can also use the expansive Bandon practice area: two driving ranges, practice sand and chipping areas, and a large putting green
  • Pro Shop: Nice-sized with some equipment and lots of clothing (and rain gear)
  • Food: A cafe, with a full bar, some sandwiches, and snacks and a great outside sitting area with a view of the course and the ocean
  • Bathrooms: Improved in clubhouse and on course
  • Yardage Markers: All over in ground; take a pin sheet
  • Clothing: Proper golf attire
  • Walkable: Very
  • Spikes: Soft
  • Shoe Cleaning: Brushes
  • Rentals: Clubs and pull carts; motorized carts are discouraged but can be arranged
  • Open year-round

.