Originally, Bandon Dunes developer Mike Keiser wanted the fourth 18-hole course at the resort to be a reproduction of the Lido Golf Club, a lost C.B. Macdonald-Seth Raynor design on Long Island. But his advisers warned him away from the project (“Aren’t replica courses kind of lame?”), and instead Keiser commissioned Tom Doak and Jim Urbina to build a course consisting of fresh interpretations of Macdonald’s “ideal holes.” For additional guidance on the design, Keiser turned to Macdonald biographer George Bahto, golf architecture historian Bradley Klein, and former National Golf Links superintendent Karl Olson. The result was Old Macdonald, which contains both cover versions and remixes of the ideal holes, with some original joints thrown in. Seeded with 100% fescue, the course resembles more the linksland inspirations behind Macdonald’s “templates” than it does an actual Macdonald-Raynor creation.
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Take Note…
A low-key but effective entrance. All of the Bandon courses have well-thought-through transitions from parking lot to clubhouse to first tee, but Old Macdonald has my favorite one. The “clubhouse,” such as it is, consists of a pro shop and a snack bar where you can procure the Old Mac breakfast sandwich, a top-notch pre-round food item. The path to the first tee travels alongside a large practice green, and until you reach the starter’s shack, you don’t see much of the golf course. It’s a pulse-quickening moment when the first hole unfolds in front of you.
A big salad bowl. In a 2020 interview with Andy, Bill Coore described Seminole Golf Club’s property as “a big salad bowl with two forks at either end.” The main arena at Old Mac, occupied by holes 3 through 16, is similarly shaped. The “forks” are dune ridges, one inland and one seaside. Maybe inevitably, the most memorable holes at both courses are near or on the ridges, where good natural topography is available. A lot of the boldest design features, however, can be found toward the center of the bowl, where the architects had to work harder to create compelling golf.
A backyard green. A fun game to play as you walk Old Mac: which of these greens would you most like to install in your backyard? The Double Plateau first? The chaotic, multi-level fifth? I’d go for the sixth, a squared-off expanse full of naturalistic contour—billows, channels, bulges, and bowls in such a complex arrangement that you have no chance of taking everything in on one visit. There’s even a little bastard of a pot bunker hidden in the back.
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