The Sheep Ranch Makes Its Bandon Dunes Debut

2020

While most everyone was fixated on the seemingly endless ocean views upon pulling up to the Sheep Ranch pro shop at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bill Coore’s attention was elsewhere on opening day for the Oregon resort’s fifth 18-hole course. Coore was focused on the smiles. After success with Bandon Trails and the par-3 Bandon […]

Bandon Dunes Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary

widest

Twenty-one years ago, Bob “Shoe” Gaspar delivered a load of mulch to a construction site just south of North Bend on Oregon’s southern coast. Unsure of what was being built, he walked over a dune and saw a half-finished golf course. There was no clubhouse, the back nine was dirt, the front nine was being […]

LINKS Golf Podcast Ep. 24: Underrated Golf Destination: Central Oregon

Ian and Graylyn discuss central Oregon and the city of Bend, which is surrounded by stellar golf in an unforgettable landscape. Destinations such as Tetherow, Sunriver, Pronghorn, and Black Butte are on the table, plus more from one of the west coast’s great underrated golf areas. You can subscribe to the LINKS Golf Podcast in iTunes, Stitcher, […]

The Full Scoop on Bandon Dunes’s New 5th Course – The Sheep Ranch

By Ian Critser While on a recent trip to Bandon Dunes, we had an unusual resort guest sit next to us at breakfast one morning—Ben Crenshaw. While listeners of the LINKS Golf Podcast will have already heard about this encounter in Part 1 of our Bandon Dunes episode, most won’t know the actual reason he […]

LINKS Golf Podcast Ep. 16 – Bandon Dunes Golf Trip Pt. 1

Ian and Graylyn recently traveled to Bandon Dunes and recorded this episode while on the road. In part 1 they discuss flights, planning, the best time of year to visit, where they played, and a breakdown of the courses. They also choose their favorite and split 10 rounds among the four main courses at the […]

What Next for the Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch?

By Tony Dear   It has become decreasingly mysterious with every passing article—and there have been many—but the Sheep Ranch still possesses sufficient intrigue and anonymity to ensure the golfer recounting his experiences of the place speaks mostly to a hushed audience. Images and stories have been filtering through for nearly two decades, and its […]

Akbar Chisti: The Man Behind Seamus Golf

akbar

In August 2014, Akbar Chisti drove from Portland, Ore., to the PGA Show in Las Vegas to meet with the USGA’s head buyer, Mary Lopuszynski. Chisti went to discuss what “unique and compelling” piece Seamus Golf might create for the U.S. Open merchandise tent. It was a special moment for the company Chisti had founded in […]

A Year-Round Outdoor Lifestyle at Tetherow

The city of Bend in central Oregon is famous for funkiness, offering craft beers, bike trails in town as well as up and down the nearby mountains, and the year-round outdoor lifestyle. But when Chris van der Velde says things are “crazy,” he’s referring to Tetherow, the nearby resort community where he is managing partner, and […]

Silvies Valley Ranch—America’s Next Reversible Course

By Tony Dear Reversible golf courses are like London buses; you wait 100 years or more for one, then two come along at once. The first of them—Tom Doak’s “The Loop” at Forest Dunes GC in Roscommon, Mich.— opened in June of last year, and attracted the almost universal acclaim you expect of any Doak […]