Bandon Dunes was designed by Scotsman David McLay Kidd, and it instantly garnered high praise.

Bandon Dunes is traditionally home to resort guests' lowest scores, thanks to its forgiving landing areas off the tee and mildly to moderately undulating green complexes.

Pacific Dunes was rated the number one resort golf course in the country in 2005 by Golfweek magazine, placing just ahead of Pebble Beach.

[4] The resort's third course, Bandon Trails, was designed by the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.

A more recent addition to the Bandon Dunes family, The Punchbowl, is a 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m2) putting course designed by Doak and Urbina.

Located to the north of Old Macdonald, it has a mile of ocean frontage over a series of promontories, with several holes featuring shots over water and cliffs.

For more than 15 years, the property sat largely vacant; the greens were not irrigated, and only a select number of resort guests who asked the right individuals were allowed on the incomplete course.

Eventually, Keiser and Friedmann decided to incorporate this land into the resort, and enlisted Coore and Crenshaw to design a full course.

Named after the Shorty Dow, the previous owner of the land and Mike Keiser's good friend, the golf course acts like a tribute to him and their friendship.

The USGA first came to Bandon Dunes in 2006, staging the Curtis Cup, a biennial women's amateur team competition between the United States and Great Britain/Ireland.

[16] In 2015, the resort hosted the first-ever U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball, an event the USGA created to replace the Public Links, which was discontinued.

[19] In 2021, the USGA announced that 12 additional championships would be held at the course through 2045 including the 2025 U.S. Women's Amateur, and 2029 Walker Cup.

[21] Starting in 2010, the resort has hosted an annual Division I collegiate tournament in March called the Bandon Dunes Championship.

The tournament draws elite college teams from across the country with past champions including Duke, Clemson, Notre Dame, Oregon, and Missouri.