More golf might be on the way in Bandon area

Mike Keiser, the developer of Bandon Dunes, the destination resort on the southern Oregon coast that already contains four much-acclaimed layouts, is working with state and Coos County officials on a land swap that, if approved, would help pave the way for a new 27-hole golf course.

Keiser has pegged Gil Hanse as the architect. Keiser was impressed with Hanse’s work at Applebrook GC in Pennsylvania, Boston Golf Club in Massachusetts, and the Castle Stuart course, which recently hosted the Scottish Open and received rave reviews from both the players and spectators.

The site for the new holes would be about four miles south of the resort. The proposed Bandon Muni would offer discounted green fees of approximately $25 to $35 for residents of Coos County and nearby Curry County, $45 for state residents, and the standard resort cost for everyone else, which can run as high as $275 during the peak season.

Hanse’s course would augment the original Bandon Dunes designed by David McLay Kidd; Pacific Dunes by Tom Doak; Bandon Trails by Coore-Crenshaw; and Old Macdonald by Doak and Jim Urbina. A new 13-hole short course by Coore-Crenshaw is now under construction just west of Bandon Trails and will open in 2012.

For the new 27 holes to work, Keiser is working on a land swap with the state. He wants to build part of the track on a 206-acre plot in Coos County owned by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The developer already owns adjacent land.