63SHEEP RANCH
Time was when the Sheep
Ranch was a mystery wrapped
in an enigma, guarded by
a low-key and forbidding
entrance. You paid cash to a
local caretaker in exchange for
access to a layout that had no
numbers on its holes, no pre-
scribed routing and received
no more than a handful of
rounds a day. For years, the
course lingered in suspended
animation, loosely affiliated
with but not operated by the
resort. Now work is underway
that will transform it into
Bandon’s fifth 18-hole course,
a Coore-Crenshaw design
without a single bunker.
THE PUNCHBOWL
Designed by Urbina and Doak,
this 18-hole, 100,000-square-
foot putting course (2014)
bucks and rolls in a pine-
fringed hollow alongside the
first tee of Pacific Dunes. It’s a
sweet place to practice or play
friendly money games. Even
if you have to pay off your
buddies, you don’t have to pay
the resort. The Punchbowl is
available to all for free.