While praise from national golf publications continues to shower down on Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, the other new golf course in the area, Bandon Crossings, also is receiving recognition.

Golf Week magazine listed Bandon Crossings as the No. 7 public course in Oregon, while Golf Magazine listed the layout south of town one of the top 10 new courses in the United States for 2007.

“It’s more than anybody hoped for,” said Mark Fiore, the head golf pro at Bandon Crossings.

The course has enjoyed a busy first six months, and throughout the winter received a lot of play from people who were coming to spend several days at Bandon Dunes, Fiore said. Some of those golfers played at Bandon Crossings before or after their rounds at the resort.

“The tee sheet was good and busy throughout February, and that wasn’t all that dependent on the weather,” Fiore said. “Now, with the outside traffic slowing down and the rates going up on the resort, we’re a little more dependent on local golfers.”

The course weathered the winter well and is “in better condition than it’s ever been and we got an inch of rain yesterday,” Fiore said Wednesday.

One of the draws for Bandon Crossings, as opposed to the resort, is that the course has carts, while Bandon Dunes is a walking-only facility except for golfers with physical limitations.

Since the course opened, workers have completed a continuous cart path through the entire 18 holes.

In the coming months, Bandon Crossings will host several events, including one leg of the Oregon PGA’s Coast Pro-Am on May 7. A two-person event is scheduled for Fourth of July weekend and the course will host several high school events.

Bandon Crossings also will be the site of fundraisers for both the Bandon Pool project (April 27) and Pacific High School athletics (May 10).

In addition, a weekly contest the club holds called Casual Fridays has proven popular. The event, designed for local residents, starts one hour before the time when the twilight rate kicks in (1 p.m. this time of year) and costs the same as the twilight rate. The golfers play for a variety of prizes.

To find out more about the current activities and rates at Bandon Crossings, those interested can either call the course at 347-3232 or check out its Web page at www.bandoncrossings.com.