Two golfers finish up their round on the 18th green at Bandon Dunes, with the new Inn in the background. World Photo by Lou Sennick.

BANDON — It’s been 10 years since the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort put the South Coast on the map of top golf destinations.

With the slogan “Golf as it was meant to be,” the resort promised a links experience along a previously undeveloped, visually stunning stretch of the coast.

Strong national reviews followed and the resort has been prosperous ever since.

Bandon Dunes, the resort’s first course, doesn’t look a whole lot different now than it did then, though the resort as a whole has grown markedly with two additional courses, and another under construction, as well as a wealth of lodging and dining options.

The Bandon Dunes course has been the site of a United States Golf Association championship — the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur — along with many regional events.

It also has received high praise from national publications. Golf Magazine ranks Bandon Dunes sixth among its list Top 100 Courses You Can Play, while Golfweek ranks it fifth among best resort courses and sixth among best modern courses. Golf Digest ranks Bandon Dunes seventh on its list America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses.

The big draws, according to assistant general manager Michael Carbiener, are the natural setting and the resort’s focus solely on golf.

One of the top comments resort guests offer when they leave, Carbiener said, “is the natural beauty of the golf courses. It’s unspoiled.”

The first hole at Bandon Dunes starts directly in front of the main lodge and some of the other buildings. But once players reach the second hole, they won’t see any other buildings except for views of the Pacific Dunes clubhouse and then the lodge again as they finish No. 9 and come up the fairway on No. 18.

The rest of the four-hour trek includes vistas of the ocean, including several breathtaking holes on a bluff above the beach, and the natural terrain, with sand dunes covered by gorse and other vegetation.

Carbiener is in his second stint at the resort, having first come to Bandon Dunes just after the course opened in 1999 and then leaving in 2001 for stints at a pair of other courses that, like the resort, are managed by Kemper Sports.

When he had a chance to come back a year and a half ago, he jumped at the opportunity.

Carbiener, an accomplished college golfer who had played many of the top courses in the United States, instantly fell in love with Bandon Dunes.

“It was the first course I played in the United States that to me was truly links-style golf,” he said.

“At the time the course was developed and built, it was very much a reintroduction of that type of golf course to the golfing community, particularly in the United States. And the fact that it takes in its natural surroundings, everything from sand dunes to the Pacific Ocean, and the elements, wind, rain and sun, I don’t think anyone had found that in the United States in decades.”

With the frequent high winds at the resort, a premium is being able to play the ball low. The fairways and greens are hard and the bunkers are plentiful — 82 in all.

The greens are huge, averaging 9,119 square feet — larger than any stop on the PGA Tour. But they also are very playable, like the entire course, Carbiener said.

“I think the owner and the architect thought of playability of all skill levels,” he said of Bandon Dunes owner Mike Keiser and David McLay Kidd, who designed the first course. “From the high handicapper to the low handicapper, each one can get pleasure out of this golf course.”

To some, Bandon Dunes includes 18 great golf holes, and the memorable holes are many.

The first introduction to the ocean, the par-4 fourth hole, has been ranked by one publication as among the top 100 holes in the world. The hole is 362 yards from the tees played by many guests, and includes a drive over gorse and beach grass to a fairway that bends in a sharp dogleg to the right, directly toward the ocean. The green, like many at the resort, is guarded by a bunker to the front left of the putting surface.

The fifth hole is one of the ones used most often in golf calendars, and one of the most challenging. The 400-yard par-4 plays into the prevailing summer wind, and the fairway shrinks into a valley for the final 125 yards to a long, narrow green.

Players really will feel the teeth of the wind on the sixth, a par-3 that plays just 153 yards, but feels much longer in the summer.

One of the most visually stunning holes is the 16th, which includes a drive over a canyon to a bi-level fairway. The longest hitters can reach the top shelf of the fairway in the summer, with the wind at their backs, and will have a much easier second shot to a green just a few yards from the cliff overlooking the beach.

The monstrous green on the 17th hole measures 60 yards from front to back.

Carbiener’s favorite hole is No. 12, a par 3 measuring 153 yards and, like the second shot at No. 4, playing directly toward the ocean.

“You have a narrow landing area between a dune on your right and a very penal pot bunker to your left, with a green that slopes from back to front left,” he said. “There is not a bad pin position on that hole. It is such a beautiful, such an awesome par-3.”

Since the initial planning stages, power carts never have been part of the equation at the resort, except for players who need them for physical reasons. Also true to golf’s roots, Bandon Dunes has a large caddie program.

“Golf as it was meant to be is everything from a mission statement to a philosophy to a business practice,” Carbiener said. “It’s such a pure experience.”

Because Bandon Dunes is a renowned destination resort, its prices are spendy, especially during the summer. A round of golf during the high season from May through October is $275. The rate for Oregonians drops to $75 from Nov. 20 through January and $90 in February.