Bandon Dunes, the resort on the isolated, windswept coast of Oregon in the northwest US, has established itself as among the most exciting golf destinations on the planet in less than a decade.

Stephen Goodwin's story of how the resort and its three courses came into being is inspiring on many levels: the vision of developer Mike Keiser, who saw the potential to create America's best version of traditional links golf many hours drive from the nearest city, the skill of the architects and crews who made that vision reality, and the golfers who came to Bandon and marvelled at what they found. With detailed profiles of each Bandon course gleaned through playing them with their designers, the reader will learn much about architecture from these pages, even though this is not an architecture book. Even from the pre-press edition without photographs, it is obvious that anyone who reads this volume and doesn't immediately want to jump on a plane to Oregon does not really love golf.

Algonquin Books, US$24.95 www.algonquin.com

This article first appeared in issue 4 of Golf Course Architecture, published in April 2006.