It’s a fine day on the southern Oregon Coast—warm and clear, with a nip of salt on the breeze blowing in off the Pacific. I’m in the car with my new friend Al Greenfield, proprietor of A Bandon Inn, on our way from the renowned Bandon Dunes Resort to the Sheep Ranch— which is not actually a ranch, and has no sheep. Nor is it a clever moniker for a house of ill repute. It is, in fact, a nearly mythical linksland, but not really a golf course. It is a magical domain right out of a Michael Murphy book, where scores and yardages cease to hold sway. It is a grassy hallucination. And it has generated more gossip and jealous buzz among hard-core golfers than an invitation to Augusta.

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Jeff Wallach (jeffwallach.com) is a Portland freelancer specializing in golf, travel, and outdoor adventure. Wallach is the author of five books and is the founder, managing partner, and executive editor of theAposition.com, a golf and travel website featuring more than 30 world-class journalists. He also claims to have a good short game for a writer.