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The Nature of the Game: Links Golf at Bandon Dunes and Far Beyond
Essential reading for every golfer from the sport’s most acclaimed course developer—a comprehensive, firsthand account of restoring the inherent satisfactions of this centuries-old game, from the beauty of natural courses to the joys of walking the course
“Mike Keiser is the best thing to happen to golf since the Big Bertha. He’s the guy who single-handedly saved us from the Fake 100-foot Waterfall Era. He gave us back nature, walking and buddy trips. This is a fascinating read on how in the world he did it.”—Rick Reilly, golf writer
An avid golfer with a demanding career in the greeting card business, Mike Keiser found a new calling on the authentic links courses of Scotland and Ireland. Seized by the beauty of the landscape and the holes running through it, he determined this was how golf was meant to inclusive, not private; played on foot, not riding a cart; the courses natural, neither lavish nor contrived. Vowing to transplant this experience to the States, Keiser entered the golf business and, ignoring the advice of experts, built a true links course in Oregon. Bandon Dunes has redefined the game here and become a destination for golfers everywhere.
Those same convictions have now produced other top-ranked courses by Keiser—in Wisconsin, Nova Scotia, Tasmania, and elsewhere—whose magical allure demonstrates what the world’s most gifted golf course architects can accomplish by working on designs that hew to the natural landscape. Keiser’s further commitments—to the caddies, greens crews, and staff at his resorts; to the communities in which they’re located; and to deep environmental stewardship—enhance the singular appeal of these immensely popular courses.
At once an account of inventing a new, life-changing business, a guide to historic course design, and a paean to the sport that has recently experienced a surge of growth, The Nature of the Game is essential reading for every golfer.
“Mike Keiser is the best thing to happen to golf since the Big Bertha. He’s the guy who single-handedly saved us from the Fake 100-foot Waterfall Era. He gave us back nature, walking and buddy trips. This is a fascinating read on how in the world he did it.”—Rick Reilly, golf writer
An avid golfer with a demanding career in the greeting card business, Mike Keiser found a new calling on the authentic links courses of Scotland and Ireland. Seized by the beauty of the landscape and the holes running through it, he determined this was how golf was meant to inclusive, not private; played on foot, not riding a cart; the courses natural, neither lavish nor contrived. Vowing to transplant this experience to the States, Keiser entered the golf business and, ignoring the advice of experts, built a true links course in Oregon. Bandon Dunes has redefined the game here and become a destination for golfers everywhere.
Those same convictions have now produced other top-ranked courses by Keiser—in Wisconsin, Nova Scotia, Tasmania, and elsewhere—whose magical allure demonstrates what the world’s most gifted golf course architects can accomplish by working on designs that hew to the natural landscape. Keiser’s further commitments—to the caddies, greens crews, and staff at his resorts; to the communities in which they’re located; and to deep environmental stewardship—enhance the singular appeal of these immensely popular courses.
At once an account of inventing a new, life-changing business, a guide to historic course design, and a paean to the sport that has recently experienced a surge of growth, The Nature of the Game is essential reading for every golfer.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published June 7, 2022
45 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 13, 2022
Outstanding book. Beautiful photos of his amazing golf courses, great stories for how they came to be. An easy and fun read, highly recommend for serious golf fans. Beware though, it will have you checking Bandon availability and figuring out how you’re going to afford the perfect golf vacation
July 20, 2022
Been to Bandon and Cabot, so it had particular interest for me. It’s good insight into how a golf course is developed and different philosophies about how they should play.
January 16, 2026
Great book about a great man who created a great resort.
p. 14: There are two kinds of golf, links golf and all the others, and they're as different from each other as a caddy is from a golf cart.
p. 14: There is a famous old saying that the links were created by the hand of God, and expressly designed to provide the ideal grounds for golf.
p. 16: People don't come to Bandon Dunes to play the same game they can play at their home courses. They come for the same reason that drew me to the linksland--to play a game that is as close as possible to the one invented by the Scots.
p. 30: 100 greatest golf courses--and then some
p. 30: The Architects of Golf: A Survey of Golf Course Design from Its Beginnings to the Present, With an Encyclopedic Listing of Golf Architects and Their Courses
p. 50: Together, we came up with a three-word mantra to guide the training of our staff: "friendly, helpful, genuine."
p. 62: Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald
p. 70: Golf is the main course, but caddies are the wine that accompanies the meal, adding to its savor.
p. 72: Bandon Dunes caddies compete in a tournament at Bandon Crossings, so they can ride in carts.
p. 74: Bob Gaspar posts on Twitter as @GolfShoeBandon
p. 76: It's a badge of honor to play Bandon when the wind's howling and the flagsticks are bend double.
p. 84: Sand Hills and Bandon Dunes were the catalysts of a widespread movement that has transformed course architecture at virtually every level--these lay-of-the-land designs look and play differently, and golfers have embraced them.
p. 88: Designers could remake any landscape. "Rape-and-shape" was the order of the day, and artificial features--waterfalls, bunkers shaped like shark's jaws, island greens--were in vogue. The crowning achievement of this trend was Shadow Creek.
p. 89: The Links
p. 91: Dye was a full-out maximalist, the creator of several high-profile tournament courses that were marvels of engineering and damn near impossible for ordinary golfers to play.
p. 91: Features that Dye used frequently and prominently--island greens, bulkheads, water hazards--are almost entirely absent from the designs of Coore and the others.
p. 92: Making the course enjoyable for the retail golfer. The most basic test: Can you hit your ball, find it, and hit it again? Looking for lost balls interrupts the pace of play and ruins the mood.
p. 93: Main characteristics of this new architecture:
* The golf course should be a links.
* The golf course should be playable.
* The golf course should be fun, not a punishment.
* The golf course should be beautiful.
* The golf course should have a distinct sense of place.
* The golf course should be made for walking.
p. 109: Bill Coore on Sheep Ranch: There are no sand bunkers on the course.
p. 137: The Anatomy of a Golf Course: The Art of Golf Architecture
p. 137: The Life and Work of Dr. Alister MacKenzie
p. 137: The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses
p. 138: Tom Doak's Little Red Book of Golf Course Architecture
p. 138: Getting to 18
p. 151: Golf Architecture: A Worldwide Perspective Volume 1
p. 153: A. W. Tillinghast, whose ideal course was "rugged and natural."
p. 153: Call it naturalism or lay-of-the-land design--this approach has regained its place as the dominant aesthetic in golf design.
p. 158-9: In recent years, Golf Digest adopted new criteria for their panelists, who now assign points in seven different categories: Design Variety, Resistance to Scoring, Shot Values, Memorability, Aesthetics, Ambience, and Conditioning.
p. 185: Wolf Creek: Rod Whitman's first solo design, an example of an inland links
p. 217: Coul Links, in Dornoch, Scotland: https://www.coullinksgolf.com/
p. 221: Crump's Dream by Andrew Mutch
p. 225: Second Nature: A Gardener's Education
p. 229: Instead of repeating themselves, they seem intent on proving that the cardinal principle of their design credo--take what the land gives you--leads to constant innovation and invention.
p. 232: In golf design, there are three major elements: the routing, the greens, and the bunkers.
p. 233: Mike Kaiser: I'm not a fan of trees on golf courses. Links courses have survived for centuries without them.
p. 249: My favorite of [David Kidd's] post-Bandon designs is Nanea, one of the best courses in Hawaii. [It's private.]
p. 250: Golf as it was meant to be.
p. 260: Everyone who comes to Mammoth Dunes is struck by its gigantic scale.
p. 275: Concerning Golf: "Undulation is the soul of golf"
p. 286: Peter Flory is one of the country's top hickory players and an expert on NLE -- no longer existing -- courses.
p. 14: There are two kinds of golf, links golf and all the others, and they're as different from each other as a caddy is from a golf cart.
p. 14: There is a famous old saying that the links were created by the hand of God, and expressly designed to provide the ideal grounds for golf.
p. 16: People don't come to Bandon Dunes to play the same game they can play at their home courses. They come for the same reason that drew me to the linksland--to play a game that is as close as possible to the one invented by the Scots.
p. 30: 100 greatest golf courses--and then some
p. 30: The Architects of Golf: A Survey of Golf Course Design from Its Beginnings to the Present, With an Encyclopedic Listing of Golf Architects and Their Courses
p. 50: Together, we came up with a three-word mantra to guide the training of our staff: "friendly, helpful, genuine."
p. 62: Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald
p. 70: Golf is the main course, but caddies are the wine that accompanies the meal, adding to its savor.
p. 72: Bandon Dunes caddies compete in a tournament at Bandon Crossings, so they can ride in carts.
p. 74: Bob Gaspar posts on Twitter as @GolfShoeBandon
p. 76: It's a badge of honor to play Bandon when the wind's howling and the flagsticks are bend double.
p. 84: Sand Hills and Bandon Dunes were the catalysts of a widespread movement that has transformed course architecture at virtually every level--these lay-of-the-land designs look and play differently, and golfers have embraced them.
p. 88: Designers could remake any landscape. "Rape-and-shape" was the order of the day, and artificial features--waterfalls, bunkers shaped like shark's jaws, island greens--were in vogue. The crowning achievement of this trend was Shadow Creek.
p. 89: The Links
p. 91: Dye was a full-out maximalist, the creator of several high-profile tournament courses that were marvels of engineering and damn near impossible for ordinary golfers to play.
p. 91: Features that Dye used frequently and prominently--island greens, bulkheads, water hazards--are almost entirely absent from the designs of Coore and the others.
p. 92: Making the course enjoyable for the retail golfer. The most basic test: Can you hit your ball, find it, and hit it again? Looking for lost balls interrupts the pace of play and ruins the mood.
p. 93: Main characteristics of this new architecture:
* The golf course should be a links.
* The golf course should be playable.
* The golf course should be fun, not a punishment.
* The golf course should be beautiful.
* The golf course should have a distinct sense of place.
* The golf course should be made for walking.
p. 109: Bill Coore on Sheep Ranch: There are no sand bunkers on the course.
p. 137: The Anatomy of a Golf Course: The Art of Golf Architecture
p. 137: The Life and Work of Dr. Alister MacKenzie
p. 137: The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses
p. 138: Tom Doak's Little Red Book of Golf Course Architecture
p. 138: Getting to 18
p. 151: Golf Architecture: A Worldwide Perspective Volume 1
p. 153: A. W. Tillinghast, whose ideal course was "rugged and natural."
p. 153: Call it naturalism or lay-of-the-land design--this approach has regained its place as the dominant aesthetic in golf design.
p. 158-9: In recent years, Golf Digest adopted new criteria for their panelists, who now assign points in seven different categories: Design Variety, Resistance to Scoring, Shot Values, Memorability, Aesthetics, Ambience, and Conditioning.
p. 185: Wolf Creek: Rod Whitman's first solo design, an example of an inland links
p. 217: Coul Links, in Dornoch, Scotland: https://www.coullinksgolf.com/
p. 221: Crump's Dream by Andrew Mutch
p. 225: Second Nature: A Gardener's Education
p. 229: Instead of repeating themselves, they seem intent on proving that the cardinal principle of their design credo--take what the land gives you--leads to constant innovation and invention.
p. 232: In golf design, there are three major elements: the routing, the greens, and the bunkers.
p. 233: Mike Kaiser: I'm not a fan of trees on golf courses. Links courses have survived for centuries without them.
p. 249: My favorite of [David Kidd's] post-Bandon designs is Nanea, one of the best courses in Hawaii. [It's private.]
p. 250: Golf as it was meant to be.
p. 260: Everyone who comes to Mammoth Dunes is struck by its gigantic scale.
p. 275: Concerning Golf: "Undulation is the soul of golf"
p. 286: Peter Flory is one of the country's top hickory players and an expert on NLE -- no longer existing -- courses.
January 21, 2023
Highly recommended for golf nerds, especially those enamored with links golf.
Bandon Dunes was on my must-play list before reading this book, but it's vaulted to the top. In fact, a full Bandon Dunes trip to tackle every course there is on my bucket list.
The stories Mike Keiser tells are engaging. My favorite is how children's author Sandra Boynton, a longtime favorite in my household, is effectively responsible for the creation of Bandon Dunes. The Golfer's Journal has a great podcast with her about it.
And the photography within is stellar, doing justice to what I'm sure will be a breathtaking few days sometime in my future.
Bandon Dunes was on my must-play list before reading this book, but it's vaulted to the top. In fact, a full Bandon Dunes trip to tackle every course there is on my bucket list.
The stories Mike Keiser tells are engaging. My favorite is how children's author Sandra Boynton, a longtime favorite in my household, is effectively responsible for the creation of Bandon Dunes. The Golfer's Journal has a great podcast with her about it.
And the photography within is stellar, doing justice to what I'm sure will be a breathtaking few days sometime in my future.
June 3, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5/5 STARS
Mike Keiser is a golf genius. He has written about his golf resort, Bandon Dunes, before, but this takes it to a whole new level as he doesn't just have Bandon anymore. When reading his new book, The Nature of the Game, you are constantly wondering why you aren't golfing at that very moment.
Hearing about his family, his life work prior to golf, how he grew up in Buffalo, NY (where I'm from!), it was just so incredible. If you are a golf fan , or just someone who enjoys reading about how someone made something of their life, this book is for you!
Kudos to you, Mike, and your sons as well! The golf world thanks you for the amazing courses that you have brought to this earth!
Thank you Knopf Publishing for the gifted copy!! ⛳️🏌️
5/5 STARS
Mike Keiser is a golf genius. He has written about his golf resort, Bandon Dunes, before, but this takes it to a whole new level as he doesn't just have Bandon anymore. When reading his new book, The Nature of the Game, you are constantly wondering why you aren't golfing at that very moment.
Hearing about his family, his life work prior to golf, how he grew up in Buffalo, NY (where I'm from!), it was just so incredible. If you are a golf fan , or just someone who enjoys reading about how someone made something of their life, this book is for you!
Kudos to you, Mike, and your sons as well! The golf world thanks you for the amazing courses that you have brought to this earth!
Thank you Knopf Publishing for the gifted copy!! ⛳️🏌️
September 9, 2022
(1 1/2). This book is for serious golf geeks only! Mike Keiser has transformed resort golf as we know it. The "if you build it, they will come" philosophy he has employed has been a historic success. Reading about the creation of his courses and the collaborations needed to pull them off is very interesting, to a very limited audience. The book is pretty well written, but much easier to skim than really take any time on. I am a golf geek, have played a great number of these courses and am glad I picked up the book, but I will recommend it only to a select few friends. For the right person, pretty good stuff.
May 12, 2024
If you’ve read Dream Golf, the Bandon chapters in this book cover a lot of the same ground. There is a short chapter on Tom Doak, however, that presents all of Mike Keiser’s thoughts on Doak, which is entertaining. The stories behind the development of Barnbougle Dunes, the Cabot courses, and Sand Valley are also included, new material to me that I hadn’t read before. Some parts are more interesting than others. The best parts generally come when the views of multiple parties, such as the course architects, are included.
December 8, 2024
A great opportunity to get the inside story on the creation of what is now Dream Golf. Bandon Dunes, Sand Valley, Cabot Cliffs and more. Mike Keiser has changed golf in a dramatic way and has brought the feel of the links courses of Scotland and Ireland to locations closer to home. He has provided opportunities for some the the most talented architects - Coore & Crenshaw, Doak and Kidd - to show what can be done with dramatic properties and imagination.
More to the point, it reveals the true passion for the game that Mr. Keiser shares with us in his creations.
More to the point, it reveals the true passion for the game that Mr. Keiser shares with us in his creations.
February 18, 2023
Thought it was good, a little bit of a puff piece at times that would have me eye roll a bit, but overall really cool to learn about some of the influences and the work behind all of Keiser’s resorts and the change he’s worked to bring to the sport of golf. Got me really excited for my trip to Bandon in a month and a half
January 15, 2023
WARNING: you’ll bring planning your trip to Bandon Dunes no soon than a day after you finish this book. Incredible account of how the destination golf industry took off and will generate a new respect for the links style golf. Photography is amazing in this book.
June 14, 2022
To much to pay for a high paid advertisement
November 30, 2022
This was a great read. If you like
Links golf and want there about the behind the scenes vision of “links” this is great
Links golf and want there about the behind the scenes vision of “links” this is great
January 28, 2023
While not for all readers, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Keiser is a gem & his story, still unfolding, captivates me. God Bless his vision!
February 11, 2023
It was great learning the story of Bandon and courses derived from its success and philosophy, but a bit too much of Mike Keiser telling us how highly he thinks of Mike Keiser.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews