Is it possible to make a movie that captures the essence of golf in Great Britain without crossing the pond? The makers of a film based on the 1972 Michael Murphy classic, Golf in the Kingdom, thought so. They used Bandon Dunes as a stand-in for Scotland's famous links courses.

All that's missing is the Scottish brogue flavoring your caddy's sage advice. The courses are walking only. Caddies are optional—but well worth the fare. You'll need expert advice on clubbing in a

Is it possible to make a movie that captures the essence of golf in Great Britain without crossing the pond? The makers of a film based on the 1972 Michael Murphy classic, Golf in the Kingdom, thought so. They used Bandon Dunes as a stand-in for Scotland's famous links courses.

All that's missing is the Scottish brogue flavoring your caddy's sage advice. The courses are walking only. Caddies are optional—but well worth the fare. You'll need expert advice on clubbing in a wind whipping off the Pacific, and the nuances of these courses are not to be learned in a day—or week.

It's obvious to everyone now that the craggy Oregon coast lends itself to dramatic golf reminiscent of Scottish courses bordering the Irish Sea—Turnberry, for instance, the venue for the 2009 British Open. Entrepreneur Mike Keiser saw the potential when he bought 2,400 acres of Oregon seafront in the 1990s with the sole intent of creating a golf mecca. It didn't faze him that the site was not close to major airports, highways, or cities. He figured, "Build it and golf purists will come."

They did, with the fervor of pilgrims—and returned home spreading the word, mentioning St. Andrews and Pebble Beach in the same breath as Bandon Dunes. The buzz sparked by the first course grew with the advent of the second and third courses and will likely reach a crescendo when the fourth debuts in 2011.

It began with the Bandon Dunes layout in 1999, designed by Scotsman David McLay Kidd, son of the head agronomist at Scotland's Gleneagles Resort. His mandate was to work with the lay of the linksland, not overpower it. Mission accomplished. Golfers seldom lose sight of the raging Atlantic as they cope with the wind on holes laid out around and over massive sand dunes. Golf Digest named it the country's best new upscale public course in 1999.

Next came Pacific Dunes in 2001, a layout by Tom Doak reminiscent of his work at Cape Kidnappers in New Zealand. There are 100-foot cliffs on the route, and 60-foot dunes. And wind, of course. It has ranked second among public courses in North America.

In 2005, Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore were tasked with developing a spectacular course without the oceanfront holes of the other two. The result was Bandon Trails, which works its way from dunes to meadows to forests and back to dunes—a significant test of golf with lots of eye candy.

Opening in spring 2010 is Old Macdonald, designed by Doak and Jim Urbina as Keiser's tribute to Charles Blair Macdonald's genius, particularly his National Golf Links in Southampton, New York.

None of these tracks even faintly resemble traditional North American country club links, but they offer a sumptuous helping of golf the way it was meant to be. If you're nervous about facing the course challenges, work out the willies on the resort's 30-acre practice facility.

For more than 20 years freelancer Dale Leatherman has specialized in golf and adventure travel. Assignments take her all over the world, but she's always happy to be back home playing mountain courses in West Virginia. She is also president-elect of the Society of American Travel Writers.