all things nice

For more than 20 years, Ken Nice has been at the heart of what makes Bandon Dunes special. “You have to stop and appreciate what has been done here,” he explains.

There’s no such thing as an average day when you manage a team of 120 that run seven different golf operations over a sprawling property on the Oregon coast. But Ken Nice wouldn’t have it any other way. With his faithful companion, a rescue dog named Rio (“He comes from Texas,” Nice explains), Nice, 58, leads a team that maintains the key asset of the resort—its six golf courses, as well as the practice facility.

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Nice, born and raised in Oregon, has been witness to the rise of Bandon Dunes, having arrived just before the first course opened to the public. From that point on, he’s been an integral part of the development of each of the courses, working closely with each architect to help achieve their vision, as well as that of Bandon founder Mike Keiser.

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Nice took some time from his schedule to talk about how he became a superintendent, working with Keiser over two decades alongside some of the greatest minds in golf design, and why his passion for basketball keeps him connected to the local community.

You arrived in Bandon Dunes in 1999, months before the first course opened. What did you find?

I found a stunning property. It had huge scale and big features, and all of those things you see in a new build. My original passion for golf was really the Open Championship—that was what drew me in. Those courses were exactly what I wanted to be involved in—and that was Bandon. Howard McKee, who was the resort architect and Mike Keiser’s business partner, was around the property a lot in the early days. When we were walking the first course, Howard did his own thing and that gave me a chance to talk to him a fair bit. I got a sense that he had a different take on things. He talked about how, depending on your intent as a person, opportunities would open up for you, especially if your intent was focused on your passion. Howard talked about creating a clear vision from a sincere place. I’ve thought about that a lot because my passion was links golf and somehow it drew me to Bandon Dunes.

What drew you to golf?

My history is unusual. I have a liberal arts degree and really didn’t know what to do with it. I didn’t have a career direction, so I moved to Seattle with my future wife and started a landscaping company. There was something about that kind of work that resonated with me, and I did it for six years. I sold the business, did a three-month fishing stint in Alaska, and started working for a significant landscaping company. It was a big learning experience and I learned about how to deal with large-scale projects. That’s when I started to play golf and had a weekend game with a group from Boeing. And then I had this bright idea. I thought, “I bet they pay someone to take care of these courses.” My dad was a professor at Oregon State and he told me there was a guy at the school who had this really good plant sciences program. I went back to school at 30, and it was two of the most productive years of my life. After I got out of school, I got hired at Astoria G&CC.