Bandon Dunes Trip Report 3/20/14 to 3/24/14

jchungum · March 31, 2014

Itinerary:

Thursday 20th - Arrived and played Preserve, Shorty's at the range, dinner at McKee's

Friday 21st - Bandon Trails (AM), Pac Dunes (PM), dinner at McKee's

Saturday 22nd - Bandon Dunes (AM), Old Mac (PM), dinner at Pac Dunes Grill, Casino night!

Sunday 23rd - Pac Dunes (AM), Preserve twice (third round free), dinner at the Gallery

Sunday 24th - Left, couldn't play another round...too tired.

(Four days of golf = 130+ holes)

Travel Logistics:

Used shipsticks.com on the way out ($65 one way). Flew from Chicago to SF to North Bend (OTH) airport. Used the Connoisseurs Golf Transportation for a shuttle ($65/man round trip). Checked golf clubs on the way back to Chicago.

I liked shipping my clubs ahead of time. To get the lower rate, I had to ship them a week prior. That means no last minute range time. But the whole process was super easy and convenient. I would recommend flying into the OTH airport through PDX or SFO if you can. The airport is tiny, with a handful of puddle jump flights coming in. Driving five hours from/to Portland is a killer. The shuttle is easy and then you don't need a rental car. We had two foursomes, and everyone had a different travel itinerary, but we all managed to get there by Thursday evening.

Course Rankings:

This was my third trip to Bandon. This time I would rank them: Bandon Dunes, Pac Dunes, Old Mac, Trails. Last year it was Pac Dunes, Trails, Bandon Dunes, Old Mac. I think BD is more mature and more playable in bad conditions. The fairways didn't seem as beat up with tight lies.

Weather:

So I was constantly checking out the weather 5 to 20 days ahead. At one point, it was saying 40s high with 100% rain and high winds. By the time we got there, it was mid to high 50s with sun and plenty of wind. We didn't see a single drop of rain for five full days! I know we got lucky, but the winds were killer Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Three to four club winds these days in the afternoon. All the morning rounds were glorious, until the last 5 or 6 holes. I heard a guy say he played Pac Dunes #1 on Thursday afternoon (short par four) with Driver, three wood...and usually it is hybrid and wedge.

Caddies:

Out of the eight of us, two guys carried or carted all the rounds. Five of us had caddies every AM round, and one guy had a caddie for a few rounds. I really like having a caddie, and it really helped when it was windy. Two of us were so tired on Saturday that we took caddies in the PM too. Old Mac was a ton more fun with caddies that know the nooks and crannies of this course. You could play all sorts of crazy shots on Old Mac. If you are curious, the caddies get $100 to $120 a round. We all liked our caddies, so I think that is what most of us gave.

Rooms:

Lily Pond rooms are solid. I like the balconies/porches. But you don't get the privacy that you have at Chrome Lake. I would probably stay at Lily Pond again, since it is a few bucks cheaper and it is closer to Trails/Preserve or Bandon/Lodge. You can walk to these places easily.

Food/Drinks:

Food was solid as usual. Drinks are resort pricey, but much cheaper than Chicago. The McKee's pot pie and meat loaf are really good after a long day of windy golf. They have very little bourbon selection at any of the bars. They have a decent Scotch selection. I liked lunch at Trails the best, but the Puffin Lounge had a great fried chicken sandwich. Since a few guys drove in from Portland, we asked them to buy some beers and bourbon. The liquor stores close at 7 PM or 8 PM!!! So we never had a chance to drink in our rooms, but we were too tired after dinner. The bars are sausage fests with a few females that are part of a family outing that are on the resort. The Bunker Bar was always crowded.

Course/Round Summaries:

BT - The first full 18 of the weekend was just a struggle. A lot of us had not played golf since the fall since we are all midwest guys. So it took some time to adjust from hitting off real grass versus mats . Although we did go over to the range in the morning, which is top notch. I really liked BT the first time I played it, but now it felt like a Northern Michigan course that was just hard and windy. I hate the sand...and finally made a deal with my caddie that if I didn't get out of a bunker the first time I raked my own sand traps. Needless to say, he liked the idea! Pace of play was absolutely awful. Five hours, and we barely had time to wolf down lunch. Score - 97, low man was in the high 80s.

PD - Windy windy windy. I mean it was almost silly to play in these conditions. I love this course, but not on this day. Again, pace of play was awful...another five hour round. The long par threes on the back KILLED the pace of play. Score - 104, low man didn't break 90.

BD - Surprisingly I wasn't as sore or achy as I thought I would be the next morning. Conditions were beautiful, and a bit chilly. We were the third group out, and after the previous day, our caddies were sprinting to keep pace of play low. Conditions were great, weather was great, sunny and it eventually warmed up. Greens rolled better than last year. Great round and tons of fun. One guy in our group shot 79, and we finished in 4 hours. Score for me - 90.

OM - I hit the wall here, so I asked my caddie to loop in the PM. I suck in the wind and the sand. And I lost as many balls in the gorse than I did combined the rest of the weekend. WTF? But we played fast, and finished in 4 hours 15 mins. I really liked the course my second time playing it. The caddies gave us all sorts of fun tips on how to play it. If you don't like OM, try it with an experienced caddie, it'll change your mind. Scores aren't important here as our caddies kept on saying, just have fun. Score - A generous 100, low man didn't break 90.

PD - A replay of PD, but this time in the AM. Glorious day, pace of play was great. Tees were up on the long par threes, and it was my best round. I love Pac Dunes, the views, the layout, etc. I think the course is short, but due to windy conditions it can play long. There are often backups on holes due to the shortness of par fours and long par threes. I'm starting to like Bandon Dunes better. Score - 86, low man 77.

Preserve - We played it 2.5 times. It is just fun, but pricey. Go to shorty's at the range if you have to settle some bets or just wanna drink beer and goof around.

Casino/BI:

Three of us hit up the casino in Coos Bay. It was sad walking in, and they only had one craps table with a $3 minimum. It isn't bad if you come with a decent group of guys. There were some spring breakers and a few resort guests there. We rolled for two hours? Two of us lost, I won. No biggie. If we had all won, we would have gone to the BI (Bachelor's Inn or Bad Idea). We heard from several people (caddies, waiters, etc.) that 5 years ago, you wouldn't send your worst enemy there. Today, it is somewhat okay due to the influx of resort guests and girls shipped in from Eugene. We did not stop by, so I have no review of the place.

Things I've Never Seen:

Approach shot that ricocheted a ball into the hole. The ball on the green that got hit rolled in.

Bandon #1, a guy in my group swore he was on the green. We checked the greenside bunker and nothing. The caddie noted a splash mark, he gently brushed the sand at the top of the splash mark and the ball was completely buried. I mean not a fried egg, a completely buried ball. Strange.

mringwelski · March 31, 2014

Lol @ the BI. There's really no reason to go there or the Adult Fun Center.

Ranchobob · March 31, 2014

Color me jealous. Sounds like a great trip. :envy:

Argonne69 · March 31, 2014

Great report! Thanks!

I drove down from PDX last August. I agree that the 5 hour drive is tough, but I took the Pacific Coast Highway on a nice sunny day, and it was very picturesque. I'd say drive it once, but take a flight into North Bend if you visit a 2nd time.

Yeah, caddies definitely help on OM and PD.

Love your description of BT. The fluffy sand on that course is absolutely brutal. I forgot which hole it was, but it was a slight dogleg to the right with a waste bunker running almost the full length of the fairway, and the fairway sloping left to right. I just couldn't see how one could hit the fairway, and stay out of the sand. On top of that, it was playing something like 430 into the wind, with water guarding the right side of the green. I (unsuccessfully) tried to hit a fairway wood out of the soft sand.

I played Streamsong Blue in mid-February, and the wind was similar to your experience. A good links course has wide fairways, but 3 and 4 club winds really beats the snot out of you when you're playing 36 a day.

Chris_NH · March 31, 2014

Great trip report - thanks for taking the time to write it. We had a couple of days of 3-club wind on my trip a couple of weeks ago as well - we enjoyed it, but it does make the round a bit more work and more of a slog.

I don't know if I would trust OTH for my plans - but I may do Eugene next year instead of PDX. We'll see.

av1084 · March 31, 2014

Thanks for taking the time to write up your trip review. I'll be making my first trip out there next week, and couldn't be more excited, although I am very surprised about the slow pace of play. I hope that's not an issue as my 3 days is filled with back to back rounds!

Also, despite not have ever been there, I agree with how ridiculous it sounds to lose that many balls on OM, lol...hopefully I'll have better luck!

Chris_NH · March 31, 2014

[quote name='av1084' timestamp='1396313612' post='8990643']

Also, despite not have ever been there, I agree with how ridiculous it sounds to lose that many balls on OM, lol...hopefully I'll have better luck!
[/quote]

5 rounds on full courses - zero balls lost
1 round on Preserve - two balls lost

Go figure :-)

NWgolfer19 · March 31, 2014

One of the most fantastic places on earth! I'm glad that the Oregon coast treated you so well!

jchungum · April 1, 2014

[quote name='av1084' timestamp='1396313612' post='8990643']
Thanks for taking the time to write up your trip review. I'll be making my first trip out there next week, and couldn't be more excited, although I am very surprised about the slow pace of play. I hope that's not an issue as my 3 days is filled with back to back rounds!

Also, despite not have ever been there, I agree with how ridiculous it sounds to lose that many balls on OM, lol...hopefully I'll have better luck!
[/quote]

I hope you have a great time. The pace of play issue only happened on one day. The other rounds were just around four hours. In fact, from all my trips, I would say the 5 hour round is the exception not the norm. The reservationists are really good about spacing out your rounds, and the starters and clubhouses will work around your schedules. Don't feel bad about calling them and asking for a few extra minutes in case of a slow round. Bandon is extremely service oriented. I've only had one minor issue with a waiter, but that is it. They'll bend over backwards for you, as long as you ask nicely. I think the ranger apologized like 20 times for the slow play.

On last year's trip, I lost a sleeve of balls. This year I went with six sleeves and came back with three.

jchungum · April 1, 2014

[quote name='Chris_NH' timestamp='1396319863' post='8991535']
[quote name='av1084' timestamp='1396313612' post='8990643']
Also, despite not have ever been there, I agree with how ridiculous it sounds to lose that many balls on OM, lol...hopefully I'll have better luck!
[/quote]

5 rounds on full courses - zero balls lost
1 round on Preserve - two balls lost

Go figure :-)
[/quote]

That was me last year. I lost two balls on the Preserve, mostly from not caring and drinking too much. And I lost one ball on the 18 hole courses over four rounds. I personally think that the fairways are very generous, and unless you are having a terrible striking day (40 yard slices and 30 yard duck hooks), it is actually hard to lose a ball. I averaged 11 or 12 fairways hit last year, and hit every fairway at Bandon Dunes in 2013. This year I was more like 9 or 10 fairways hit, and on usual rounds I hit half of my fairways.

Argonne69 · April 1, 2014

[quote name='av1084' timestamp='1396313612' post='8990643']
Thanks for taking the time to write up your trip review. I'll be making my first trip out there next week, and couldn't be more excited, although I am very surprised about the slow pace of play. I hope that's not an issue as my 3 days is filled with back to back rounds!

Also, despite not have ever been there, I agree with how ridiculous it sounds to lose that many balls on OM, lol...hopefully I'll have better luck!
[/quote]

There are several factors that contribute to the pace of play. For starters, the wind was obviously a factor, i.e. lots of missed greens. Secondly, there's a bit of a hike between most holes. It's not like your typical park district course. Lastly, the place is so beautiful that many folks, including myself, take a large number of photos. :-) I believe Pebble Beach has the same issue.

spud3 · April 2, 2014

I found that PD had, by far, the slowest pace both times I have been there. Lots of factors, including the back to back par 3's, and when the wind is up, those are hard shots, but quite a bit of photo ops, too. I waited on a couple of fairways for the group ahead of me to have their caddies take photos of them with the ocean behind.

Not sure if it's because of the (slightly) higher rating that PD gets, but there seems to be more caddies used and more (big) money games going on PD as well.

None of that will keep me away from playing there, though...

Nice report!