Would you go to Bandon Dunes alone????

[xbojenglzx]

Yeah, I'd go solo in a heartbeat.

[dearth12]

OP here.

 

 

Well all of the other people I asked were unable to make the trip happen this year. It is a trip that me and my buddy (the guy originally scheduled to go) have talked about for years. With that said we have rescheduled for the last week of March of 2017. I wanted to give him the chance to make it happen and if this time he is unable to go I will be going on my own.

 

 

Thanks for the opinions guys

[e.king.gill]

Sometimes you can have a great experience on a solo mission. On a work trip I played Torrey Pines with 3 of the nicest guys - all pharmaceutical reps (one was a former Club Pro) we had a great time, then watched the 2nd half of the 2010 AFC championship game, then putted for $ on the practice green till dark - then shared a cab back to town. I still keep in contact with them. We have joked about a reunion - I would go if they would.

[EKELLY]

Sure thing. Took my B to Pinehurst last Fall. Me golf, her spa......You can finish the math.......lol

[mwmgolfx]

You realize that unless you get paired up, you will not be able to post your scores.

 

Actually if you use a caddy regardless of whether you are paired up or not, you can still post your scores. Caddy is considered an adequate peer. And using a caddy for the first time there is highly and i do mean highly recommended. Its part of the experience.

 

I've played there as part of groups and as a single. More fun with a group but still tons of fun and a fantastic experience. Go alone and go again when buddy can make it. Who says you can't go twice.

[67VIP]

You realize that unless you get paired up, you will not be able to post your scores.

 

Actually if you use a caddy regardless of whether you are paired up or not, you can still post your scores. Caddy is considered an adequate peer. And using a caddy for the first time there is highly and i do mean highly recommended. Its part of the experience.

 

I've played there as part of groups and as a single. More fun with a group but still tons of fun and a fantastic experience. Go alone and go again when buddy can make it. Who says you can't go twice.

 

I just posted scores via the ghin app on my phone and it took them, no questions asked. I'm heading alone to Bandon early Tues morning and staying to Fri. Playing Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Preserve, and Old MacDonald. Might add Bandon Trails if I have any energy left. I am looking forward to the solitude to decompress from work, some great golf, and good food & drink.

[67VIP]

What you have to look forward to, Pacific Dunes. Old MacDonald is a close second.

[Jamesmich16]

What you have to look forward to, Pacific Dunes. Old MacDonald is a close second.

Great pictures!!!

[TheCityGame]

Yeah, great shots. Did you do any "post processing" on them? Even if just running them through standard filters and effects? Light is very nice in some of them.

[67VIP]

Yeah, great shots. Did you do any "post processing" on them? Even if just running them through standard filters and effects? Light is very nice in some of them.

 

The light was weird anyway as it was overcast all day, but the sun was coming through in small cracks in the cloud cover. My phone is a moto droid turbo with a great camera...up to 21 mega pixels, and I got a new update to the photo shop app that has a setting called "bueno" that seems to make the pics jump out at you. The thing I noticed most is it clearly enhances the definition between rough, fairway, & greens. Also seems to enhance cloud cover. On the shots I got the day before at Old Mac in clear sunshine the result is not as obvious. You can see those in the Bandon February thread.

[DD4442]

You must be very appy with your photographs.

[dearth12]

Long story short (or as short as I can make it):

 

My buddy and I, who have gone on serious golf trips (36+ a day) every year for the past 9 years, picked Bandon Dunes for this summers trip. We booked last summer to assure we got the lodging, dates, and tee times we wanted. Fast forward to now and he has his first kid on the way and as a father of 2 myself I know how that can change things. He is worried that if the baby comes early (due in mid April) that his wife wife will be off maternity leave and he won't be able to go or even if she still is on maternity leave that she won't let him go. He is planning to wait until April or so to get a firm answer. That kind of leaves me hanging a bit for a number of reasons:

 

1- ticket prices for a flight from Ohio if booked now are at a pretty great rate, but I know the closer you get the higher the price. This is not the biggest concern by any means.

 

2- If he cancels in April or even later I am stuck in regards to my vacation dates being set for work by that point.

 

3- I have been looking forward to Bandon for years and just really want to experience the place.

 

I have another guy that is thinking about going so that even if my buddy backs out I could go with him, but that leads me back to the original question: If both can't make it happen would you go to Bandon on your own for the experience?

 

The trip is schedule for the last week of June/in to early July and we are schedule to stay and play 4 days/nights at Bandon.

 

 

 

OP here and I just had to rehash an old thread because I am back in the same predicament again. Unbelievably, the same buddy (former now) has backed out of our Bandon Trip that was the reschedule of our first scheduled trip and is set to take place the last week of this March. A little details:

 

We booked to go this March around roughly April of last year and I cannot count how many times I have asked him to make sure he was 100% in since then and his answer was always an emphatic "yes". Fast forward to early December and I ask 1 more time if he is 100% in because it is time to book our flights and he says "yes" and we book our flights.Then on New Year's Eve he texts me to say that he has to cut a day off the trip because his wife isn't comfortable with him being gone that long. I give him some crap, but say oh well and that I will travel the first day on my own and he can meet me for the 2nd round on Wednesday (really only missing the first round of the trip). We go forward and cement plans on how that will work. Well today he shoots me a text and says he can't go at all because his wife just can't get comfortable with the fact that she would have to watch their 1 kid for Wednesday-Saturday. Which would entail getting the kid ready for day care Weds, Thurs, and Friday and then picking up the child at 5:30 and to bed around 7:30 each of those days and watching him all day Saturday.

 

 

At this point I am completely floored, I mean we are less than 3 months from the trip, have planned it for 2 years, and now have plane tickets.

 

As a person with 2 kids I understand that kids change things, but this one I just don't get. Their are no schedule conflicts for her to watch the baby or anything she just flat out does not want to do it. You just don't cancel a big trip like this so close to it happening and completely screw the other person over, especially when that person has been 1 of your best friends for over 25 years.

 

 

 

 

So after that rant, what are some things to do to make going to Bandon as a solo more enjoyable?

 

 

I can't stomach the thought of not going AGAIN!!!

[buzlin]

Dearth,

 

That totally SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm with you on this one. I would be pissed. Ask him if it takes both of them to change a diaper..................... I'm also a father of two (6 and 3 yo) and have lots of experience caring for both my kids alone, so does my wife. That said, I don't know your buddy or his wife or their kid (duh), so I'll refrain from saying anything more.................

 

You should still go (assuming you can justify the cost of a single room).

 

I feel your pain.

[Matt J]

I've been alone and am currently preparing for a trip with 8. I might prefer going alone.

 

Have fun!

[krtgolfing]

What type of prices would you be looking at for a single with golf???

[duffer987]

What type of prices would you be looking at for a single with golf???

 

The same as going with a foursome, all things being equal on the rooms, with the exception of not having someone to split rental car price with :)

 

@Dearth: FFS x a million!

1. Punch your friend in the dick.

2. Cancel your current plans.

3. Make new plans to go on your own.

4. Punch your friend in the dick.

5. Go on your trip and have a fantastic time!

6. Return home and punch your friend in the dick.

[buzlin]

Tell your buddy how pissed off your internet troll friends are at both him and his wife. hahaha

 

Deep breaths. Now back to your "problem" (good riddance)

 

Things to make it more fun as a single?

1) flask

2) send tons of pics to your buddy

3) bunker bar, be social

[dearth12]

Thanks for all the comments guys. It's good to see that my anger is justified.

 

@buzlin- I was in the situation (my wife is a nurse) where I was responsible for both of our kids from 7am to 8pm every single Saturday AND Sunday for nearly 4 years and I seemed to manage fine and my kids are still alive. Having done this makes the fact that #1 his wife is pulling this crap and #2 he is allowing it to happen, which is far worse in my opinion, just unfathomable to me.

 

@duffer- I am not going to cancel my current plans because I work in school administration and that is our spring break. I know the belief is that nobody in education works during the summer, but that is not the case. As an administrator I have roughly 2 weeks off in the summer and have already planned a family vacation for that time. Which leads me to the fact that my wife wanted to use that spring break week to visit her sister and new niece in California, but she understood that this trip had been planned for a long time and I was able to convince her that my buddy was a solid go this time around. Now she is unable to go to California because her sister has made other plans. So he screwed me over in multiple ways!!!

 

@krtgolfing- In my estimation the price increases in the following ways:

 

+ $150 due to rental car and gas not being split

+ $460 ($115 a night) due to having to pay for a room as a single and not splitting it at Bandon Dunes

+$40 for our Saturday night hotel in Portland before flying out Sunday due to not splitting the costs there

 

Total increase of $650

 

 

 

To say the least I am obviously floored by this situation and cannot believe the lack of balls my buddy displayed when discussing this with his wife and then the amount of balls he displayed in explaining how he now can't go AGAIN on this trip to me!!

[The Pearl]

Not a problem.

 

I am convinced that going solo is the best way to go to Bandon. I have done 3 trips. Part of the first trip was solo and the last trip was completely solo. Unless you are one of those guys that simply can't be by themselves than there is no problem. I played two solo rounds by myself on Bandon Trails. I would consider these two days my greatest golf experience ever.

 

I will always go as a solo going forward unless somebody else takes the reigns and makes the plans and even than I would still go if they bailed out.

 

As Duffer says, cancel the trip and reschedule as a single. Worst case scenario is that you will get stuck paying a little extra for a room. I am a grown man so I prefer my own room anyway. It is worth the extra cash for me.

 

You will get paired up with serious fellow golfer's that are all there for the same thing. You can operate on your own schedule and kill the off time at the range. Complete freedom. If you need some night time buddies, go to McKee's or the Bunker Bar and strike up some convo.

 

I would never let somebody else ruin my Bandon trip. Never.

[The Pearl]

Don't get upset. Your buddy is dealing with a psycho wife. He cannot be depended on going forward, so now you know.

 

Anyway you can fly into Eugene?

[Splitter]

OP...

 

Don't be pissed at your bud.

 

If she is freaked out and putting that on him, he's doing the right thing. He's not going to fix his wife on something like this. We all have our freak outs and that's hers. He has to live with her. It's got to suck knowing that for the next 5-10 years, he's stuck.

 

In the meantime, go, go, go.. you have me thinking about going now. Thanks for bringing the thread back!

[duffer987]

Should have said amend booking, as opposed to cancel. I could have combined 2 & 3 into one step ;)

The Bandon folks are used to changing reservations all the time, they'll be able to sort out any modifications you need to make.

[buzlin]

Another thing you should do, is post pics and recaps each night, preferably while hammered, and we'll all join in to comment and talk trash.

[dearth12]

@pearl- Already booked the flights through Southwest (done at my buddy's request so he could use his points) and they do not fly to Eugene

 

 

@Splitter- I would say that my anger is as much at his wife for being unreasonable as it is towards him for continually stringing me along and getting this far in the process only to back out again. I mean this is a friend of 25+ years and a guy I have gone on week long golf trips with for years and years. I get the kid part, but just be honest about the push back you are getting at home so that I am not left in this situation. Honesty from the start and we never have a single issue. If he tells me from day 1 "no man I won't be able to do that trip" then there is never an issue at all.

 

@duffer- I am currently checking with 1 other good friend to see if he can make the trip and if not I am going to call and amend my reservations. I did not even think about the fact that they could have single rooms. Glad someone mentioned it

 

@buzlin- recaps will for sure come nightly!!

 

 

 

Thanks guys!!

[Edaw68]

Just go by yourself every year for the next few years. Then you'll be experienced when your buddy gets divorced and can go again.

[MrMileHigh]

if I remember correctly, you're out there the same time as me, 3/29 thru 4/1. You're more than welcome to drink beer with us! We'll be out there as a foursome.

[dearth12]

Yep, I will be out there the exact same dates. I will take you up on that beer!

 

 

Also, I called Bandon and it looks like I will be able to amend the trip to go solo. Waiting to hear back from a couple other friends I threw an invite out to, but if they can't go I'm not passing this up again.

[mallrat]

I have made 6 solo trips and 4 with others and I might have had more fun solo, well except the Preserve. It allows me to keep to my schedule or change my schedule as needed, eat where and when you want. Make sure you head down to the jacuzzi and chill. I was actually paired up with the same 2 singles for 3 of 5 rounds on a trip. We actually became friends and ate together each night. We still keep in touch.

 

If you want to play a round in Portland on your way in send me a PM.

 

Another fun option is to break up the drive and stop in Florence at the Casino the night before and play a round at Sand Pines. A hybrid links course that gets you in the mood for Bandon and the last 2 times I've stopped there my room has been $49.

[spud3]

Agree on just about everything mentioned above, especially the comments about how your buddy is likely in a tough relationship, and no one can know how that goes except him. It just means that you can't rely on him for this sort of thing, at least for a while.

 

I waited for several years for my friends to get it together so we could all go to Bandon, then finally said f*ck it and went on my own. Wished I would have never waited. You will lack neither things to do nor golf nerds to engage while you're there as a solo, and as mallrat pointed out, you are at no one's whims but your own for schedule as a solo. That is a really cool thing. Imagine yourself in a place where there's nothing to do except play, think and talk about killer golf courses, surrounded by a bunch of others who are of the same mind. It really is Disneyland.

 

One idea: spending the night in Eugene is probably a good bit cheaper than PDX, if that helps, and there are almost as many good brewpubs. And breaking up the drive is a good thing. And if you're driving up on Saturday, traffic won't be too much of a hassle.

[mallrat]

I forgot to add and to 2nd the poster somewhere above.

 

Above all else remember to punch your friend in the d1ck. Then take a crap load of photos and video to rub it in his face. Upon returning home, punch said friend in the d1ck again. Then buy him aa beer and ask if all is cool at home.