Bandon Dunes April 2016 Trip Report

[Kernel]

Just back from three days in golfing nirvana, with weather to match. Three days, four courses and a trip I'll remember forever.

 

We arrived about 11am Friday after driving in from Portland (where we live). After lunch on the patio at Trails End, it was time for golf.

 

Friday pm - Bandon Dunes

Weeks of anticipation bordering on obsession all led up to that first tee shot at BD. It was a bit overwhelming, but the two of us each striped it down the middle and we were off. Bandon Dunes was the perfect way to start the trip. It's the most accessible course of the four, i think, and offers great holes, great views and a great introduction to links golf. The view standing on 3 tee box, seeing the property from above for the first time, was phenomenal. No. 4 and 16 certainly deserve all the hype and overall I just loved playing this course. Draining a 50-footer for birdie on 11 was a weekend highlight.

 

Saturday am - Pacific Dunes

Where BD is more refined, PD is wilder and less tamed. The blowout bunkers, waste areas, and routing are amazing. The wind started to pick up a bit on the back, but it was still relatively calm. We had so much fun even on stretches where the course beat us up, including having to play a shot from the blowout bunker on 13 while standing in a gorse bush. But I left that hole with a huge smile . . . just a crazy experience. I'd say 10-13 is the best stretch of holes we played and No. 4 might be our favorite hole of the weekend. There are a few too many blind shots and odd carries for my taste, but PD is unforgettable.

 

Saturday pm - Bandon Trails

With the wind picking up, the protection of BT came at a good time. Like many have said, BT suffers by being compared to the other courses on the property, but it is a fantastic track. It's a little too familiar in style to the typical course we see here on the NW for me to have been blown away, though the design is obviously better than just about anything in the region. No. 13 is one of my favorite holes of the weekend.

 

Sunday am - Old Mac

OM was the course I was least sure of how I'd react to going in to the weekend and it exceeded all expectations. What a mind-blowing place. Simple, insane, traditional, unique, challenging . . . I loved it. All of the courses here require you to think your way through the round far more than the typical place. But OM takes it to another level. I hit putter from 50 yds off the green, had to hit 3-wood on 8 dead into a howling wind and played putts 15-20 feet away from the cup just to peel off some of the downhill pace.

 

Oh, and the weather. It was summer in April. Sunday it got up to the high 70's.

 

Stray thoughts:

-Ate lunch at Trails End all three days and really enjoyed the food and the outdoor patio overlooking 18 green (on which, inexplicably, we saw not a single other person eating all three days). Dinner at McKee's was underwhelming.

-Like most have said, the customer experience is first-rate.

-We didn't use caddies and, in retrospect, were very glad we didn't. I'm sure caddies could have shaved a few strokes during the weekend, but we really enjoyed navigating the courses and strategizing through a round ourselves.

 

If I could play again right now rankings:

1. BD

2. OM

3. PD

4. BT

[L3fty]

Oh the love and hate of reading Bandon reviews....

I've read many reviews, saw many pictures, even read Dream Golf.. Just have to get out there.

 

Was it busy this time of the year?

Thank you very much for the write-up and pictures!

[spud3]

Nice write-up and photos! Looks like you hit the weather jackpot!

[QMany]

Great review! I am insanely jealous of the weather you drew.

[tnord]

we left the day before you got there, and we saw the weather that was coming. it was the same weather that was there before we arrived, although i have to say that i would've been a bit disappointed if i didn't get out my brand new rain gear at all during the trip.

 

interesting that you ranked BT last seemingly in part because it had a similar feel to what you normally play in the NW. I would say that PD has a similar feel to what we have here at Prairie Dunes, minus the ocean of course. I actually have a really hard time putting any of the PD/BD/BT ahead of the others. i absolutely loved BT, as it's obviously very different from what we have in central KS, and that's probably part of the appeal.

[Sushiyoshi]

Trails is really underrated. Such an awesome course. And that 13th whole has always been a nightmare for me missing the green on the left every time. Ball rolls all the way down and it's a crazy shot trying to keep the ball on the green coming back up with a steep bunker on the other side!

[Chris_NH]

Nice writeup. I've been 3 times in March/April and have had almost exclusively weather like you described. Glad you were able to enjoy the good weather.

 

Since you live in Portland, I'm sure there will be another trip sometime soon. I'll be interested to see if your relative rankings change after trip #2. Mine (and all of my group) did.

[bogey_golf]

Were the greens being aerified at that time? Have a trip set up in mid April.

[Kernel]

No, and no indication that they'd been punched anytime close to when we were there

[puttnforthe8]

Were the greens being aerified at that time? Have a trip set up in mid April.

 

Greens are not aerified...this is perhaps one of the best times to go.

[bogey_golf]

Thank you for the info.

[cbbaron]

I went April 2015 nothing was aerated

[buzlin]

We were there the last week in April 2015, only Trails was aerated theb since most of April seemed fine. They were having issues with those greens, so maybe it was just that course that year.