Bandon Trip Report - April 2019

Kernel · April 29, 2019

Our third trip is in the books and I am nursing a very serious Bandon hangover.

- Another amazing experience. Bandon Dunes is simply one of my favorite places on earth.

- We've been lucky with weather our prior two trips (April and May). Both times it was dry and very manageable winds. This weekend beat us up. It was blowing all day, and easily 25 mph and gusting much higher in the afternoon. The caddies all remarked how unusual it was was have these "summer winds" this time of year. The back nine on Bandon Dunes Friday afternoon was barely playable. I hit 3 hybrid on 15 and hit it well, but with the wind hurting from the right even a good shot had no chance without starting it 80 yds right of the green. My ball ended up all the way down the slope off the back left. I hit an incredible wedge to pin high and it stopped . . . for a couple of seconds. Then the wind decided to push it 60 feet away to the front of the green. Very demoralizing. We were not prepared mentally for this level of wind. The rest of the rounds (PD and OM in the morning and Trails in the afternoon) were windy, but playable.

- Between the wind and my inconsistent swing, there was some serious variability from round to round. I went from a 92 at BD to a 75 at PD the next morning, in what was easily one of the best rounds I've ever played. The stretch of 10-13 was dead into the wind and I hit some really good shots, including one to about 4 feet on 10. Playing the upper tee into a strong wind is a really dramatic moment.

- The greens at Trails are still the worst of the four courses, but not so bad that they impacted our play.

- The USGA Four Ball is at Old Mac in a week or two so they had all the pins set at "High and Dry" positions in preparation. Basically, find the most difficult spot and that's where they were. The starter warned us the round would be long because there would be many 4 and 5 putts on the course that day. It was brutally tough with almost no margin for error.

- On the changes to bunkers at BD . . . I really like 8 and 9. I think the tee shots now require some strategy other than just driver over the trouble. Two is fine, though I prefer the original layout. I can't comment much on the changes on the back nine as the wind was slapping my brain around too much to process.

- No caddies for us again, but did get paired each round with a twosome using a caddy. All were good, but special call out to Trent who was excellent and a good guy to have a conversation with.

- Food: Two great lunches at Trails End and one great lunch at Pacific Grill. These are our go-to places for lunch . . . especially Trails End.

- Plenty of seeding going on at Sheep Ranch. Lots of green can be seen from Old Mac.

- I still have PD as my favorite, Trails #2 and BD and OM tied for third. Like most, I love them all.

bird206 · April 29, 2019

I was the out there Monday through Friday last week and I would also agree those winds were no joke. I can only imagine if there was rain as well. Luckily there was no rain. Nice pics and report. I'll get my report posted soon too.

Yank8823 · April 30, 2019

Great pics and write up, OP! How far in advance did you guys book? Were the tee sheets pretty full during your stay? In final stages for booking April/May 2020... Thanks in advance!

Kernel · April 30, 2019

We are Oregonians and we stay off property, so our process is different than most. We can book 3 weeks out and get the Oregonian rate (same as staying on property). This is the third time we've been and we have never had a problem getting the tee times we want. But, we are a twosome. If we had three or four, I suspect it would be challenging.

The courses felt fairly full, but not completely. We had a single tee off in front of us on PD Saturday morning. BD Friday afternoon definitely had a few gaps.

kaschreiber · April 30, 2019

> @Yank8823 said:

> Great pics and write up, OP! How far in advance did you guys book? Were the tee sheets pretty full during your stay? In final stages for booking April/May 2020... Thanks in advance!

I just tried getting some people added to our October group and of the 4 days we are there, 2 days have full tee sheets. Granted, Oct is not Apr 2020, but I'd suggest getting on it. If you have the means, you can book your tee times now- the deposit is just the first tee time on site. For April, you're looking at $175 per person just to book your whole itinerary (as far as golf). My suggestion- if you know your dates, book today. We booked our trip about a year ago (18 months in advance) and didn't have too much trouble, but we did need to be flexible for what courses we played which days and our lodging.

LooperCon · April 30, 2019

Friday was bad, but believe it or not, Saturday and Sunday were even windier! My group had balls blow off the green after they put it back on their mark. They’d put it down, look up, and look back down to hit it and it’d be blown off the front hahaha

Kernel · May 1, 2019

> @Queso said:

> Friday was bad, but believe it or not, Saturday and Sunday were even windier! My group had balls blow off the green after they put it back on their mark. They’d put it down, look up, and look back down to hit it and it’d be blown off the front hahaha

Not surprised. It was already pretty damn windy on PD during our morning round.

We played Trails Sat afternoon, so we had some protection. But the wind on the first tee at 2:30 was incredible. And the turn home after 14 that is all uphill and dead into the wind was a grind.

LooperCon · May 1, 2019

> @Kernel said:

> > @Queso said:

> > Friday was bad, but believe it or not, Saturday and Sunday were even windier! My group had balls blow off the green after they put it back on their mark. They’d put it down, look up, and look back down to hit it and it’d be blown off the front hahaha

>

> Not surprised. It was already pretty **** windy on PD during our morning round.

>

> We played Trails Sat afternoon, so we had some protection. But the wind on the first tee at 2:30 was incredible. And the turn home after 14 that is all uphill and dead into the wind was a grind.

Seriously! And you’re kinda hidden away in the trees juuuust long enough to forget how hard it’s blowing, then BAM that 4 hole stretch to finish just slaps you right in the face and brings you back to reality. 16 can play sooooo long up that hill into a stiff wind.