Random Bandon Thread

[VNutz]

I was there in November and things were pretty good. Bandon and Pacific rolled very true and sneaky quick. Trails was a little bumpy and patchy in some spots, but that's not unheard of for a more tree lined course. Old Mac was pretty shaggy for us, I was a bit surprised. Definitely a different grass, fescue maybe?? that for me felt like putting was as much luck as it was skill. We kind of just 2 putt maxed those and moved along.

[jjr]

 

Just returned form 4 days, 10th through the 13th, weather was amazing, sun, clouds & wind, only 2 holes of rain our last day on Old Mac 16 & 17 wind calmed and umbrellas were sufficient to keep us somewhat dry.

1st day was 18 @ Trails, I do love this course, greens are not POA yet, conditions were not the best but all the greens are not in the best condition it's winter.

2nd day Preserve @8:00 am, we were the only ones out so we played 2 balls, since the Preserve was the 1st course to switch to POA (from what I was told ) the greens were in the best condition of any of the courses.

11:30 we're off @ Bandon ( we both agreed this was our favorite course of the 5, though Preserve is a must play, extremely fun track and tough when the wind is up) after 18 @ Bandon we were off for another 9 at Bandon ( free because they do count Preserve as the 1st of 2 paid rounds)

3rd day. Because of the free extra 9 holes we added the Preserve to our 3rd day, 8:00 a.m. 2 balls again only a few on the course so we scooted around quickly,, we're both low handicaps so there was no way we were going to hold anybody up. I was hitting my irons extremely well this morning and holed out my 1st ball on 8 ( rewarded by the pro shop with a beautiful Hole In one wooden framed picture of 8 and after missing 2 3 foot birdies I carded a 2 ball even round ) quite memorable to say the least.

Thought you guys might like to see the framed pic for the HIO.

11:30 we're off to the Dunes the layout is fantastic the greens not so much, again I contribute it to new POA and it being winter. After our 18 we went back to Bandon and played the back 9 again, a freebie.

Our last day was @ Old Mac the rain was coming so we bumped our tee time from 11:30 to 9:30, the course was interesting, the weather was overcast with the least amount of wind of our 4 days we played 2 balls each worst ball, tough to say the least. We were both amazed with the undulations in the greens at Old Mac we moved around from Black to Green tees playing worst ball, had a blast but the greens ate us up. We're both good putters and chippers but we struggled with all of the greens on all the courses they were generally inconsistent and we found we were better off putting from off the green then chipping ( tight lies everywhere)

We had a fantastic time and lucked out on the weather, we only played Trails with another twosome and many times played 2 balls from the tee or fairway. I highly recommend Feb not only from a money saving stand point but from a "where the hell is everyone standpoint) lot's of great walking and 3 wheel carts were easy to use. I'm 60 and my best buddy is 65 we were fairly beat at the end of each day.

 

[Yank8823]

Sounds like you had a great stretch of weather, and congrats on the hole-in-one, still waiting for my first.

[Sushiyoshi]

Just got back yesterday. Not much to recap except that the weather was awesome and I played my worse ever rounds there! Somehow lost my swing once we got to Bandon.

Friday we played Florence. Weather was great with hardly any wind. Course was soggy in a lot of areas but greens were great and rolled pretty true. Only #7 was different than the rest. It may have been redone as the grass was not poa like others.

Saturday played Pacific. Weather was great when we started at 9:30. By the time we got to 14, it was up to 2+ club wind. Greens were great. Some soggy spots in rough areas but otherwise it was great.

Sunday played Trails. Again no wind and warm for most of the round. Greens were great except for 13 which was beat up badly in the back half. Wind picked up on #16 and made that a brutal hole.

Monday played Bandon. Again no wind and warm. Started on #10 at 8:30 due to frost delay but it was not cold at all. Stripped off all my layers down to golf shirt. Some peeps were wearing shorts.

We are confirmed for Sheep Ranch, OM, and Bandon next year. Can't wait!

[duffer987]

Good to hear the Stadry worked a charm. Just how dry were those clubs? ;-)

[gambit]

That;s awesome. I'm flying in next Friday so hoping for no rain, but I'll have rain gear regardless. Until yesterday, I hadn't played in a couple of weeks, no practice, not even held a club due to a small tear in the groin. Carried for 18 yesterday and it did not go well at all. Sequence was off. Grip felt off. Swing felt off. Results were horrid. Not sure if it's rust or just protecting the injury. Hope Bandon goes a bit better. Did you get a caddy and if so how was it?

[10&8]

Did my first Bandon trip in November. Just got a call from some friends asking if I’d like to go in September again. It took me 0.02 seconds to say yes. Can’t wait to play Sheep Ranch (and of course all of the others). Already counting down the days.

[Stevo85]

9 weeks out from our second trip. I think 6-10 weeks out is the hardest time because it's too far to start any true preparation, yet you really can't stop thinking about it.

I'm the trip planner in our group, question for fellow trip planners. Last year we were 4, this year we expanded to 8. We have 1 true Bandonista, 3 second timers, and 4 first timers with skill levels from 8 - 16 hdcp and a 25. As much as I love the planning, emails, itinerary building, setting up the games etc., last year I was always busy shuttling the group around, setting up dinner, keeping us on time for tee times and keeping track of the games during the round. I don't think I was able to enjoy it fully and it just flew by. It will be even busier this year with double the group size, and can only imagine for groups of 16/32. Any tips from other trip planners out there on how to get the most out of the trip (particularly on course) rather than dealing with logistics?

 

[Goose71]

What dates are you there? I got 8 coming from Vancouver bc area weekend after the masters. April 16-20.

[oregongolf]

Our group just got home Sunday evening. Nice trip, lucked out on weather compared to what was forecasted. It blew pretty hard Saturday at Bandon, but not really much rain to speak of. Lots of tricky pins Thur-Sat (Trails & Pac especially). Some I've literally never seen before, even in tournament play there.

 

Greens were definitely iffy on Trails (they had obviously recently top dressed), but were very bumpy and extremely slow. I was disappointed because they were so good last year at the same time. Pacific had a lot going on... some tined, some sliced, some top dressed, etc. I would guess 12 or 13 of the greens had no issues at all. If they could get the moss out of the fairways at Trails (it plays so much better when it's way firmer), man... I wouldn't argue if everyone said that was their favorite course. I'm obviously slightly nitpicking, but I feel qualified to do that since it's a world class resort.

 

You won't find many better managed greens than the big putt at the range. Purina. Made putting an adjustment elsewhere as they were easily stimping a 1.5+ feet faster than some of the courses. Old Mac's greens were generally pretty good. I enjoy putting on the fescue when it's managed well, but they're going to have issues as they progress with poa creep. Example: Mac's putting green. Never great, but pretty iffy right now. Perhaps time to go back to poa bounties? :/

 

I will say, they don't have the same level of service in general across the resort as they did even 5 or 6 years ago. Just an anecdotal observation from a lot of people in our group. They whiffed on multiple things this weekend... kind of sucks with all the interns and carousel of golf pros each year. Some of the long time starters and marshals there are just awesome though. IYKYK

 

Always a great trip. Place is golf heaven for sure.

[duffer987]

Delegate:

if you're having running matches, that is someone who's not you's task to keep track of who owe's what to whom. Give it to a first-timer Give evening meal reservations/suggestions to a second timerprint off 8 sheets with tee times on them and the expected rallying time for breakfast and they make it or they don't - assuming just emails isn't enoughTell everyone you're using shuttles to get to the courses, no waiting for that one guy that keeps forgetting things so you can leave in your carWe go as a foursome and we're all good friends first, guys who golf second, so we don't have to worry about that stuff. But really tee times are the only thing that matters, whether you're a twosome or 16 guys. For instance I don't look to hit the range to start the day, I'm happy stretching, rolling some putts, and teeing off. Two guys like to hit balls and one's either way, so we just have breakfast early enough there is time to do it, but we might all make our way individually to the first tee.

[Edaw68]

Oregongolf- I gotta disagree with the idea of customer service going downhill, at least in my experience. I was there solo in January and went to the range to warm up on my first day. I hadn't even checked into my room, and changed into golf shoes under the pavilion roof at the range. Well my dumb a** was to excited to go do golf stuff, and I left a pair of Danner boots at the bench and went off for my round at OM. After the round I go to change back into street shoes and check into my room, where I find the shoes not in my car. I go back to the range, and the kid doing afternoon cleanup looks all over, can't find em, and uses his personal cell to call the morning guy who left for the day. He then calls the guest services number to get everyone looking for my boots. I go check into my room, and as I'm hauling my second load up a gal shows up with my boots. Everyone went out of their way to help fix a problem that was entirely my fault.

I wrote the GM thanking everyone for that moment.

[oregongolf]

That's fantastic service... really what that place is about.

Unfortunately, I can't say a few guys in our group got the same level of service (one lost a pitching wedge, one lost a range finder--neither returned). Guest services couldn't be less enthusiastic or helpful. Marshals couldn't be bothered to get off the stopwatch and go ask a couple of the groups behind ours. I've worked in the industry for nearly 20 years and was surprised not that they were never recovered, but the almost zero effort towards a resolution was pretty surprising to me.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that President's Day weekend is busy for them. I've mentioned it here before that the group service upstairs at McKee's sucks... so we just don't go there anymore. Tough to avoid members of our group losing stuff (that's just gonna happen sometimes). I won't vent some of the other issues here, but I'll put it in the survey.

I will also mention the vast majority of the fantastic staff there brings it every day. By far there are more good people there than miserables... but it just takes one :/

[dcmidnight]

I just booked my ShipSticks for October on the free return shipping email that I got - no matter what you booked you got free return ground shipping. Should be fine for me, after 72 holes in four days I think I'll be OK without my sticks for a bit when I get back. Still a good deal, from VA to BD I think the 2 day shipping was $120. Get in on Tuesday, first day Wednesday so I think I scheduled them to get there Monday since they recommend 1-2 business days before.

[kaschreiber]

Agree with both and have seen it both ways. Granted, haven't been going for as long as it sounds like you have (first trip was 2017), but have been blown away by service and at the same time, let down. We booked Tournament Services for our group of 12 last year- they offered setting up free kps for our 4 rounds, we chose the holes. Round 1- none placed, round 2 and 3, no issue, round 4- tape measure for measuring distance has no actual tape in it (just the plastic shell). Little things like that that make you wonder if someone is either over worked or just not there to deliver on the great customer service, which I do kind of understand. I know if I were working there, I'd be tempted to get my stuff done early each day and go play- I'm not saying it's easy.

Echo Duffer. Planned a trip for 12 last year, we had two rooms- one suite and one in Chrome Lake.

Made an executive decision on dinner reservations. Had 2 printouts in each room listing tee times and dinner reservations. Updated the game at the end of each round while we were eating lunch, but made people tally their own match scores. It was simple math at that point.We're all adults, had people handle getting where they needed to be on their own. If you're late and miss your tee time, that's on you.Overall advice- find someone that can be your right hand man (that you trust and isn't going to try and undermine/second guess everything), then be OK playing the role of benevolent dictator. We have a rule that if people complain and don't like how things are planned out, they are welcome to plan their own trip. Feedback and constructive criticism is welcome, but complaining likely means you get left out the next trip we take.

[duffer987]

Definitely a good anecdote Edaw and nice to hear :-)

Unfortunately we've seen more along the lines of OG the past few years too. I chalk it up to the simple situation of the resort being one of the only large-scale employers around (I wonder if after the casino, hospital, and county/municipal employees if it's the largest employer in the area) you end up with folks in relatively dead-end jobs and their interest suffers as the years roll on.

There are definitely some excellent long-term starters and breakfast shift servers - and the reservation folks have been universally excellent - but customer-facing staff in other areas has slipped IMHO. Used to get a proper feedback email, where we could point out things, but even that's pared down now.

TBF Bandon (and to a lesser degree Kohler) are the only two resorts we return to regularly, so easier to start seeing flaws, when all the awesomeness is taken as a given.

[erichake]

With 8 you should be able to assign 2 of them to be the "Meals Committee" (making reservations, etc). Once everyone knows their tee times aren't they able to get themselves where they need to be when they need to be there? The shuttle system should take care of that.

[Stevo85]

Thanks for the tips. Will plan on having someone take care of planning dinners, and someone else on game duty. Print-outs will work well too since we have separate rooms (both at Chrome Lake).@Goose71 - We're there Mon 4/20 - Fri 4/23. Have fun!
Our itinerary is:
Mon - arrive, practice center, Preserve
Tue - Bandon, Pacific, punchbowl
Wed - Old Mac, Bandon,
Thu - Trails, Pacific, leave

[spud3]

+1 on all the recommendations above. A few other suggestions:

 

Make dinner reservations now. Include those times on the tee sheets you print out/email to all.Check with the resort on services they offer for groups (scoring, etc.). Take advantage of the freebies, decide if you want to pay for the extras.Depending on which games you have going, have everyone at least total up their scores for the rounds. Do the math at dinner with everyone there. Rotate this responsibility each night.

The goal is to get everything set up beforehand and info disseminated such that all you (or anyone) has to do is show up at the right tee or restaurant on time.

[Goose71]

We leave the 20th or else we could of set up a match or two!

[poppyhillsguy]

Pictures on my Instagram page: tomwhiteiv

Monday, Feb. 17: Went off Old Mac as a single around 9:00 and had a great time. The weather was perfect which will be the theme for this report. I felt Old Mac was the hardest of the 4 courses for me. The combination of fairway bunkers, gorse, and funky greens led me to my highest round of the 4. Played The Preserve after lunch which was so much fun and perfect course conditions. The wind picked up to a steady 15mph that afternoon.

Tuesday, Feb 18: We had an hour frost delay and they used split tees (no delay at BT). Played 36 at Pacific Dunes. PD is both my favorite course, favorite place to hang (Punch Bowl), and favorite breakfast spot. I fell in love with PD walking to the 4th tee box. I can't imagine a trip to Bandon Dunes and not playing PD. On my replay, a fantastic marshal told me while I was stuck behind 3 threesomes, to skip 7-8 and go straight to 9. After flying around, I walked to 8 and played 8 then 7 back to the Punch Bowl and parking lot. It was great advice. Clear skies, steady 15mph wind.

Wednesday, Feb. 19: 2 hour frost delay (no delay at BT) even though it was warmer than the day before and I saw no visible frost (I'm a greens-keeper). Played 18 at Bandon Dunes. The wind reversed direction from Monday and Tuesday. The wind was blowing opposite the course design, so we got lucky on holes like 11. They did split tees due to the frost delay which caused a 3 group back-up making the turn. When we asked the starter when teeing off to start the round how it would work making the turn, he assured us of no delays. The other starter told me they were going to have to weave tee times in-between groups making the turn. Beers at the Punch Bowl followed. Clear skies, steady breeze, but PERFECT weather. Better than summer according to the staff.

Thursday, Feb. 20: Bandon Trails was a fantastic chance of pace. I enjoyed the layout and scenery even though my feet were tired and I developed a cut on my middle finger. Yes; as previous reports have stated, the greens are the worst of the 5 courses, but not awful by any means.

I played with the same 3 guys at PD, BD, and BT and we all had different favorite course opinions.

Breakfast: The Gallery; not good, my potatoes were still frozen. Pacific Dunes; this is were I will go for all my breakfasts. Loved the BF Sandwich.

Lunch: Hot dogs and sandwiched are affordably priced at the turn. Bandon Trails; turkey, BLT was great, but the service was slow. I was the only one there and no one came to take my order so I walked up to the counter and ordered. They apologized later.

Dinner: McKee's (two dinners here); huge thumbs-up for GrandMa's Meatloaf, but disappointed in the Italian Sausage pizza. Bandon Brewing Company in town had good food and better beer.

The best part of staying on-site is using the shuttle system. They were so quick to pick me up from Chrome Lake. The service was very good on most occasions just slow at BT restaurant, an out of order hot tub, poor split tee management at BD, and they could use a swim suit spinner in the Men's Locker Room to help dry out your suit. Shorty's was closed every time I went to the range.

Merchandise purchases: BT and PD hat, BD driver headcover, PD putter headcover, Old Mac tree hoodie. Believe it or not, I showed tremendous restraint.

I can't wait to go back, but need to prepare myself because I know the PERFECT weather was an anomaly.

 

 

[buzlin]

Glad you had a great trip Poppyhillsguy. Fully appreciating, but not expecting nice (playable) February weather is a great start to many more trips!

On a side note, prompted by Bandons FB post showing BD #14. Has this green always been open from the front right I recall playing it around 2006 my first time and thinking wow, a totally hidden green complex. When I returned in late 2013, I wasn't struck by the same awe/feeling. I may be totally off and perhaps have combined memories due to excessive alcohol, but thought I'd ask here anyway.

[Edaw68]

No I think your memory is correct. Part of the renovations to that hole opened it up a little and made the bunkers larger but less penal. They aren't as raised up which opens the view a bit. I remember in the past if you weren't well out to the left it was a semi-blind shot.

[buzlin]

Seems like they've made a few changes over the years then? They opened it up even more a couple years ago right?

[spud3]

The biggest changes were done a little over a year ago. DMK made quite a few tweaks, mainly filling in some bunkers and upgrading others. The big hill on the left of the last par 3 has been taken down. We had a pretty significant thread about it: https://forums.golfwrx.com/discussion/1751908/dmk-and-more-tweaks-to-bandon-dunes

 

I think the general consensus was mixed. Some things we liked, others not so much. But I support his rights to make changes to his own design.

[jerebear21]

Heading there this week. Looks like amazing weather. Seems like the greens should be decent.

[SouthLand]

Two and a half weeks out. Freaking the hell out about the weather being so good -right now-.

[eboettne]

2 1/2 days for me, also freaking out

[mallrat]

Not sure what you guys use for the weather but Accuweather app might be the best for the southern Oregon coast. They use a weather station (or whatever it is called) just south of Bandon. Their predictions are normally spot on. Weather Underground seems to be the best for the Portland area (they don’t use that station) and the Weather Channel seems best for the Bend area.

 

just an FYI

[eboettne]

Really hoping they get that hot tub fixed by Wednesday. That's a nightly routine for me.