Random Bandon Thread

[dcmidnight]

17 minutes ago, kro88 said:

Flying from NYC area,  most people recommend flying into Eugene.  any reason i should not be looking at OTH (North Bend) if there are flights available?

 

thanks

  

 

So I flew from DC > SEA > EUG. Every person we talked to - including two guys who just had their NB flight cancelled - they all recommended Eugene.

 

Its not like you can get an hourly flight into NB if you miss your connection. The guys we played with ended up in SF for the night. At least in Seattle there were a ton of Eugene flights going out of their commuter terminal. And its really a beautiful drive. I'm not saying its not *closer* - sure, its a half hour vs 2.5 hour drive - but to me especially coming from the East Coast, too many risks.

[2bGood]

On 9/6/2020 at 11:33 AM, Banker said:

I didn’t but somebody in the group usually had one. From what I saw it was hit or miss. One guy in our group switched halfway through the trip because the guy had no idea what was going on. 
 

We had 9 people on the trip, i think 4 or 5 had caddies. Only 1 dude switched. It’s cool how they pair you up with the same caddy your whole trip, but it makes it awkward if you have to go to guest services to get another one, lol. 
 

We don't usually takes caddies, but one time a couple of us did, mine was very good and right on top of it. The other caddie was SUPER hungover and actually fell asleep a few times during the round. You may be asking how you fall asleep while caddying as it does seem pretty improbable.

 

One time was when we stopped at the snack shack, he sat down on a bench and drifted off, but another time was rather comical as he somehow fell asleep standing up holding the flag stick while we were putting. We all holed out and he did not move a muscle to replace the flag, we look over and he was hunched over leaning on the flagstick eyes closed sleeping. We had to give him a jostle to wake him up. Basically the guy had the ability to lean against something and take a nap. Even the other caddie was like WTF. 😀

Edited October 29, 2020 by 2bGood

[Lefty_89]

2 hours ago, dcmidnight said:

 

I'm in this camp as well (3 index). I dont know about the second part but I feel like they tried for something that just didnt hit with me.

 

And I dont know if its hypocritical of me or not. For those that have played Mike Strantz courses, I'm not above loving a gimmicky course with huge gimmicky greens (like Tobacco Road, which I love). Something about OM just didn't speak to me. Not when you surround it with the other 4 courses there. Whereas when I played SR, something reached all the way down inside of me and just said THIS right here, this is everything I love about golf - the layout, the design, the walk, the course - everything. 

 

Props to OM though for moving to the ghost tree logo on their merch, thats an A+ move and one that probably should have been done initially.

Ditto with this, I love OM even though it's at the bottom of my rankings, but so difficult for me to compare it against the other 4 tracks on property.

 

I think had I played OM either first or last on the trip, my overall impression would have changed slightly, rather than playing it coming off Bandon Dunes and being blown away. I did get a chance to play North Berwick back in March, so it was still fairly recent on my mind and I probably unjustly compared the two.

 

Regardless, Ghost Tree (itself and logo) are incredible and need to get a few more rounds out there to make a better/clearer review.

[buzlin]

I can see how OM can give a player that "feeling".  The No Laying Up guy Randy gave a good explanation about why he loved the course.  Though even he acknowledged the difficulty in conveying it.  Trails is like that for me.  I always start and finish rounds there with a good feeling, regardless of how I play.  It's the most spiritual.

 

With OM, maybe for me it's also the vagueness of each hole.   Visually, I don't think the shots set up well.  Perhaps I'm not as creative as I think/hope I am.

Edited October 29, 2020 by buzlin

[Fairway14]

On 9/5/2020 at 12:26 PM, Banker said:

Just got back. We played 8 rounds over 6 days. Almost 80 miles walked. First 3 days were really windy. Like realllly windy. Old Mac, Bandon Dunes and Sheep Ranch were almost unplayable with the wind, just brutal. #7 at old mac is 350 yds, uphill. I hit the drive of my life followed by the hybrid of my life to get there. 

 

The resort didn’t miss anything that you could imagine or want in a guy’s golf trip. Food was awesome, and when you order a double jack and coke, you get a solid drink. covid protocols were good, masks inside until you get to your table, hand sanitizer everywhere. We stayed in lily pond rooms and they were perfect. Fireplace in the room, nice little porch, keurig in the room. 
 

I’ll say for those going there, afternoon rounds are brutal. We played 36 at bandon and pacific and both took over 5 hours. Granted it was blowing at bandon and fogged in at pacific, but it was still painful.  Also, hit the preserve in the morning. A couple of us went on day 2 morning and had it to ourselves. Some others in our group decided to wait until the last afternoon and had an hour’s wait if they wanted to play.....

 

 

Great photos, thanks for posting.

[Edaw68]

3 hours ago, kro88 said:

Flying from NYC area,  most people recommend flying into Eugene.  any reason i should not be looking at OTH (North Bend) if there are flights available?

 

thanks

  

The risk of flight delays due to weather. Could work out perfectly or you (or your clubs) could be rerouted to San Francisco.

[Slippin_Jimmy]

I'd rank Old Mac 4th out of 4 (haven't played SR yet), but at the same time I love the course and haven't thought of skipping it on any trip I've made to Bandon.  Personally, I like to play Old Mac first when possible. I feel like it's a good one to start with, most people have had a long trip and are a little nervous going into their first round.  You can slap it around a bit at OM and still have a decent round.  I think Old Mac just suffers from being amongst the other superior courses, if it were a standalone course an hour away from me I would be playing it all the time.

[dcmidnight]

I put this in my trip report but I also didn't like the back nine yardage. Small thing, nitpicking maybe. But when I pick the "6200" ish tees, I don't want to be hit with a 3600 yard back nine on a trip that's supposed to be fun. 

[Lefty_89]

I played OM in the morning, in the light fog, but actually liked it more after seeing it in the afternoon across from Pacific Dunes. I'm not sure, but I just appreciated it more when I wasn't even on it. Something about seeing it in complete sunlight. Would have tried to add another round out there but time got in the way.

 

Proudly rocking my Ghost Tree trucker cap here in Houston though! Still waiting for someone to recognize it... "if you know, you know".

Edited October 29, 2020 by Lefty_89

[me05501]

17 hours ago, Edaw68 said:

I'm one of those that has OM as the last of the 4 in my personal rankings. (low to mid single handicap)  It's last for me because it just seems the least interesting of the 4. (I haven't played the Sheep Ranch yet.)  My general impression is they tried for a gimmick with the MacDonald templates rather than just designing the course the land gave you as the other courses are.  It's gimmicky, and after the first few rounds the gimmick wore off.   I don't think it's a bad course in any way, and there are some cool shots, but it's the lesser of the group.

 

I haven't been to Bandon but this description pretty much exactly matches my impression of Sweeten's Cove which is not too far from me. It's gorgeous to look at and fun to play, but some of the greens are relatively unplayable (depending on the pin location). It's sort of challenging and fun to have a putt get away from you and roll off the green, but if the next three putts do the same it is just frustrating. 

[Lefty_89]

33 minutes ago, me05501 said:

 

I haven't been to Bandon but this description pretty much exactly matches my impression of Sweeten's Cove which is not too far from me. It's gorgeous to look at and fun to play, but some of the greens are relatively unplayable (depending on the pin location). It's sort of challenging and fun to have a putt get away from you and roll off the green, but if the next three putts do the same it is just frustrating. 

That was probably one of my main "frustrations" at OM, was putting 60-90ft away from the hole and/or the ball finding a ridge and rolling completely off. I did have an experience like that on 9 after I crushed a drive and had sand wedge in...a poor second shot left me at the front left of the green and I putted completely off. Then tried putting back up and it rolled down before I pulled out my 60 degree and put one still 20ft away.

 

But the way I look at it...if I had hit a decent wedge into the green, I wouldn't have gone through that hell lol.

 

I didn't have a caddie for any of my rounds, but looking back, I wish I had grabbed one at Old Mac. Would have saved me a considerable amount of strokes...possibly.

[PorkChopExpress]

OM is great. It is so open that it gets an false sense of being easy. 
lots of nuances

[toddnt]

14 hours ago, desaille said:

OM is great. It is so open that it gets an false sense of being easy. 
lots of nuances

Gonna make myself like and PLAY it next time... But couldn't pass up the Trails again!

[duffer987]

On 10/29/2020 at 10:31 AM, dcmidnight said:

I put this in my trip report but I also didn't like the back nine yardage. Small thing, nitpicking maybe. But when I pick the "6200" ish tees, I don't want to be hit with a 3600 yard back nine on a trip that's supposed to be fun. 

Swap 17 for 5 and it's 3100yds: better?

[mallrat]

Ok I had no idea what the US Am and tv exposure really did. Just booked a twosome for early Dec. Now this is trip was my normal offseason semi impromptu trip, used to be Feb but Feb is too busy now. So as a twosome going through tee times nothing and I mean nothing available on Bandon Dunes. Sheep Ranch, open tee times every day but I could only get a 12:45 on Bandon Dunes. 
 

also one day they have Sheep Ranch, Bandon Dunes, Trails and Preserve closes for maintenance. Normally it’s one course a day, thought that was weird. 

[PorkChopExpress]

12:45 tee time in Dec?

is that a guaranteed finish? 
that’s really close 

[mallrat]

No 11:50 is last guaranteed to finish 

[CMCSGolf]

On 11/8/2020 at 8:36 PM, mallrat said:

Ok I had no idea what the US Am and tv exposure really did. Just booked a twosome for early Dec. Now this is trip was my normal offseason semi impromptu trip, used to be Feb but Feb is too busy now. So as a twosome going through tee times nothing and I mean nothing available on Bandon Dunes. Sheep Ranch, open tee times every day but I could only get a 12:45 on Bandon Dunes. 
 

also one day they have Sheep Ranch, Bandon Dunes, Trails and Preserve closes for maintenance. Normally it’s one course a day, thought that was weird. 

I'm guessing lack of international travel has made Bandon a more attractive option this year (even more than usual).  People with cancelled summer trips (golf and non-golf) are stuffing them into the end of the year.

[PorkChopExpress]

On 11/9/2020 at 10:18 PM, mallrat said:

No 11:50 is last guaranteed to finish 

Bummer

 

The place was packed end of October 

never seen the range so full 

[007iron]

What does this new two week freeze mean for golf in Oregon? I’m supposed to be at Bandon starting this coming Wednesday to Sunday... 

[jackbauer]

55 minutes ago, 007iron said:

What does this new two week freeze mean for golf in Oregon? I’m supposed to be at Bandon starting this coming Wednesday to Sunday... 

 

What two-week freeze?! I’m also headed there soon.

[007iron]

No dine in restaurants and limits to “indoor and outdoor recreation” but no details. 
 

18th to December 2nd

 

https://www.opb.org/article/2020/11/13/oregon-governor-kate-brown-covid-19-restrictions/

[Apindara]

28 minutes ago, 007iron said:

No dine in restaurants and limits to “indoor and outdoor recreation” but no details. 
 

18th to December 2nd

 

https://www.opb.org/article/2020/11/13/oregon-governor-kate-brown-covid-19-restrictions/

What are the “outdoor recreational facilities”?

[007iron]

Yeah no details as to what constitutes outdoor recreation. I’m sure bandon will stay open 

[jackbauer]

28 minutes ago, 007iron said:

Yeah no details as to what constitutes outdoor recreation. I’m sure bandon will stay open 

 

I hope you're right but I have this sickening feeling, the same one I got when the Dodgers cocked up Game 4 of the World Series. I'm going to call the resort first thing tomorrow and will report back.

[spud3]

I would think the resort will be updating the Covid page on their site as soon as they know details.  But a phone call never hurts.  Hoping you guys are going to be good.

 

We were there in March as the shut-down was starting, and they were on top of it.  More evidence that it is a well-run operation.

[SouthLand]

I’d guess it will be the same as the first lockdown.

 

Golf open, but all food/bev amenities takeout only.

[jackbauer]

12 hours ago, SouthLand said:

I’d guess it will be the same as the first lockdown.

 

Golf open, but all food/bev amenities takeout only.

 

You guessed right (reservations agent just confirmed to me). Whew!

[SouthLand]

4 hours ago, jackbauer said:

 

You guessed right (reservations agent just confirmed to me). Whew!

Right on.  Enjoy!  In this BS year, takeout food instead of full service meals at Bandon is a damn fine sacrifice to be making.

[OregonHack]

Assuming the course stays open, we will there for 3 nights and 3 rounds under the "Freeze" mandated. My question is to those who may have been there, how was the to go food service? We aren't a picky group. Just hoping to grab simple McKees food and take back to room. 

 

Also, is anyone aware of any restaurants that deliver from the town of Bandon? Thinking those restaurants could really use the support. However we may need delivery as our group tends to be a bit too festive to drive by dinner time.