Random Bandon Thread

[spud3]

Hoping for the best for you, but 4:40 tee time is pretty tight.  Assuming you land on time, a lot depends on how quickly you can pick up your bags, get to your rental (the car rental place is about a 10 minute shuttle ride from the terminal) and the traffic situation on I-205 from PDX southbound.  If you get to Eugene (reliably 2.5 hrs from the resort) later than 2, call the course and let them know you might be a bit late.

 

The good news is that since you're starting fairly late, if you have to push your tee time a little later, there probably won't be a problem doing that. There's a decent chance you'll go out as a single.  Sunset isn't until 9, so you still have a good chance to finish the full round (with a killer sunset on BD 16 green) if you tee off by 5:15 or so.

 

We'll be there Monday noon-ish for the Solstice event on Tuesday.  We have a tentative WRX meet-up at the PD starter shack on Monday at 4:30, so stop by and say hi.  Good luck!

 

 

[jrg75]

37 minutes ago, BG5 said:

Good Points by all....Ill stick to 36 holes and pace myself.  Im gonna be teeing off today at 4:40 on Bandon Dunes for my opening round so I am pretty pumped.  I am gonna write a detailed trip report (I'll post it later this evening)  With pics of my favorite holes or approach shots.  Appreciate all the advice on this forum......you guys are vets at Bandon and all your words of wisdom have a made a rookie like myself feel great about the upcoming trip.

 

Cheers!

Enjoy the adventure, I think you made the right call playing Bandon first, there's no more special treat for me than watching the sun go down while standing on the tee box at 16. 

 

Looking forward to your trip report.

[BG5]

18 minutes ago, spud3 said:

Hoping for the best for you, but 4:40 tee time is pretty tight.  Assuming you land on time, a lot depends on how quickly you can pick up your bags, get to your rental (the car rental place is about a 10 minute shuttle ride from the terminal) and the traffic situation on I-205 from PDX southbound.  If you get to Eugene (reliably 2.5 hrs from the resort) later than 2, call the course and let them know you might be a bit late.

 

The good news is that since you're starting fairly late, if you have to push your tee time a little later, there probably won't be a problem doing that. There's a decent chance you'll go out as a single.  Sunset isn't until 9, so you still have a good chance to finish the full round (with a killer sunset on BD 16 green) if you tee off by 5:15 or so.

 

We'll be there Monday noon-ish for the Solstice event on Tuesday.  We have a tentative WRX meet-up at the PD starter shack on Monday at 4:30, so stop by and say hi.  Good luck!

 

 

 

It looks like I will miss you guys as we have a tee time at 3:30 in the afternoon on that day.  If there are any other meetups let me know.

 

Cheeers!

 

BG5

 

Hoping I can easily find the shuttle to get the car....that is my biggest worry...I am using Thrifty but it appears the shuttle is by the bag claim

[blink3665]

I'm so jealous. I'll be following the thread for sure!

 

[chrikim]

Will be there with a group of 8 next month but also have a reservation for a foursome (that backed out) that is available for 7/15-7/18 (5 rounds). If anyone is interested in taking it before I cancel please DM me. 

[nutmegchoi]

We were suppose to go to the Open at St. George's, play the course day after the tournament and another 8 days in St. Andrews to play 5 courses.

But UK is still keeping us in Amber country which requires 10 day quarantine so the trip is canceled yet again.

For now, St. Andrews is pushed to the late August and we are inserting Bandon Dunes from July 14th to 20th.

I was going to make a solo trip next year since my boyfriend doesn't want to fly all the way just to play golf.

Some miracle happened and now he agreed to come.

Samantha at booking miraculously made our trip happen with 2 week notice.

We have to move around 4 times in the resort and don't have a room for the last night, but we have 12 tee times booked!

Bandon, we are coming!!

 

 

 

[Lefty_89]

Reservations Team at Bandon are seriously miracle workers...

 

Only place I am OK with calling and listening to hold music for 45 minutes.

[duffer987]

51 minutes ago, Lefty_89 said:

Reservations Team at Bandon are seriously miracle workers...

 

Only place I am OK with calling and listening to hold music for 45 minutes.

 

"What a beautiful morning. The sun is low and the shadows are long. I'm walking up the approach to #1..."

[Edaw68]

1 hour ago, duffer987 said:

 

"What a beautiful morning. The sun is low and the shadows are long. I'm walking up the approach to #1..."

I didn’t expect to hear that again when I called last week to set up a thanksgiving trip.

[Edaw68]

One odd thing I noticed when talking to reservations is this was the first time I remember not being asked if I want a caddie. I wonder if if they just have a file that says I almost never get a caddy or if they’re that short?

[mci711]

2 hours ago, Edaw68 said:

One odd thing I noticed when talking to reservations is this was the first time I remember not being asked if I want a caddie. I wonder if if they just have a file that says I almost never get a caddy or if they’re that short?

 

Probably not bringing it up because of the shortage. Letting the customer bring it up if they want one. 🤷‍♂️

[JBX3306]

We have a trip planned for four of us from August 8th-13th.  
 

Are there any updates on the caddie shortage I’ve seen mentioned here.

 

We are planning on playing 36 each day and one player in a group would like a caddie for each round. The rest of us weren’t planning on using one.
 

Our one player is very concerned about not having a caddie with the walk etc.  Any advice on guaranteeing he will have one? We made the caddie request a few months ago. 

[spud3]

Call a week or so ahead to check on status and let the caddie master know that it's critical that your guy has a caddie.  They'll make it happen.

[BG5]

4 hours ago, spud3 said:

Call a week or so ahead to check on status and let the caddie master know that it's critical that your guy has a caddie.  They'll make it happen.

 

I agree with what Spud said and I think you will be ok.  With that being said our group of 14 had multiple rounds where we had guys not get the caddies they requested.  We made sure to even tip caddies overboard in the $150-$160 range to hopefully make sure we had them but even though we played 36 holes each day and caddies would be double bagging (Making Big Money) we still had some shortage issues.  Be mentally prepared to carry if you have to and I did a few rounds and its not bad at all.  The courses were pretty easy to walk and I thought they would be alot tougher.

 

Some more information that hopefully is helpful is that they currently have around 400 caddies on staff so they have plenty of caddies....the issue is the record number of rounds they are having and even though they have 400 caddies on staff they dont have enough caddies to fill the rounds.  Everyone has heard about that "pent up demand" for traveling following Covid and Bandon is proof that people are not more than ever willing 

 

Lodging is another huge issue....they dont have enough and cannot build alot more due to restrictions in Oregon.  They are building more on the Trails course and it should be ready for next year but it is not helping much.  I just tried to book as a single for next June and could not find consecutive days of lodging available.  I then went into July and could only find 3 days in the middle of the week in July as a single with tee times.  So basically if I had tried to book a foursome right now for next June or July I would of been out of luck.

 

Bandon is booming...whether you have a caddie or not will not make a big deal.  I was bummed at first when it happened to me but now I realize that I am just lucky to be able to get on an stay and play at Bandon....its only gonna get tougher....people will pay for great golf and Bandon Prices are just gonna go up like everything else.

[Lefty_89]

Round Lake lodging (behind 4 on Trails) will be open this year - staying there in December with a big group. Looking forward to it!

[CDM]

23 hours ago, JBX3306 said:

We have a trip planned for four of us from August 8th-13th.  
 

Are there any updates on the caddie shortage I’ve seen mentioned here.

 

We are planning on playing 36 each day and one player in a group would like a caddie for each round. The rest of us weren’t planning on using one.
 

Our one player is very concerned about not having a caddie with the walk etc.  Any advice on guaranteeing he will have one? We made the caddie request a few months ago. 

 

Just got back from 4 days there and no issues when we were there if you booked it out far enough.  I also did not hear of anyone saying the are having issues with getting one. I know they are down on caddies but overall I think they have it covered.

 

I should note my caddie was one of the Evans Scholar's and he was good.  Not a "top" caddie you can get out there if you know one and schedule them way in advance, but he was good.  We played one round with someone who also had a Evans scholar and she seemed good too.   

[JBX3306]

On 7/6/2021 at 4:59 PM, spud3 said:

Call a week or so ahead to check on status and let the caddie master know that it's critical that your guy has a caddie.  They'll make it happen.

Thanks so much for the advice. Can’t wait for our trip. 
 

Our one player is recovering from knee surgery which is driving a lot of his concerns, so just want to make sure he can still enjoy himself!

[lchang]

On 6/14/2021 at 6:09 PM, 2bGood said:

no. You can charge everything to your room and just have some bills to tip shuttle drivers etc.

 

Are greens fees also charged to the room?

[spud3]

Yes, you can charge virtually anything on property to your room.  Caddie payments are done through essentially getting a cash advance charged to your room so you can pay the caddie in cash.

 

Or you can pay cash/cc for food/room/golf/merch as well.  They are very flexible

[2bGood]

On 7/8/2021 at 1:23 PM, lchang said:

 

Are greens fees also charged to the room?

As said above, yes you can charge rounds to your room and everything else with the only exception tips for the shuttle drivers.

[lchang]

25 minutes ago, 2bGood said:

As said above, yes you can charge rounds to your room and everything else with the only exception tips for the shuttle drivers.

Hadn’t even thought of that. I guess we should have some 5’s on us for that.  I imagine many (most) probably don’t tip the shuttle drivers?

[2bGood]

1 hour ago, lchang said:

Hadn’t even thought of that. I guess we should have some 5’s on us for that.  I imagine many (most) probably don’t tip the shuttle drivers?

I would be interested to hear other weigh in on this as I am not sure.

 

I would say around 1/3 tip when I have seen them on the shuttle - maybe more or less. Our groups usually tips something on most shuttle trips but not much (like a fiver for 4 of us) Sometimes we don't tip if we don't happen to have bills on us. The drivers don't seem to expect a tip.

Edited July 10, 2021 by 2bGood

[MileHighGuye]

I always tipped just as a thank you. Seems like it was 1/3 who tipped vs who did not but always seemed like they really appreciated the kind gesture. 

[CDM]

On 7/8/2021 at 2:23 PM, lchang said:

 

Are greens fees also charged to the room?

 

You can do either the room or directly on your CC when you check in for the round of golf.

[duffer987]

18 hours ago, 2bGood said:

I would be interested to hear other weigh in on this as I am not sure.

 

I would say around 1/3 tip when I have seen them on the shuttle - maybe more or less. Our groups usually tips something on most shuttle trips but not much (like a fiver for 4 of us) Sometimes we don't tip if we don't happen to have bills on us. The drivers don't seem to expect a tip.

 

Been '18 since I've not driven up, since I bring my Clicgear and ferry myself between courses, while my mates take the shuttle except for replays where someone usually jumps in with me.

But when using the shuttle it never even occurred to me to tip them, we almost always bring our clubs in the shuttle with us (to the point I cannot remember not doing so, but I'm sure it has happened) and then they are effectively no different to a city bus driver 🙂

[2bGood]

2 hours ago, duffer987 said:

they are effectively no different to a city bus driver 🙂

 

Are you saying you don't tip the city bus driver?

 

[Chanceman]

Hmmm...tipping. Big issue for we Aussies. Point one - the $A only buys US 70 cents so when you guys tip $5 its nearly A$8 for us. Point 2 - I have seen guys in the US ask for a tip if they have to step sideways, well kinda. Point 3 - tipping is an ingrained fact of life for you and an optional extra for us. I have heard things like you have to tip a "buck a beer" when the cart girl comes around. So question - who do you tip and when? The barman but not the checkout chick? And of course - how much? Is there a golden rule? Is it different in every state or situation?

[duffer987]

On 7/10/2021 at 5:13 PM, 2bGood said:

 

Are you saying you don't tip the city bus driver?

 

 

You caught me... I'm assuming that's how one who uses public transport would behave.

I'll have to ask my 1st footman, I don't think he has a car 😉

[MileHighGuye]

On 7/11/2021 at 12:47 AM, Chanceman said:

Hmmm...tipping. Big issue for we Aussies. Point one - the $A only buys US 70 cents so when you guys tip $5 its nearly A$8 for us. Point 2 - I have seen guys in the US ask for a tip if they have to step sideways, well kinda. Point 3 - tipping is an ingrained fact of life for you and an optional extra for us. I have heard things like you have to tip a "buck a beer" when the cart girl comes around. So question - who do you tip and when? The barman but not the checkout chick? And of course - how much? Is there a golden rule? Is it different in every state or situation?

Good questions. I was equally confused when I went to Australia. 
 

there is not a golden rule in regards to tipping. I usually bring a bunch of singles (one dollar bills) and each round I’ll give the waiter/waitress/bartender (usually one) a couple bucks. I also leave a couple bucks in the room each day to cover the room housekeeper and then the above mentioned shuttle driver. 

[2bGood]

.

Edited July 13, 2021 by 2bGood