Bandon Trip Report (August 2019)

[newg33b]

Day 3:

 

I ended up speculatively booking a tee time for early morning on Trails for today when I went out to play the Preserve yesterday, but after walking the Preserve and not having a caddie request in for the Trails round, I thought my legs would be pretty darn tired before my afternoon round on Pacific. So, I opted to cancel the Trails round (sacrilegious I know) and take it easy this morning. I started out with breakfast at The Gallery, opting for a bacon, ham, and sausage omelet, which included toast and hash browns. It was a ton of food! And for much less than the buffet breakfast as well. I may have to go back there if I have enough time before my remaining morning rounds.

 

After breakfast, I had a leisurely morning while sorting out some logistical things including checking out of my room. At that point, I headed over to the range for a nice warmup session and at that point the wind was up (I debated saying it was out “en force” but I’m sure caddies/frequent players would tell me it wasn’t even blowing that hard). Practicing punch shots/lowering my pretty high trajectory was fun on the enormous practice facility. I hit some more putts on The Big Putt, which I mistakenly called only the “large putting green” in one of my previous posts.

 

At that point, I headed over to Pacific having sufficiently warmed up. I had a leisurely lunch at Pacific Grill and thoroughly enjoyed the Grilled Cheese, at everyone’s recommendation! I’ve found that Bandon is really good at elevating these clubhouse/turnstand staples and making them taste awesome.

 

My caddie from yesterday afternoon was with me again for our round around Pacific. We were joined by three buddies on a trip, having the time of their lives. It was a really nice time playing with them, and they were taking it easy and enjoying the course.

More thoughts on Pacific after round two:

- I’m glad I scheduled a second round on Pacific. I wouldn’t have gotten the whole experience only playing it in the rain/clouds yesterday. Today we got the typical sun and wind, and I was really surprised how differently the course played with the wind up and the turf slightly firmer.

- It amazes me that #4, a 440-yard hole on the card, plays night and day shorter than #13, which might be 380 or 390 on the card. It goes to show you how much being downwind vs into the wind means at Bandon.

- It was really cool to be able to play the other “version” of 9 and 10 today. It really played like 4 different holes even though there’s only one version of each on the scorecard. I think the shot from the upper tee might be a little more dramatic on 10, but both are awesome.

- I was once again struck by how awesome the inland holes on Pacific are. So much variety and subtlety: even on 8, which I remarked to my caddie was a sneaky awesome hole mostly due to the green complex and the angle you have to take in.

- I probably hit one of the best shots of my life today on 16. It was playing ~300 and was downwind and I was able to fade a driver just around the corner enough that my ballmark was about two paces on the green and my ball rolled up to about 6 feet from the hole. I missed the eagle putt of course, but who cares!

- 17 is another beautiful par 3 that maybe doesn’t get as much recognition for being the only par 3 not near the ocean. Now that I think about it, Doak put four par 3’s in close proximity to the ocean (5,10,11,14) and 17 is the only one not near it.

- The cliffs at Bandon are enormously high. Higher even than I remember. A truly epic setting for golf.

 

I went back to McKee’s for dinner tonight and decided to run the Shepherd’s Pie back from last night. Very tasty once again, and I went earlier tonight, so the service (I was sitting at the bar) was a little quicker.

 

After dinner, I grabbed my stuff and headed into town thanks to Bandon Inn’s van. I checked in to my room, and I was pleased with what a cool little hotel/inn this place is. It’s well run and surprisingly comfortable! The thought they put into the additional above and beyond amenities to guests is really nice. It’ll be my go-to option if I need to stay in Bandon town going forward.

 

Tomorrow morning I’m back for another day of 36 starting out at Old Mac and then Bandon in the afternoon. Should be great! I’m really interested to see how Old Mac compares to how I remember it and how different it is in the morning than in the afternoon. Thanks again for following along!

 

 

[biggys]

Loving the thread. After you get home would be interested to know what your ballpark budget was and how your actual expenditures compared. Planning this trip myself one day and would be curious if you don't mind sharing. Thanks.

[newg33b]

Loving the comments! I'm happy to recount my experiences for everyone else! I really enjoy reading about stuff like this and it adds to my excitement before I take my trip!

@mallrat I absolutely agree on the Trails comment. Even among people who actually make it out to the resort, I think it's extremely underrated: the starter told me Trails gets the least play of the 4 courses and I think it's a shame. I'm a huge fan of Trails, as I mentioned, and I definitely agree with you that people forget it's a top 15 public in the country (and probably deserves to be higher. I'll discuss rankings in my wrap-up after the trip's over but I think I like it more than Spyglass Hill, which is #10 in the country for publics).

@biggys yeah I'll ballpark my budget vs actuals. I'm curious how close I was except for spots where I knowingly deviated slightly. No problem at all!

[buzlin]

I don't blame anyone for playing the seaside courses more often. Trails exists for repeat and regular customers. It was a genius move and fantastic use of available land by Keiser. Our crew is now, finally, playing Trails as often as we do Pacific.

[newg33b]

DAY 4:

 

Today was another fabulous day for golf with lots of sun and temps in the 60’s. My day started out at Bandon Inn, as I stayed there for my one night off property this trip. The hotel was very comfortable, and the best amenity for me was their complimentary shuttle that drove me to and from the resort to the Inn. It was really convenient for someone like myself that didn’t have a rental car for the trip down to Bandon.

 

I opted to skip the range this morning with the drive over, and I made my way over to Old Mac for my morning tee time. I was actually told that they didn’t have me on the tee sheet for what was supposed to be my 8AM tee time but fortunately there wasn’t anyone booked in that slot, so I was able to play then anyway. For about the first four holes, my caddie and I walked by ourselves, but we caught up with the twosome in front of us on 5 and played with them the rest of the way. I think I was most eager to get another round on Old Mac after my experience last time, which was in a really windy July afternoon pretty beaten up after 54 holes in the previous 36 hours. Old Mac really pleasantly surprised me today. I enjoyed the round a lot, much more so than I remembered.

Ghost Tree from 2

Thoughts on Old Mac:

There are so many cool holes on this course, thinking back on the round. Honestly the entire course save for maybe 12 and 13 was really cool for me.

I think the holes that play around the edge of the course are a little more interesting than those in the middle. The stretch from maybe 10-13 was a touch weak for me, although I think 10 and 11 were both pretty strong golf holes.

Old Mac’s scale and vistas are so impressive: it’s really cool to get a panoramic look at the course as you crest the hill on 3, or up by the 7th or 15th green.

I felt like Old Mac played the linksiest of the four courses out here and the size of the greens, as everyone mentions, can’t possibly be overstated.

I thought Old Mac had a very solid close, and 18 was a really cool hole with the Punchbowl green.

Looking at Sheep Ranch

 

My favorite three hole stretch: 14,15,16. I just thought these three holes started off a very strong closing stretch at Old Mac. The Maiden hole is such a cool sweeping, uphill par 4 where my depth perception was seriously messed with. 15 is a big, epic par 5 going back up towards the ocean, and then there’s 16, which might be the best hole on the course with the Alps mound (this feels disingenuous, maybe it’s a small mountain) on the left.

 

My favorite hole on the course: 3. Yes yes, cliche I know, but it’s just such a cool golf experience to hit your tee shot some way around the ghost tree looking you smack in the face and cresting the hill to see the whole landscape of Old Mac laid out in front of you.

 

I really think I appreciated Old Mac a lot more on this go-round. Some of this may have to do with getting it in the morning before the winds were all the way up, but they certainly got to be quite strong by the back 9. There’s lots of strong golf holes out here, and it’s definitely a different feeling course from the others on property.

 

After my round on Old Mac, I re-checked in for my last night on property and headed up to my room to drop off my stuff. Lunch was a nice burger at the Tufted Puffin.

 

My tee time on Bandon Dunes wasn’t until a little later in the afternoon, but boy was it a great time once it rolled around. The wind was certainly up again, as it tends to do in the afternoon. One thing I noticed during our go-round on Bandon this afternoon was that a lot of the holes on Bandon tend to play in cross breezes, where I felt like more holes on the other courses, particularly Pacific, played North/South, or dead into or downwind.

The Postcard Turn on 4

I really liked the changes that David Mclay Kidd had made to the bunkering on the course. I remember many more bunkers looking sod-faced and less natural, whereas now I feel like a lot of the bunkers look more wild and a little more Pacific-esque.

I think Bandon probably has the best views of any course on property. There are more greens that smack you in the face with the Pacific, and it’s really enjoyable that you get a solid stretch of at least 3 holes on each nine playing at or along the ocean. Particularly the views on 4,12, and 16 are absurdly awesome.

Bandon 5

Bandon’s interior holes are, for me, a little less visually interesting than Pacific’s are (I guess I’m thinking more 7-11 here). The slopes are generally gentler, but I would like to mention 14 specifically as an awesome inland par 4. The greensite there, particularly with the blowout, wrap-around bunker on the right side, is really quite beautiful.

 

Bandon’s back nine is so so good. There really aren’t any weak holes out there. Maybe 13 would be the least awesome of the bunch, but it’s still a really nice par 5.

Bandon is more conventional than the rest in that it’s a 36-36 par 72 that comes back to the clubhouse after 9, but that doesn’t take anything away from the experience for me. I really enjoy the two loops getting you a great taste of the ocean on both sides.

The greens here also probably ran the purest and fastest of the bunch, maybe something to do with the restoration.

 

 

My favorite hole on the course: 16. It’s not only unbelievably scenic, but I struggle to think of any holes I’ve played that are at all like it: you could conceivably play 80 yards left of the green, be pin-high, and play “horizontally” towards the flag.

My favorite three-hole stretch: 4,5,6: I think 4 is my second favorite hole on the course, and walking around the corner there will never get old. 5 is an absolute beast of a hole, especially into the wind. The puffs of grass in the middle of the fairway are a unique touch that make it awfully claustrophobic off the tee. 6 doesn’t have a ton of architectural intrigue about it, but it’s a gorgeous hole nonetheless. It’s a blast to play this first crescendo on Bandon.

Bandon’s an unbelievably scenic golf course, and I think it’s been made even better by the tweaks that DMK has made. Particularly 8 comes to mind: it was a much more interesting hole for me. There are a handful of holes here where there aren’t really any comparisons that jump to mind, like 4,5, and 16. Unbelievably good, unique holes like this are the reason why you come to Bandon. It’s an absolute blast. Catching the back 9 on a sunny afternoon is absolute bliss. We almost played it too early to get a real sunset, but if you can get out there when the sun is going down, it’s golf nirvana.

 

I headed back to McKee’s for dinner tonight, opting for the ribs instead of the Shepherd’s Pie again. This was a great choice: you get an enormous slab of ribs that are absolutely fall-off-the-bone tender. Would recommend.

 

Unfortunately, tomorrow is departure day, but I’m sneaking out for one more go-round on Bandon before I head out. I’m almost sad I’m leaving already. This place is so unbelievably good. Thanks for following along!

 

[marks21]

Great recaps and insight to your days. Reading all the reviews and recaps have me excited for my first venture out there in November. Looking forward to reading about your last day and recap.

[mallrat]

Honestly i’ve Been there over 12 times and am blown away at the pic of the ghost tree with the fescue grown out. I’ve never seen that

[newg33b]

@mallrat that's actually a good point about the fescue. My caddie was mentioning the same thing. I think when the fescue is up and golden like that it really frames the holes nicely. I'll add a couple pics here with the fescue in its glory:

OM 4

OM 6 from Tee

OM 15 from Tee

[spud3]

Wine Valley has a similar summer look. Gorgeous...

[newg33b]

Day 5:

 

Departure day, unfortunately! I lucked out in that I was able to find an early morning tee time at Bandon Dunes, so I got a second round in on Bandon. Pre-round festivities were quick and limited due to check out and my early tee time, so I just grabbed a breakfast sandwich at the Bandon turnstand (which was delicious). A fun side note: I saw Bill Coore at the resort and on my flight back to San Francisco today. He must’ve been stopping in to take a look at the progress on the Sheep Ranch.

 

As we got our round going, it was early enough that there was still some dew on the ground and almost no wind to speak of. I found myself amazed, once again, how different these courses play even from one day to the next: wind is the true defense at Bandon, and when it’s down, scoring is a good bit easier.

 

Some thoughts from my second round at Bandon:

- I came to the conclusion that Bandon has the best views on property, and the most extensive time on the water: 4,5, and 6 all play to/along the coast on the front and then 12,15,16,and 17 play towards/along/away from the coast on the back. Those two stretches along the coast are special.

- There also seemed to be far more places where you could see the ocean on the inland holes here than on the other courses, maybe because the course is in general a little flatter than Pacific.

- Aside from the approach shot to the elevated green, I think 7 is a little bit bland for my taste. Aside from 7, Bandon has a lot of cool inland par 4s like 8, 11 (which is a beast into the wind), and 14.

- I’ve never seen a hole anywhere like 16 at Bandon. It’s unique, and it’s also incredible.

- Playing to infinity greens never gets old. DMK used the Pacific as the backdrop with good measure.

- The greens were rolling really well today, by far the best and fastest greens of the bunch. I’m not sure if they resodded them/redid them when Kidd was making his tweaks or not, but they were really nice to putt on.

 

Alas, after finishing up my morning round at Bandon today, it was time to head home. I stopped into the gift shop for one last souvenir and headed out. The Sheep Ranch is really tempting, though. I think I’ll be back pretty soon. I left Bandon with a huge smile on my face. The place is unbelievably amazing, and is only going to get better when they add a 5th track. When I’m back home, I’ll finish up with a wrap-up post on stuff like ranking the courses, favorite holes, etc. Thanks again for following along!

 

 

[Edaw68]

Very well done trip report sir.

[Gnucastle]

@newg33b - Thank you very much for these recaps! I am especially stoked that your trip was really recent - me and a buddy are heading up there on Thursday for a Labor Day weekend full of golf (from the Bay Area as well it seems). We are opting to drive up rather than fly and check out the Oregon coast and allow for the possibility of extending our stay by a day or round come departure day. Your recap has given me a lot to look forward to. Thank you!

[newg33b]

WRAP UP:

 

Well I’m back home now, and I’ve had just a little bit of jet-lagged time to digest my time at Bandon. I’ll offer a few closing thoughts: some about my caddie experience, costs (and how I could have done it cheaper), and my course rankings and favorite holes.

 

On my caddie experience:

I initially budgeted for 4 of my 6 rounds to have a caddie, but I decided to take a caddie on my second round around Pacific as well. My first round around Pacific had a stand-in caddie, a younger guy named Justin, because there were some issues with their system processing my itinerary (probably due to the couple of times I changed it around. More on that later). He was a nice guy, we jived well, and he gave me very good lines off the tee and putts. I was pleasantly surprised with him since he was definitely on the younger/college-aged side.

 

My assigned caddie for the rest of the trip was a gem of a guy named Nevin. He’s a “senior looper” at Bandon, and for good reason: he told me he had been there for 15+ years and was originally a looper at The Dunes Club, Keiser’s original, 9-hole course in Michigan. He and I got on great. He knew his way so well around the courses, gave me great lines off the tee and great putting reads as well to confirm what I was looking at. But, my favorite experiences with Nevin were the copious, incredible stories he had to tell. These ranged from talks with “Mr. Keiser” as he called him about getting him to come out to Bandon in the first place, about how Mr. Keiser wasn’t the biggest fan of trees, or from various notable loops he’d been on before. He told me stories about carrying for Jamie Sadlowski, how he saw Patrick Cantlay hit an absurdly low 3-iron on Old Mac 11 to a back pin and have it stop impossibly softly, and more and more stories like that. He kept noting changes and developments to the courses over time, and it really felt like I was in a walking version of the Dream Golf book, learning in real time the history of Bandon. The combination of reading the book and hearing all of Nevin’s stories really made Bandon feel like a cathedral of golf: a special place with its own rich history and lore, in spite of only being 20 years young. I would take Nevin again at any point and will probably make a request to have him on my bag the next time I go to Bandon. He was awesome. In my opinion, Old Mac and Trails benefitted the most from caddies: having a caddie on Old Mac can give you a good bit of background on the history of the holes and the width of the fairways and size of greens can make it tricky to figure out exactly where the best angles can be found. Trails is the toughest walk out there in my opinion and benefits from the physical relief of not having to carry/riksha your bag around as well, but I found it a little bit more straightforward from a lines/greens perspective than Old Mac.

 

On Costs:

I budgeted just over $3000 for the trip, and probably paid maybe 10-15% more than that when accounting for tips on food, an additional caddie round, and some souvenirs. However, there are many ways where I could have saved money here or there. I’ll point out a few:

- Forgoing a caddie. This would’ve saved me ~$500-$600 over the course of the week. I think a caddie is really valuable and adds to the experience (and relieves some stress on the joints), but if you’re looking to economize, a caddie does really add up over the course of a few rounds

- Staying in-town when possible. You could theoretically only stay half of the time on Bandon property if you really wanted to save on lodging costs. It’s about half the price (or maybe less depending on which rooms on property you’re looking at) to stay off property. I will say that it’s much more convenient to be on-site, but you can save $ here as well.

- Double occupancy. I was a solo, so I paid the entire fee for my room, but if you can split it with a buddy or family member, that will cut costs as well.

- Playing 2+ rounds a day. Bandon gets much more economical on a per-round basis when you’re playing 36 a day. It goes from $285/round in the summer to $215/round with a replay.

- Not going in the high season. I weighed the costs of going in the high season and getting good weather (unfortunately I had one round of not so good weather) vs lower prices and decided I wanted to do the high season. I know lots of people on here choose to go in the low season, and that would save a lot of money on the trip as a whole.

 

I will say that I likely saved $ by:

- Booking my flight with miles: I didn’t have to pay out of pocket for the flights into and from North Bend, which was a big $ saver if you have the time to look into flights and spend miles that way.

- Not drinking very much: alcohol would definitely add up over the course of a few days depending on what/how much you’re drinking. I steered towards water (but did enjoy a Bandon Pale Ale, of course), and that definitely saved some coin.

 

By no means is Bandon a cheap trip (there’s another thread on this, if you didn’t notice) but I value the experience enough to spend my money on it. To each his own, of course.

 

 

[newg33b]

On Course Rankings:

 

I would have told you that before this trip I would rank the courses as follows:

 

1. Pacific Dunes

T2. Bandon Dunes

T2. Bandon Trails

4. Old Macdonald

 

I think nothing actually changed about my rankings. I still think Pacific is the best course there, but I think Bandon crept up a notch there with the quality of the greens and my realizing how incredible the views on Bandon are. I think Pacific still takes the edge for me because of the number of holes that play along the coast (vs at it) and for just how visually stunning it is for all 18 holes. Bandon is just a little bit tamer on its inland holes from a visual perspective, but I still want to applaud DMK for the changes made to refresh Bandon. 8 was a much better hole than I remembered as someone that could previously just bomb the ball over the string of bunkers that were there. Trails is still an incredible course that I could play all the time. The set of par 3’s there are probably the best on property and have tremendous variety. There are no weak holes out there, and the setting in the forest is stunning. I would have told you last time that Old Mac was a distant 4th for me in terms of enjoyment after my previous trip. After this one, I would say that it’s brought itself much closer to the pack. It’s got lots of great holes out there, but unfortunately I think it suffers from being the least visually interesting course from my perspective. I really think it's a golfer's golf course if that makes sense: the fun in Old Mac is the shotmaking variety that is present at precious few golf courses anywhere else in the US and the opportunity to try to hit shots that you may never have thought of before.

 

One way everyone seems to rank the courses is the dividing up 10 rounds method. I think I would go with the following:

 

3 Pacific

3 Bandon

3 Trails

1 Old Mac

My plan on subsequent trips is to still include all four (well I guess 5 with the Sheep Ranch) but I don't foresee myself really chomping at the bit to get multiple rounds in on Old Mac vs getting a second on the other three (four?).

 

My favorite three-hole stretch on the property is 4,5,6 on Bandon. As I said in my Bandon posts, it’s just such a great stretch to get an extended taste of the ocean on the front nine. Bandon 4 is the best intro to the ocean that any of the courses offers, and every time I turn that corner and see the ocean there, it’s just magical. I can’t stop smiling. It blows me away. 5 is a tough, unique hole with the puffs of grass, and 6 is an absolute postcard of a hole. It’s an awesome part of the front 9.

 

My composite rankings (best 1st hole, best 2nd hole, and so on) would be:

1. Trails

2. Trails

3. Old Mac

4. Bandon

5. Bandon

6. Pacific

7. Old Mac

8. Old Mac

9. Trails

10. Pacific

11. Pacific

12. Bandon

13. Pacific

14. Old Mac

15. Bandon

16. Bandon

17. Trails

18. Old Mac

 

For a total of:

Bandon: 5

Pacific: 4

Trails: 4

Old Mac: 5

 

I think this underscores how many great holes there are on all the courses. In spite of Old Mac being my “least favorite” there are still lots of really cool holes out there.

 

Advice/Learnings from my trip:

- I would really call before you get there to confirm your itinerary, especially if you made any changes like I did. I made a couple of calls and moved around some courses and tee times and thought I’d be perfectly fine, but it was a close call on a couple of occasions: the first being the caddie on round 1 at Pacific, and the more notable one being my morning round on Old Mac, which they technically didn’t have on their tee sheet in spite of sending me a confirmation email with the tee time.

- If you replay courses, try to do them at different points in the day. Even from one day to the next and from the afternoon to the morning, the courses play very differently. The wind is a huge factor out there, and any difference in wind makes a big difference.

- I’m sure I would have loved to get a second round in on Day 3 where I only played 18 on Pacific, but I think it was a decent idea not to in retrospect. I felt much fresher for the rest of the trip. In reality, I think I probably should have followed my original itinerary of Preserve and Pacific that day and not done 49 the first full day.

- Playing Bandon on departure day really was the easiest from a logistical perspective: I could walk right off the course and get my stuff together and hit the lobby gift shop for one last souvenir if necessary.

- If your friends/family aren’t interested in committing to the trip and you still want to, DO IT. I’m another data point of a solo player having an unbelievably awesome time. You’ll meet lots of fantastic, friendly people that are also interested in great golf there.

 

So glad everyone was able to live vicariously through me this trip. I’m sure I’ll be doing the reverse again soon enough. Bandon is such an unbelievably special place, and I can’t imagine adding another course that I’m sure will be unbelievable in its own right. It’s going to be an embarrassment of riches out there. Also, thanks to everyone here for the help and advice in putting the trip together. Shoutout to @bird206 for the one post a day inspiration. That was a great trip report. Thanks again for reading along!

 

[quikblitz]

> @newg33b said:

> On Course Rankings:

>

> I would have told you that before this trip I would rank the courses as follows:

>

 

Thank you for writing up such a detailed report on your trip! Makes me even more excited for my trip next year as a single. Sounds like you had a great time!

[spud3]

Nice job, @newg33! I love how the bar keeps going up for trip reports in this forum.

 

Solo trips really lend themselves to these kind of detailed travelogues, as there's usually time in the evening (after the Jacuzzi, meatloaf and Guinness) to reflect on the day and put it into words.

[bird206]

@newg33b you wrote the best Bandon report ever posted on this board. Glad I was able to inspire. Enjoyed reading the little tid bits and gems about the caddies, transportation, and the courses itself. Made me reminisce of my trip I took last April and makes my brain start churning for my next visit. Thanks for taking the time to post and share!

[newg33b]

I appreciate all of the lovely comments. It's my pleasure to share my experiences! I like writing, traveling, and playing golf, and this really combined all three! Glad you guys have enjoyed it!

[Pdog]

I have also very much enjoyed your posts. I and my friends are making our first trip to Bandon on Sep 7. Some days I can hardly work as I dream about the trip! Love your pics and detailed descriptions of your experience. I find them much more genuine than some of the professional bloggers out there.

What camera did you use for your photos? They look great! I was thinking of taking something with an optical zoom so that I'd have perspectives from something besides my phone.

[newg33b]

@pdog they were just from my iPhone! I promise it's not an ad for Apple. Its an XS, though, so it's on the newer side

[Heckle]

Pics are amazing.

[tonypizzle]

great report!!! love the details. glad you had a wonderful time

[IamRyanFrank]

This is an amazing report! Thanks for all of the info and pictures. Myself and 3 buddies have a trip booked for end of March and i'm so damn excited i wish it wasnt so far away! lol

[exgolfpro]

Holy Cow, what a great report. Thanks. I will be making this same trip (solo) next June, 2021. Already got it booked.

[DustlnTheWind]

Happy to see a solo experience. I'm the most golf crazy guy in my foursome and would go to Bandon two or three times a year if I could but the rest of my foursome aren't as golf crazy so it's nice to see a solo players perspective. That 5 hour drive to Bandon from my residence taunts me throughout the year to come down for a couple nights on a whim. Great post!

[philsRHman]

5 hours is probably the perfect distance. It’s far enough you wouldn’t be tempted to go monthly but it’s close enough you can quickly spring into action during the off-season when the forecast is good.