Bandon Trip: 10/1-10/5

[kaschreiber]

I know there’s a lot of trip reports out there already, but as I’m still riding the Bandon high, going to lightly document ours to have something to look back on until we return in 2021. We were on-site 10/2-10/5 with 12 guys (4 of us did a Stay and Play with Crossings the night of 10/1), here’s the breakdown of our trip.

 

We booked this trip in Feb of 2018, a week after returning from our first trip. We’re already on the lookout to book the return in 2021.

 

**Lodging**: We had 8 guys in the Lodge Suite, 4 in a Chrome Lake loft. The loft was where we stayed on our first trip. I know there’s a lot of discussion about the rooms just being a place to sleep each night, but on a bigger guys trip, holy crap- get a suite. We convened there each night for our game update, could drink some beers watching people finish, and would wind down there each night between our second round and heading to dinner. As a single or a big group, I’d recommend getting somewhere in the lodge, but I know opinions on that vary.

 

**Game format**: We did a 6 v 6 Ryder Cup style over the week. Each match worth a point, ties would halve the point. For the tie break across the round, we went team margin of victory. We learned a few lessons for future years later in the post, but the format was:

- Round 1: Preserve as a sixsome. Gross stroke, throw out your two highest scores as a team each hole. Losers buy the first round of drinks.

- Round 2: Old Mac. 2 man best ball Match Play.

- Round 3: Trails. 2 man best ball modified stableford

- Round 4: Bandon. 2 man best ball Match Play

- Round 5: Pac. Optional practice round for those that didn’t want to do 36-36

- Round 6: Pac. Singles matches.

 

**Stakes**: We all threw in $100: $150 paid out to the winning team of each match, $600 paid to the team that wins the overall week.

We wound up a draw overall on the first two rounds (even with tie breaks), had round 3 come to a 2.5-.5 victory for the good guys and lost round 4 2.5-3.5 for a 8-7 good guy victory. Those that wanted more money on the line had side games going, but found that $100 was about the right amount for everyone. Kept everything interesting, but you aren’t sweating over a round that you don’t play well in.

 

**Tournament Services**: Since we had 12 in our group, we were offered a menu of things to add on to our weekend. Some complimentary, some up there in price:

Complimentary: kps, course handicap calculations.

Cost $: Customized scorecards: Would have had our names printed with holes popped ready for us on each course. Tournament scoreboard: customized to our format. Tournament scoring: hand in our scorecards to a pro as we walk off the course and let them crunch the numbers. Punchbowl: Rent out the punchbowl after hours for either “glow golf” or “stadium style lighting”

 

We went with a tournament scoreboard, kps, and Punchbowl with stadium style lighting. Pic of our completed scoreboard below. Ignore all the mistakes on it, we were completing it at the end of each day after a handful of transfusions.

 

**Courses**: I think what’s been said on here has been said 100x, so I’ll mostly just post some pictures. The conditions we got the courses in was unreal. For 3 of the 12 it was their first trip down there and after every round their comment was “best course I’ve ever played.” We stopped asking everyone what their favorite courses were- it got sacrilegious in our eyes and we just all agreed they’re all world class. Full stop. One guy in our group got on with preview play on the Sheep Ranch the day we left and echoed what everyone else said at the resort- when it opens it will be the best course there. Some of us got down a day early as well and went and checked out Crossings (more on that below)

 

**Weather**: We could not have had better weather if we drew it up ourselves. The weather report was flip flopping between partly sunny and chances of rain for the week leading up, each round was sun drenched. On our second round of our first full day (Trails), we could see clouds rolling in on the 15th tee. There was lightning as we putted out on 18, the horn went off pulling people off the courses, but our 3rd group was able to finish, granted they got dumped on, but that was all the rain we got the whole trip. Some played the whole weekend in shorts, others in slacks and a polo, we all came home with sunburns.

 

**Caddies**: Most of us took push carts, we had a handful of caddies in our group. Between the guys we had, Jared was the caddie I liked the best. He’s a fraternity brother from WSU with one of the guys in the group and he fit in absolutely seamlessly. He was a blast to hang out with and a guy I’d sit and have a beer with anytime, and a hell of a caddie. Neil was in another group I didn’t play with and everyone said basically the same thing, that he was an absolute great addition to their group. We had Matt as our third and another caddie I really enjoyed and got along with. A couple caddies the first day that were ho-hum, but those three stand out the most.

 

**Restaurants**: We ate at McKee’s, The Gallery, Trails End, Tufted Puffin. Pro tip: If you’re eating in the Gallery, they will still serve food from Tufted Puffin. The food in the Gallery is good, although in my mind a touch overpriced. The Tufted Puffin is a solid deal regardless and a fraction of the cost. On the drive from the Eugene airport, we stopped at Vinny's Smoking Good Burgers and Sandwiches. Holy crap will that be a new tradition. Best sandwich I think I've ever had, $13 with fries and a drink. We ended our second and third nights at the Bunker Bar playing poker and dice as well. We missed the Bunker Bar our first trip, highly recommend checking it out. Lots of good energy down there.

 

**Lessons learned/what we will change/what didn’t go well:**

1. As stableford is a stroke based game, we should have given everyone their full handicaps. Instead, when popping cards, we netted everyone against the lowest handicap of the group. This caused some rumbling after the fact.

2. We should have adjusted handicaps as the week went.

3. Tournament services: Almost became more of a hassle than it was worth. We picked our 4 kp holes a week in advance, with none set up on our first round. They tried to sell us on the glow ball for the Punchbowl, but stadium lighting with our own balls is much more our speed. When we got there, it seemed to have been set up for glow ball, although were told we got the “stadium lighting” option. Stadium lighting to me is something a lot different than the lights you might put in a flower bed to light your walkway to your front door at night, so not worth it in my eyes.

4. Bandon Crossings was worth playing, but now that I’ve checked it off, likely won’t play it again. We’ll only get to Bandon once every year/every other year, so would rather just be on-site straight from the airport. But if you have a long week at the resort and want a cart for a round, worth doing.

5. Marshalls on the Preserve: Just about the only negative experience we’ve had. As I said, this trip was booked a year and a half prior, with no issues with us playing as 2 6somes when we booked (they gave us three tee times to accommodate). As we walked to the tee, the starter was adamant he couldn’t let us play as 6, we had to break to groups in 4. We fought it until he relented, told us it was a packed tee sheet with people getting off the courses and if we played slow they’d break us up. The second marshall we ran into gave us the same speech, berating us as “you said you were playing as a scramble, which you obviously aren’t.” Who the hell plays a par 3 course as a 6 man scramble? We wound up catching a twosome in front of us and as we walked from 12-13 saw a 10 man group on the 2nd tee, but our 6 man group was too much to stomach apparently. That kicked things off with a sour taste in our mouth.

6. We’ll go longer next time, probably 5 days/4 nights after Sheep Ranch opens. Save the Preserve for a replay after an 18 hole day and kick off day 1 with 18. Likely something like: Arrival- 18, Day 2: 18 + 18, Day 3: 18 + 13, Day 4: 18 + (optional 18), Day 5: 18. Day 3 and 4 would still give those that wanted more golf time for Shorty’s, Punchbowl, etc.

 

**What worked well:**

1. We had two captains, which were determine based on a round we played at Chambers ~6 months in advance of our trip. Captains picked their team snake style. The round at Chambers was to determine captains, but also served as a means for everyone that hadn’t met yet to get to know one another before getting down to Oregon.

2. Team uniforms: The groups were split on this. One group had a theme each round the other team just chose a color for the final day. I see the merits of both, but if nothing else gave us something to burn nervous energy on leading up to the trip when it was all we’d talk about.

- Rep your squad: Rep your school/favorite sports team

- Black out: Wear all black

- Match your playing partner

- We had team polos (they were simple navy blue Nike blade polos) that we all repped on the final match. Nothing embroidered or added to the shirts after we bought them.

3. Tournament scoreboard. Was $75 and just added a fun element to the trip and something solid for the winning captain to take home. We certainly could have filled it out better, but that’s not the scoreboards fault.

4. Literally everything else.

 

As I said earlier and has been said countless times in this forum, if you’re thinking of pulling the trigger, do it. Whether you go as a single or a large group, few people make this a once in a lifetime trip because you go once and are hooked. If it’s a cost factor, the first trip we did was late Jan/early Feb and cost ~$900 each and we still got slacks and polo weather the whole time. I’ve never heard of anyone going there and saying they regret it.

 

 

View from the Crossings Stay and Play

 

 

First round of the trip: 2 6somes playing their 4 best balls gross on the Preserve

 

 

Old Mac

 

Trails

 

 

Bandon

 

 

Pac, with the group watching us finish on 18 from the lookout

 

 

Scoreboard from Tournament Services and our group. The pic on the deck is getting ready for a kp throwing balls down to the Bandon practice green.

 

 

 

 

[schneidm10]

To add to your point #5 of what you learned: That's my one criticism, albeit minor, of the Bandon experience. Some of the marshalls out there are not great. I was out on Pacific last year in November in a foursome. The 3 groups in front of us and at least 5 groups behind us happen to be 3-somes. We were told on 9 to pick up our pace, which was unreasonable IMO given our spot in the tee sheet. It's tough to keep up with a 3-some (ability aside) and stay ahead of them when you are a foursome. And we weren't holding anyone up. Some of the guys out there can be rude or have no clue. Thankfully for the most part, they are great. All right, rant over.

 

Glad you guys had an awesome time. Pictures look great as well.

[bird206]

Excellent pics and nice breakdown of details that I haven't seen discussed in the forum. Sounds like a great time. Is there on person in your group that organizes the whole function? That seems like a lot of organizing (booking, tournament, etc...)

[kaschreiber]

> @schneidm10 said:

> To add to your point #5 of what you learned: That's my one criticism, albeit minor, of the Bandon experience. Some of the marshalls out there are not great. I was out on Pacific last year in November in a foursome. The 3 groups in front of us and at least 5 groups behind us happen to be 3-somes. We were told on 9 to pick up our pace, which was unreasonable IMO given our spot in the tee sheet. It's tough to keep up with a 3-some (ability aside) and stay ahead of them when you are a foursome. And we weren't holding anyone up. Some of the guys out there can be rude or have no clue. Thankfully for the most part, they are great. All right, rant over.

>

> Glad you guys had an awesome time. Pictures look great as well.

 

Agreed. Had the marshall on the Preserve handled it as a "hey guys, tee sheet is full. I see you're playing as a six-some, please do me a favor and be sure you're keeping up with the guys in front of you, we want to make sure everyone coming off the courses can finish," there would have been no issue at all. Instead they both chose to handle it as if though our group of guys was clueless and bogging it down. If that's the only negative we got all week. I'll take it.

[kaschreiber]

> @bird206 said:

> Excellent pics and nice breakdown of details that I haven't seen discussed in the forum. Sounds like a great time. Is there on person in your group that organizes the whole function? That seems like a lot of organizing (booking, tournament, etc...)

 

That falls on me. Plenty of guys were willing to help and there were a lot of guys that served as sounding boards, but I tend to play the role of benevolent dictator. It makes it easier when you have one person accountable to ensure decisions actually get made and I geek out on this sort of thing anyways.

[oregongolf]

Nice trip report. We're a few months out on our annual trip, so I appreciate the read.

 

Marshal consistency is the worst at Preserve by far... I don't know if they put their worst guys there since it has less meaningful play or what. My recommendation for large groups at Preserve is to ask for the last tee time of the day then play however the heck you want. We usually play 10-12 guys in a big skins game.... so it moves pretty fast. Nobody is putting out for a 5.

 

Our group plays an eclectic tournament for our perpetual trophy, with daily cash games to satiate the real degenerate gamblers. Curiously, what's the reason for adjusting handicaps as the week went by? Did not everyone have an official handicap?

 

My opinion, tournament services isn't worth it unless you have a group of 36+ players. I use golf genius and do all the scoring in 5 minutes.

[spud3]

Excellent trip report. Nice to hear the perspective of the medium-size group experience.

[scottc25]

I just wish I didn't golf with a bunch of pussies who don't want to fly across the country to golf.

[spud3]

> @scottc25 said:

> I just wish I didn't golf with a bunch of pussies who don't want to fly across the country to golf.

 

Go solo. You will not read a trip report on WRX where someone who ditched their non-commital buddies and went on their own had anything but a fantastic time. In some ways, going solo is actually better than with a group. We have a group of guys that I love going with (met on WRX, thank you very much) annually, but I still take a solo jaunt whenever I can.

[scottc25]

> @spud3 said:

> > @scottc25 said:

> > I just wish I didn't golf with a bunch of pussies who don't want to fly across the country to golf.

>

> Go solo. You will not read a trip report on WRX where someone who ditched their non-commital buddies and went on their own had anything but a fantastic time. In some ways, going solo is actually better than with a group. We have a group of guys that I love going with (met on WRX, thank you very much) annually, but I still take a solo jaunt whenever I can.

 

I am, arriving this Tuesday :)

[kaschreiber]

> @oregongolf said:

> Nice trip report. We're a few months out on our annual trip, so I appreciate the read.

>

> Marshal consistency is the worst at Preserve by far... I don't know if they put their worst guys there since it has less meaningful play or what. My recommendation for large groups at Preserve is to ask for the last tee time of the day then play however the heck you want. We usually play 10-12 guys in a big skins game.... so it moves pretty fast. Nobody is putting out for a 5.

>

> Our group plays an eclectic tournament for our perpetual trophy, with daily cash games to satiate the real degenerate gamblers. Curiously, what's the reason for adjusting handicaps as the week went by? Did not everyone have an official handicap?

>

> My opinion, tournament services isn't worth it unless you have a group of 36+ players. I use golf genius and do all the scoring in 5 minutes.

 

Handicap adjustments is for people that are playing like crap. Yeah, we all have official GHINs, but the last thing we wanted was someone who's either a) sandbagging leading up to the trip and getting a few extra strokes or (more likely) b) you're so jacked you're there you're playing like crap and you end up shooting +5 net each day. Especially with all of us being used to parkland golf and the greens there so much harder to read (at least for most of us). I don't think it's a deal breaker either way, but it's helpful.

 

And agreed on tournament services. Allows you the flexibility to mix up the format mid way through as well if people want to gravitate toward something and scoring is not rocket surgery.

[buzlin]

We adjusted caps after each round (50% of the difference between cap and score). None of us are competitive/tournament golfers, just passionate recreational hacks. The travel, 36 holes/day, drinking, links golf, etc......always leads to some level of catastrophe with our "handicaps", which are usually based off very limited rounds on very familiar home courses. We adjust caps because in the end we want everyone to have fun.

[kaschreiber]

> @buzlin said:

> We adjusted caps after each round (50% of the difference between cap and score). None of us are competitive/tournament golfers, just passionate recreational hacks. The travel, 36 holes/day, drinking, links golf, etc......always leads to some level of catastrophe with our "handicaps", which are usually based off very limited rounds on very familiar home courses. We adjust caps because in the end we want everyone to have fun.

 

^^This is a much better way to articulate our reasoning as well. Thanks @buzlin

[hbrar99]

@kaschreiber, did you find the lodge suite was comfortable with 8 of you in there? We usually stay at the Inn with my yearly group and already share rooms, just wanted your thoughts. Did you share beds or get cots? I have stayed in there with just 4 of us and honestly felt like the space was big enough, but just haven't pulled the trigger on putting 8 in there. Would be nice to know your thoughts on it.

 

 

[kaschreiber]

> @hbrar99 said:

> @kaschreiber, did you find the lodge suite was comfortable with 8 of you in there? We usually stay at the Inn with my yearly group and already share rooms, just wanted your thoughts. Did you share beds or get cots? I have stayed in there with just 4 of us and honestly felt like the space was big enough, but just haven't pulled the trigger on putting 8 in there. Would be nice to know your thoughts on it.

>

>

 

I thought it was plenty of room without cots. We were there to shower after our final rounds, recap the days standings in our week long game, and sleep. Already looking to book the lodge and golf suite if we can get both for when we go back.

[hbrar99]

> @kaschreiber said:

> > @hbrar99 said:

> > @kaschreiber, did you find the lodge suite was comfortable with 8 of you in there? We usually stay at the Inn with my yearly group and already share rooms, just wanted your thoughts. Did you share beds or get cots? I have stayed in there with just 4 of us and honestly felt like the space was big enough, but just haven't pulled the trigger on putting 8 in there. Would be nice to know your thoughts on it.

> >

> >

>

> I thought it was plenty of room without cots. We were there to shower after our final rounds, recap the days standings in our week long game, and sleep. Already looking to book the lodge and golf suite if we can get both for when we go back.

 

Thank you for the response. I will definitely book the lodge suite for 8 of us for our 2021 trip.

I've stayed in the golf suite as well with a different group a few times. It was not nearly as big as the lodge suite and more than 1 person per room would be very difficult. For 12 of us, I am leaning to booking the lodge suite and the golf suite or the lodge suite and 4 singles in the lodge. We would draw straws to see who shares rooms and who gets their own and all share the nightly cost equally.

 

[kaschreiber]

> @hbrar99 said:

> > @kaschreiber said:

> > > @hbrar99 said:

> > > @kaschreiber, did you find the lodge suite was comfortable with 8 of you in there? We usually stay at the Inn with my yearly group and already share rooms, just wanted your thoughts. Did you share beds or get cots? I have stayed in there with just 4 of us and honestly felt like the space was big enough, but just haven't pulled the trigger on putting 8 in there. Would be nice to know your thoughts on it.

> > >

> > >

> >

> > I thought it was plenty of room without cots. We were there to shower after our final rounds, recap the days standings in our week long game, and sleep. Already looking to book the lodge and golf suite if we can get both for when we go back.

>

> Thank you for the response. I will definitely book the lodge suite for 8 of us for our 2021 trip.

> I've stayed in the golf suite as well with a different group a few times. It was not nearly as big as the lodge suite and more than 1 person per room would be very difficult. For 12 of us, I am leaning to booking the lodge suite and the golf suite or the lodge suite and 4 singles in the lodge. We would draw straws to see who shares rooms and who gets their own and all share the nightly cost equally.

>

 

That's what I was hoping to do initially. Our group was originally 8 in the Lodge Suite. We then had someone jump in (who originally said he was out, of course...), so we had to round up 3 more for even foursomes. He of course wound up bailing later on, so the hassle was completely unnecessary, but being out at Chome Lake worked.

 

And good to know about the Golf suite being on the smaller side. Any experience with the dune suite?

[hbrar99]

> @kaschreiber said:

> > @hbrar99 said:

> > > @kaschreiber said:

> > > > @hbrar99 said:

> > > > @kaschreiber, did you find the lodge suite was comfortable with 8 of you in there? We usually stay at the Inn with my yearly group and already share rooms, just wanted your thoughts. Did you share beds or get cots? I have stayed in there with just 4 of us and honestly felt like the space was big enough, but just haven't pulled the trigger on putting 8 in there. Would be nice to know your thoughts on it.

> > > >

> > > >

> > >

> > > I thought it was plenty of room without cots. We were there to shower after our final rounds, recap the days standings in our week long game, and sleep. Already looking to book the lodge and golf suite if we can get both for when we go back.

> >

> > Thank you for the response. I will definitely book the lodge suite for 8 of us for our 2021 trip.

> > I've stayed in the golf suite as well with a different group a few times. It was not nearly as big as the lodge suite and more than 1 person per room would be very difficult. For 12 of us, I am leaning to booking the lodge suite and the golf suite or the lodge suite and 4 singles in the lodge. We would draw straws to see who shares rooms and who gets their own and all share the nightly cost equally.

> >

>

> That's what I was hoping to do initially. Our group was originally 8 in the Lodge Suite. We then had someone jump in (who originally said he was out, of course...), so we had to round up 3 more for even foursomes. He of course wound up bailing later on, so the hassle was completely unnecessary, but being out at Chome Lake worked.

>

> And good to know about the Golf suite being on the smaller side. Any experience with the dune suite?

 

Yes, I've stayed in all 3. The Dune suite was almost identical to the Golf Suite, with the main exception being the balcony. The balcony was awesome when we were able to get out there. Easily big enough for 8. The Dune suite was tiny. But you could not put 8 people in either of those suites.

 

I am thinking of trying to put in the grove this year and 4 in the chrome lake and just walk across the street. Getting the lodge suite during our desired time has been tough.

[Slippin_Jimmy]

Great post/pics/thread. Question for the OP, what was the deal with the Stay and Play at Crossings? Was it a decent hotel/value? The reason I ask is I like to bookend the trip off-resort to save a few bucks, plus I like a warmup round also and liked Crossings when I played it. I've stayed at the Best Western Face Rock before and it's fine, but I didn't realize there was a Crossings Stay & Play.

[kaschreiber]

> @"Slippin Jimmy" said:

> Great post/pics/thread. Question for the OP, what was the deal with the Stay and Play at Crossings? Was it a decent hotel/value? The reason I ask is I like to bookend the trip off-resort to save a few bucks, plus I like a warmup round also and liked Crossings when I played it. I've stayed at the Best Western Face Rock before and it's fine, but I didn't realize there was a Crossings Stay & Play.

 

Very reasonable. There were two options we were given- a 3 br condo (4 total beds) about halfway between Crossings and Bandon that was very nice and stone's throw from the ocean. That's the option we went with and it was $140 for the round and the single night- full kitchen/fridge for getting dinner ready that night, 3 showers- it worked out well. There's another option for stay that is literally right behind the driving range for Crossings (look up "Home on the Range" on Google Maps and you can see where it's at). I want to say we needed to get 8 guys to make the cost comparable and any more would have made it cheaper.

 

The only downside was the communication left a bit to be desired- I emailed 2 weeks prior to arrival to be sure we were set for our 2:00 tee time, was assured we were, and when we walked in the clubhouse they had no idea who we were. Fortunately there was no one else on the course for us to try and contend with, but that could have been a damper. You can get the stay and play booking started through the Crossings website, but they handle payment/official booking offline.

[Slippin_Jimmy]

Very cool, thank you, I will check it out for sure.