Bandon Dunes Trip Report / February 2021 / A 155-Hole Odyssey / November 2021 Addendum

[jackbauer]

Intro

This was my eighth trip to Bandon (first one in February) but is my first time reporting. It started out as a buddies trip but the others ended up canceling for Covid reasons so I went solo. I had low expectations for scoring since I only played seven rounds in the past year, five of which were in one holiday weekend. Fortunately, a single-occupancy room opened up for most of my time there.

 

The itinerary:

 

Bandon/Sheep Ranch

Old Mac/Trails

Pacific/Bandon

Sheep Ranch/Pacific

 

Day 1 (Arrival)

My flight from home to the connecting airport went smoothly, but somehow American needed ten minutes to connect the jet bridge to the plane after parking. Of course, the arrival and departure gates were nowhere near each other. I was already double-timing it and still a quarter mile away when the lady on the intercom said “Flight 24 to Eugene will be closing its gates in four minutes.” I attempted to morph into Usain Bolt with a carry-on and backpack and stumbled to the gate simultaneously gasping and choking on my mask. Not a good start overall. But we got to Eugene without issue and I was in my rental car ten minutes after getting off the plane for the picturesque drive south. It was pouring at the resort so I didn’t get to practice in the evening. Instead, I drove to The Beverage Barn to get some booze and ended up drinking my dinner.

 

Day 2

I slapped it around Bandon in the morning and don’t remember much other than my playing partners (two friends) were cool. 17 is a very underrated hole. Bandon was always my favorite course but Sheep Ranch has likely overtaken it. The three of us played Sheep Ranch in the afternoon and I managed to stick an 8-iron into a pretty strong wind to four feet and make birdie on 16. We had to play 18 in the dark because a couple of foursomes in front held up the course most of the round, so extra holes were not possible.

 

Day 3

I know, I know … playing Old Mac and Trails on the same day is a rookie mistake. But I had to bite the bullet to make the itinerary work and get in 36 each day due to the presence of a 60- or 400-person group or whatever having most of the pace-setting tee times.

 

Old Mac gets some hate relative to the other four courses but it’s always a nice change of pace for me. The walk from 16 green to 17 tee is one of the most underrated spots on the property. At one point, a lurking crow swiped my snack within seconds of me placing it on the green but met swift justice at the hands of one of my playing partners. In the afternoon, I teed off on Trails 20 minutes early with another single for the most peaceful round of golf in my life. The conditions were near perfect (just a light mist on 12) and the only people we ever saw on the course were the twosome I played with in the morning in 13 fairway when we approached 11 green. We had so much fun that we did the 1-5 and 17-18 short loop after the round. There was enough daylight for additional holes but, as many of you know, Trails is the least conducive of the courses for short loops. Maybe someday I’ll see how long the walk is back to the clubhouse from 11 green; it’s one of my favorite holes and I wish I could play it more than once per trip.

 

Day 4

It was a fun morning round at Pacific playing with the same twosome from Old Mac the day before, highlighted by some laser iron shots and a string of pars from 8 to 13. The three of us then headed to Bandon and the weather turned to crap. Believe it or not, this was the first time it rained on me on one of my trips, but at least I got to use my ProQuip rain gear for the first time. The greens became unputtable and I threw in the towel after 14.

 

Day 5

The weather at Sheep Ranch was ideal but my play was forgettable, save for curling in a 70-footer for birdie on 18 after three subpar shots (pun intended). As one of the earliest groups out, our foursome finished in a brisk 3:40. Since I was unable to move up my tee time at Pacific in two hours, I headed over to Bandon for another crack since they had an opening in one hour. This turned out to be a mixed bag because while few things beat an afternoon round at Bandon, our twosome was sandwiched between nothing but foursomes and we took an excruciating 4:30 to finish. Despite that, there was still an hour and change of daylight left so I returned to Pacific for extra holes, playing 1-2, 9-11 and 5-7 in the best setting I’ve ever seen on the course (see the pictures below). Other than the obvious groups walking off 18, I didn’t see a single person except for a group walking up 16 fairway as I made my way from 2 green to 9 tee. After putting out on 7, I took one last look back at the course—which was the most depressing part of the trip if there is such a thing—knowing that that was it and I wouldn’t be playing again tomorrow.

 

Day 6 (Departure)

My flight got moved up from 3 to 11 so I had to hit the road first thing and canceled my round at Preserve.

 

Final Thoughts

At various times, I’ve stayed in Lily Pond, both Inn Doubles and both Lodge Singles. I booked the new Round Doubles for my next group trip but still want to try a Chrome Double at some point. I’m also curious if the peace and quiet and extra space of an Inn King offsets the convenience of a Lodge Single (please opine if you’ve stayed in both). I’ll probably never stay in a Grove Cottage or Lodge Suite unless I’m making eff-you money.

 

If I were scheduling a trip with 10 rounds, I would play three at Sheep Ranch and Bandon, two at Pacific and one at Trails and Old Mac.

 

My favorite 18 holes:

1. 16 at Bandon (Par 4)
2. 9 at Sheep Ranch (4)
3. 6 at Sheep Ranch (4)
4. 11 at Trails (4)
5. 13 at Pacific (4)
6. 4 at Bandon (4)
7. 1 at Sheep Ranch (5)
8. 3 at Trails (5)
9. 7 at Sheep Ranch (3)
10. 16 at Sheep Ranch (3)
11. 11 at Pacific (3)
12. 10 at Pacific (3)
13. 16 at Old Mac (4)
14. 17 at Old Mac (5)
15. 5 at Bandon (4)
16. 17 at Sheep Ranch (4)
17. 4 at Pacific (4)
18. 3 at Bandon (5)

I’m already counting down the days until my next trip later this year!

 

Thanks for reading and stay safe.

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by jackbauer

[spud3]

Nice writeup, Jack!

 

As for the Inn King vs Lodge single, I stayed in a Forest King on my last solo dash in December, and can attest to the extra peace and quiet from the Lodge.  Having said that, the Lodge is pretty quiet these days, what with this covid thing, and the biggest advantages to the Lodge are kinda nullified by the jacuzzi being closed and the restaurants all on a takeout/delivery only program.  The Inn Kings are a bit bigger, but not a ton.  Once the world is back to some semblance of normal golf resort ops, I'll still prefer the Lodge, because I can quickly stumble back from one too many pints at McKee's, or hit the jacuzzi by a quick elevator ride.  But really, either will do nicely, for me. 

 

As was discussed somewhere in the epic Random Bandon thread, there are 7 Forest King rooms (the ones on the ends of the buildings, I think) that have jetted tubs in them and those are the zoot rooms to go for at the Inn.

[jrg75]

@jackbauer bravo my friend, epic trip and fantastic report.  Aside from your one afternoon at Bandon, it looks like you had great weather.

 

Your report has me super excited for my upcoming trip in April which will be my fifth and second solo.  I love traveling with my buddies but I have to say the solo trips are really fun since you can get those extra holes in after a 36 hole day pretty easy.  155 holes is very impressive!

 

On the debate about lodge versus the inn, I find both of them to be awesome but in different ways.  I think I lean toward the lodge in the non-COVID world given the central location but I stayed in the Inn last August and it's very peaceful and chill, perfect if you are eating in your room anyways.  You really can't go wrong with either IMO.

Edited February 26, 2021 by jrg75

[jackbauer]

@spud3 All of the Inn Kings were booked during my trip. I did know about the ones with the tubs but thank you for the reminder. Based on what you said, I'll probably stick with the Lodge for solo trips.

 

@jrg75 Have a great trip and please write a report (I've never been in April). I've done extra holes on buddies trips but everyone else taps out after 36 despite being in their thirties.

[JNewsted]

I could read 1,000 of these trip posts.

My preference is Inn>Lodge and yes, grab that king room on the ends (room 143 ftw!)

 

Great pics too.

[Kitch]

What was the weather like in late February? Am looking at a trip there in 2022. Did you get rain any (each) round? Wind? Temperature? Thanks!

[mauiman]

Your pics are heaven to me. Amazing trip!

[kaschreiber]

22 hours ago, Kitch said:

What was the weather like in late February? Am looking at a trip there in 2022. Did you get rain any (each) round? Wind? Temperature? Thanks!

My first trip was the last weekend of Jan into Feb (write-up below, pics got lost when golfwrx migrated platforms). We started every morning in slacks, polo over long sleeve thermals, with pullovers. Got some fog, no rain, and ended each day in just slacks and a polo. If you can make it work, it can be the best value. 

 

[jackbauer]

@Kitch The only rain I experienced was my afternoon round at Bandon on day 4. Miraculously, that was the first time it rained on me in the 30 playing days I’ve spent there [knock on wood/forehead]. The max wind I recall was about 20/two clubs but it was never close to that consistently. The average temperature throughout the day was likely low/mid 50s.

[jjr]

Great write up! 

 

My last Bandon trip was in the 2nd week of Feb prior to Covid wrecking havoc on our lives, the trip was amazing, weather was fantasitc (only rain was on 16 & 17 of our last round of trip at Old Mac)

[Slippin_Jimmy]

On 10/25/2021 at 7:15 PM, Kitch said:

What was the weather like in late February? Am looking at a trip there in 2022. Did you get rain any (each) round? Wind? Temperature? Thanks!

I went late February several years back (last week of Feb into March). A crapshoot and it didn't work out well with weather. Cold/rain/wind/hail, even snow(!) one day. The resort did set everyone up with a shotgun start at Sandpines (now Florence Golf Links) on the snow day which was nice.  Anyway, it's a tossup at that time but it seems like earlier Feb you have less chance of rain than later and into March.  Then again, there are many accounts here of great golf weather at that time, it's just a risk you take at that time of year and with the great offseason prices.

[jackbauer]

I recently returned from another excursion to Bandon. A goal of mine is to birdie all 90 holes over the course of my life, and I was able to add four to the tally (1, 15 and 17 at Sheep Ranch and 6 at Pacific). Other highlights included meeting @Edaw68 and coincidentally being paired up again with a guy I met there last year.

 

One new item I brought along and will never go without again was my Tommy John 360 Sport 2.0 Leggings. I felt so much less restricted wearing just these under rain pants (and wore them under regular pants on the sunny days).