Bandon Dunes Trip Report (Mar 29 - Apr 1)

Chris_NH · April 2, 2013

4 of us flew BOS-PDX on Thursday night, stayed in Portland, then woke up early on Friday Mar 29 and made the drive down to Bandon. It’s 4-4.5 hours, but is a very pleasant drive, especially the portion along Rt. 38 that takes you from Rt. 5 out to coastal 101. Very pretty ride.

We hit weather that we dared not even hope for. We were told by multiple people that this was the best weather of the year. Friday and Saturday were sunny with high temps between 63 and 70, and 5-10 mph winds out of the north. We played in only shorts and golf shirts, and still worked up a light sweat.

Friday 1pm – Bandon Trails (Green tees; 6260 yds; par 71; 70.6/128)

We had a forecaddie for our foursome named Randy Gibson. He’s been caddying at Bandon for some 8-9 years and was great. The recommended foursome tip for a forecaddie is $100. We paid him $120 per round then gave him another $50 at the end.

Bandon Trails is gorgeous. It’s a links-style course, but it winds it’s way through dunes, meadows and forest/woodlands. It’s not what one thinks of when one envisions “links golf” but the course and the routing were beautiful. The greens were medium-fast and were very true. This was pretty much the weakest round for all of us. Rust from the New England winter layoff, the slight intimidation/exhilaration of being in “golf mecca” and the entirely different look and feel of the type of golf combined to make for a challenging round for all of us. I had a 44/47 - 91 (I’m an 11 index) and wasn’t terribly unhappy with that score. I was delighted with the course.

The most enjoyable part for me was the putting. I consider that I have a reasonably good chipping/short game. Despite that, having read extensively about playing Bandon, I decided to commit from the very start to using my putter the way one should in links golf. This turned out to be a good decision, since it’s so tough to chip of the very thin lies that they have there. I felt like I became quite proficient at these shots – the putts over mounds/contours, from WELL off the green - very quickly, and these turned out to be for me the funnest shots that I hit all weekend. I HIGHLY encourage anybody doing Bandon to make a similar commitment to conforming your game to the conditions – you will score better (some of my foursome who didn’t do this had very mixed results chipping) and I guarantee you that these are the shots you will most remember after your trip.

Saturday 8:10am – Pacific Dunes (Green tees; 6142 yds; par 71; 70.7/133)

Another chamber-of-commerce day weather-wise. I wore slacks, and a golf shirt. Right from the time you work your way down the first fairway, this Doak masterpiece takes your breath away. Dunes framing the holes everywhere – some of them downright towering dunes - and pot bunkers/fescue all over the place. And gorse. All over the course, tons of gorse everywhere. #17, the par three, is ringed almost 360 degrees by towering gorse, and any time you reach a point with elevation, you look across the course and see tons of yellow-flowered gorse. So stunning. I’m actually going to research whether gorse grows in NH – I liked it THAT much (yes, I know it’s invasive). This is the course with the most ocean holes. The third hole is a par-5 that leads you right out to the ocean, and it’s a near-religious experience. I was over the green in 3, and rolled in a 60-ish footer from well off the green for birdie – I was in heaven. It’s hard to describe this course without gushing and using words like stunning, exhilarating, spectacular, scenic – it’s without a doubt the most beautiful course I’ve ever played. What made this doubly enjoyable is that this is the course that we had scheduled to play twice, so we knew we were playing it again the afternoon of the next day. I had a 42/42 – 84 that left me very pleased. The one weak aspect of this course was the fuzzy greens – they were downright slow. While disappointing, it didn’t really do anything to take away from our extreme pleasure of the course.

Saturday 3:45PM – The Preserve

The Preserve is a 13-hole par 3 course, but don’t let that dissuade you from playing it. When we began our first round at Trails on Friday, we had begun a match – midway through the first hole, I called the match off. As I said, the intimidation/exhilaration was enough to take in at the time, and the idea of adding a match into the mix just overwhelmed us – so we just played. That’s what we ended up doing on all our “regular” rounds. But here, on the par 3, where nobody had scores to be concerned about, we ended up playing a team game in our foursome with points for lowest score on a hole, lowest team score, birdies, polies (putts holed longer than the length of the flagstick) and closest to the pin (as long as you converted the par). The trash-talking was at an excellent-high level, and I think this round at the Preserve ended up being the most flat-out fun we had – really. The holes are a collection of par 3s that range from about 60 yards to around 155 (uphill) – and are holes that any golf course would be envious of. They are a (sorry to overuse the word) stunning group of holes. My team won on an absolutely back-breaking 25-foot curling birdie putt by yours truly that sealed the victory – and a couple of Mirror Pond pale ales – for our team. This course is right next to Bandon Trails, and has the same quality of greens as Trails does.

Incidentally, when I return to Bandon (note the “when” rather than “if”), my schedule will be to play the Preserve each afternoon, rather than trying to do 36 “real” holes. You’ll see why. But remember – Bandon is walking only. I generally walk anyway, so no big deal for 18. But after the Preserve – which I’d estimate roughly equates to us walking 27 real holes that day – we were very tired, especially feet and ankles, hamstrings for some, etc.

Sunday 8;20AM – Bandon Dunes (Green tees; 6221 yds; par 72; 71.7/139)

So excited today. We’re starting out with the Bandon Dunes in the morning – the course that launched the whole resort – then finishing with another round at Pacific in the afternoon. However, our charmed weather has disappeared. It’s cloudy, gray and foggy as the wind has shifted and is now coming from out of the south, which usually means precipitation. We pack our rainsuits, something we had left in our rooms up until this point.

I didn’t think anything could match the experience of Pacific Dunes. It's rated as high (by some rankings) as #1 publicly-accessible course. And after playing it, it was simpy the coolest course I’d ever played, both because of the holes on the water but also because of the dramatic mounding/dunes, etc. Bandon Dunes has much the same look, except with larger greens and a bit less mounding/dunes-framing. There are holes on the water, and many others where you hear the water and feel its influence. These were the best greens all week. For any local New Englanders who have played Portsmouth Country Club in NH, they were almost exactly like that – they have an ugly/splotchy look that makes you cringed a bit at first…then you putt on them, and they are gorgeous. Fast, true, firm – we all loved them. All of us came away perhaps giving Bandon an ever-so-slight notch over Pacific, although had Pacific’s greens been as good as Bandon’s that may well have been reversed – basically pretty close to a tie. I shot a 44/42 – 86 here, including finishing with 3 straight pars on some tough closing holes. One of our group, a legit mid-teens handicap was playing unconscious golf, had a high 70s-type round going, then lost it on those last few holes – he finished with a still-excellent 82. Oh, and we never got wet. Slacks, compression shirt, golf shirt and half-sleeve wind shirt made for a perfectly comfortable round.

Pacific Dunes – Sunday 2PM

Only two of us played this afternoon round, as it was just too much for the others – they took the afternoon off. We opted for no forecaddie since we’d just played it yesterday. This was the one round where I pulled a trolley cart rather than carrying my bag, and I’m glad I did that. This was a grueling endurance test. By the 6th hole, by feet and ankles were so tired that it was difficult to focus on the golf. The weather turned out to be fine – again, we never got wet – and we willed ourselves to play better and enjoy it. In the end, I did enjoy it, but I would have also been ok taking this round off. We played horribly – I had a 49/49 – 98. Still a fun round, however. We had intended to take the other guys back to the room between rounds, but switched plans and just went out for this round without first returning to the room and, as we discovered after 3 holes and too many errant shots – without enough ammo. We laughed quite a bit about the juxtaposition of the fact that we were here at one of the swankest golf resorts in the country, and we were reduced to walking along the edges ball-hawking to ensure we made it through the round. Fortunately, gorse is a bit of a ball-magnet, and we were able to find a pot of gold at one point that allowed us to complete our rounds. The greens had been cut (I believe) from the prior day, and were slightly faster, but still too slow IMO. Basically, when a ball gets caught up on the slope behind a green where that slope is intended to be a backstop – I think the greens are slower than the architect intended.

Monday 8AM - Old Macdonald (Green tees; 6320 yds; par 71; 71.3/127)

Another risk-or-rain day where we pack rainsuits. We never needed them. We got a lot of fog at certain points in the round – unable to see tee balls land for a couple of holes – and it started to “mist” for about 1 ½ holes, but it never even got to the point where I’d be able to characterize it as a “sprinkle”. We know it – we got a total win on weather. In fact, the joke was that we should probably never come back, because we would never hit weather like this again. But that’s just stupid-talk – we’re going back

The phrase that keeps running through my mind as I think of the courses at Bandon is “larger than life”. Everything is done on a grand scale. Old Mac is no different. In fact, in some ways, it’s the grandest of all. The greens are unbelievable and just flat-out fun. They’re huge. By some measurements (won’t go into details) they are the largest in the world. They have lots of contour. Because of that, the greens are a bit slower. Faster than Pacific, but still a touch slow for my taste (ditto comments above about backstops and balls “staying up”). Again, this is more of a quibble than a disappointment. I’m pretty picky about greens, but even slowish-greens cannot undermine the spectacle and fun playing conditions that all the courses present.

Old Mac also has a weird layout – 34/37 – 71. The course is the most true links-feel (IMO) of all the courses at the resort. It only has one hole that plays up to the water, but what a hole that is! The water is evident on many holes – from sound and breeze. The course begins on one side of a dune ridge, plays up and over it, then eventually returns to that side of the dunes. I didn’t know what to expect from Old Mac. Around mid-round, it occurred to me that this may well be my favorite course of the bunch, and others agreed. The words that come to mind for Pacific and Bandon are the “spectacular/stunning” types of terms. For Old Mac, the words are more “playable/fun/different”. It’s the youngest of the courses, so the gorse hasn’t grown in to the extent it has on the other courses. I had a 38/46 – 84 here, and felt like I let a low 80s round get away from me – but had SO MUCH FUN on the course.

Lily Pond Rooms

We stayed in Lily Pond rooms. They were $220/night ($110/man per night). They were clean, convenient, comfortable, roomy, with fireplaces, two sets of sinks, flat-screen TV, wifi all over the resort. These are the least expensive rooms – and they are really nice. I would not feel any reason to upgrade when I return (although I’m sure the more expensive rooms are that much nicer still).

Food

There are a variety of places to eat. The Puffin Lounge, Pacific Grill, Trails Grill, McKees Pub are the places we ate, and all were excellent. They are reasonably-priced as well – you can find $8-10 burgers/wraps if you don’t want to spend a ton, or $28-35 entrees. I tried the legendary Grandma’s Meatlof which was very good (not quite legendary IMO) – best meal was the Dungeness Crab Po Boy – mmm, so good.

Bandon also has shuttle service if you don’t have (or don’t feel like) using your car. We used this only sparingly (the car was easier). Still, for the 3 trips we took – I think we waited a cumulative 90-120 seconds The customer service at Bandon is very high, and the whole resort just exudes an air where everybody is delighted to be there – both guests and employees.

lowndes · April 2, 2013

Great write up and glad you guys had such awesome weather. That is tough to beat. Me and a buddy are headed out there in 3 days for 4 full days of golf and I'm already having trouble sleeping. I just sit at my desk and watch the Bandon Dunes camera. Doesn't look like we are going to have the best weather (but who knows as every forecast I look at is wildly different than the others).

potomacgolfer · April 2, 2013

Great writeup. Just curious, what was the pace of play for your morning rounds, as I'm planning my own trip there this summer.

Sean2 · April 2, 2013

Well done Chris! I was happy to hear Mother Nature smiled down upon you. Sounds like a wonderful place. :-)

Chris_NH · April 2, 2013

[quote name='potomacgolfer' timestamp='1364925154' post='6745189']
Great writeup. Just curious, what was the pace of play for your morning rounds, as I'm planning my own trip there this summer.
[/quote]

4:15-4:30. I think we pushed 4:45 at Old Mac, but not because we were held up - we were walking a little slowly at that point!

vpd · April 2, 2013

[quote name='potomacgolfer' timestamp='1364925154' post='6745189']
Great writeup. Just curious, what was the pace of play for your morning rounds, as I'm planning my own trip there this summer.
[/quote] Pace of play was great for both morning and afternoon rounds this past weekend. All rounds played in just under 4:20.
Caddies are essential for good pace of play and makes the experience much better. They will absolutely save you strokes.

mallrat · April 2, 2013

It's hard to explain but the view going up the sand dune on 3 at Old Mac and cresting the dune is still gives me chills (and I've been 1x a year for the last 4 years, well this will be my 4th year).

For those that have never seen it, you won't get it until you make that walk.

marquez38 · April 2, 2013

lowndes- we've got a group of 9 heading out there Friday-Tues.
Watching the weather like crazy right now...
Enjoy.

lowndes · April 2, 2013

[quote name='marquez38' timestamp='1364935202' post='6746571']
lowndes- we've got a group of 9 heading out there Friday-Tues.
Watching the weather like crazy right now...
Enjoy.
[/quote]

Very nice, looks we will be there the exact same dates! Might run into you out there. If you want to feel the best about the weather I suggest checking out weather undergrounds Best Forecast!

bjackson · April 2, 2013

Great write up! Happy to hear you had a great time.

Chris_NH · April 2, 2013

[quote name='mallrat' timestamp='1364934861' post='6746529']
It's hard to explain but the view going up the sand dune on 3 at Old Mac and cresting the dune is still gives me chills (and I've been 1x a year for the last 4 years, well this will be my 4th year).

For those that have never seen it, you won't get it until you make that walk.
[/quote]

Absolutely true. I had the same experience cresting that sand dune! Good point.