I played Bandon Dunes a few days ago and wanted to share my experience.
First, logistics. We were not staying on property. I brought my clubs with me on the plane, but as we're staying in Oregon for another week or more without the opportunity for more golf, I decided to ship my clubs home using ShipSticks. The folks at Bandon made that extremely easy. I had my shipping label pre-printed, and I simply dropped my clubs off in their travel bag to Guest Services after my golf. I was also there as a foursome walked up and collected their clubs, all of which had been shipped. In short, the folks at Bandon know what they're doing, so you should have no qualms about shipping to, from, or both.
On the day of golf, I arrived a bit later than I wanted, and enjoyed an excellent breakfast in the lodge with my wife. I then caught the shuttle over to the practice facility. I had planned to warmup and then head over to "Shorty's" the little short-game course they have by the range, but as I was running out of time, I simply did some putting before hopping back onto the shuttle and back over to Bandon Dunes.
I checked in with the starter and was assigned my caddy. He was a nice young man of 15-years named Carter. There are no motorized carts at Bandon. You either walk or you don't play. You can hire a caddy, rent one of their pull carts, or carry. They do have an option for a cart I believe if you can document a medical limitation which would prevent you from walking, but it's not just "here's a cart, have fun." They assign you a driver who decides where you will be driven.
My tee time was a 10:30, so there was no fog, and happily enough, almost no wind. I was paired up with a father and his two twenty-something sons. The sons played the tips, and the father and I played the more sensible green tees, at about 6300 yards.
I had a really enjoyable round at Bandon Dunes. It's a great course with some beautiful holes and lots of history. The holes right along the Pacific are breathtaking. It has a bit of a links feel to it, but not so much you'd call it a links course. The greens are fast and significantly undulating.
Carter did a good job giving me the right lines and keeping me out of trouble. He was really good at quickly learning my distances and would often have the correct club pulled before I'd made my decision. I played pretty well on the front, not quite as well on the back. I do think I could have been slightly better on putting. I don't think Carter's reads and my own were quite matching up, which lead to a bit of indecision. Normally I'd just ask the caddy to let me read my own putts, but since he was such a young guy, I didn't want him to think I was displeased, so I just let it go.
We finished just before 3 pm, so the round was just over 4 hours.
I went and had lunch in McKee's pub (awesome). Then I agonized over what to do next. It was 4 pm and it doesn't get dark until 9 pm. My family was meeting me for dinner at 9.
Option A: Play Pacific Dunes
Option B: Play the 13-hole par-3 course called "The Preserve" and then head over "The Punchbowl" their 18-hole putting course.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, given that I'm not sure when I'll be back at Bandon, I chose option A.
Fortunate because Pacific Dunes is a gorgeous course. In fact, I think I liked it more than Bandon. It has more holes on the ocean and is just plain awesome.
Unfortunate because as those of you who have met me can attest, I'm way too overweight and certainly would never be described as athletic. About hole 5 I decided, "this might have been a mistake." Pacific Dunes is not an easy walk. And here I am dragging my clubs on a pull cart, absolutely dead tired. Oh, and guess what? It doesn't go back to the clubhouse after 9.
Still, it was beautiful and I was determined to finish. There were 3 foursomes in front of me, and at one point when they were going the other way, one of the caddies came over and said, "We're not sure about the groups ahead of us, but if you want to play through, just let us know." I assured him that I had absolutely no intention of playing through, and had I tried, I as a single, would certainly hold their foursome up. No, bringing up the rear was just fine with me.
At one point the fog rolled in, which was very eery as it blew across the holes and had me guessing on where my shots might land. Fortunately it only lasted about 2 holes before it lifted again.
It did occur to me, what if I have a heart attack out here? I'd have been a goner. For 90% of the round, it was just me and the golf course and there was nobody behind me. They do put GPS trackers on your pull cart, so hopefully when someone noticed one hadn't moved in an hour, they'd have come to investigate.
Well, I dragged my fat butt through all 18 holes. When I arrived back at the lodge, I packed up my clubs and my family arrived just as I was finishing. My wife was not feeling well, so we decided to skip dinner which was just fine with me. I went back and showered. I briefly considered writing this post, but I just didn't have the energy so I collapsed instead. Two days later I'm still feeling the after effects. I later added up my scores and was surprised to find I'd shot 89 on both courses.
I would not recommend walking 36 holes to anyone but the most fit of individuals. Like, you're competing in the IronMan triathlon and find Crossfit too easy.
I would recommend that if you're coming to Bandon, you try to schedule enough time to stay 3-4 days to play at least 2-3 courses. It's worth it.
Many thanks to tequila4kapp, aka Frank, who gave me outstanding advice, whether I listened or not.
A few pictures follow. Most are of Bandon as unfortunately my phone died on about hole 4 of Pacific.
My caddy on number 1 (the guy on the right. The girl to the left was only a couple years older but dwarfed him):
I think the ones that follow are of Pacific:
First, logistics. We were not staying on property. I brought my clubs with me on the plane, but as we're staying in Oregon for another week or more without the opportunity for more golf, I decided to ship my clubs home using ShipSticks. The folks at Bandon made that extremely easy. I had my shipping label pre-printed, and I simply dropped my clubs off in their travel bag to Guest Services after my golf. I was also there as a foursome walked up and collected their clubs, all of which had been shipped. In short, the folks at Bandon know what they're doing, so you should have no qualms about shipping to, from, or both.
On the day of golf, I arrived a bit later than I wanted, and enjoyed an excellent breakfast in the lodge with my wife. I then caught the shuttle over to the practice facility. I had planned to warmup and then head over to "Shorty's" the little short-game course they have by the range, but as I was running out of time, I simply did some putting before hopping back onto the shuttle and back over to Bandon Dunes.
I checked in with the starter and was assigned my caddy. He was a nice young man of 15-years named Carter. There are no motorized carts at Bandon. You either walk or you don't play. You can hire a caddy, rent one of their pull carts, or carry. They do have an option for a cart I believe if you can document a medical limitation which would prevent you from walking, but it's not just "here's a cart, have fun." They assign you a driver who decides where you will be driven.
My tee time was a 10:30, so there was no fog, and happily enough, almost no wind. I was paired up with a father and his two twenty-something sons. The sons played the tips, and the father and I played the more sensible green tees, at about 6300 yards.
I had a really enjoyable round at Bandon Dunes. It's a great course with some beautiful holes and lots of history. The holes right along the Pacific are breathtaking. It has a bit of a links feel to it, but not so much you'd call it a links course. The greens are fast and significantly undulating.
Carter did a good job giving me the right lines and keeping me out of trouble. He was really good at quickly learning my distances and would often have the correct club pulled before I'd made my decision. I played pretty well on the front, not quite as well on the back. I do think I could have been slightly better on putting. I don't think Carter's reads and my own were quite matching up, which lead to a bit of indecision. Normally I'd just ask the caddy to let me read my own putts, but since he was such a young guy, I didn't want him to think I was displeased, so I just let it go.
We finished just before 3 pm, so the round was just over 4 hours.
I went and had lunch in McKee's pub (awesome). Then I agonized over what to do next. It was 4 pm and it doesn't get dark until 9 pm. My family was meeting me for dinner at 9.
Option A: Play Pacific Dunes
Option B: Play the 13-hole par-3 course called "The Preserve" and then head over "The Punchbowl" their 18-hole putting course.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, given that I'm not sure when I'll be back at Bandon, I chose option A.
Fortunate because Pacific Dunes is a gorgeous course. In fact, I think I liked it more than Bandon. It has more holes on the ocean and is just plain awesome.
Unfortunate because as those of you who have met me can attest, I'm way too overweight and certainly would never be described as athletic. About hole 5 I decided, "this might have been a mistake." Pacific Dunes is not an easy walk. And here I am dragging my clubs on a pull cart, absolutely dead tired. Oh, and guess what? It doesn't go back to the clubhouse after 9.
Still, it was beautiful and I was determined to finish. There were 3 foursomes in front of me, and at one point when they were going the other way, one of the caddies came over and said, "We're not sure about the groups ahead of us, but if you want to play through, just let us know." I assured him that I had absolutely no intention of playing through, and had I tried, I as a single, would certainly hold their foursome up. No, bringing up the rear was just fine with me.
At one point the fog rolled in, which was very eery as it blew across the holes and had me guessing on where my shots might land. Fortunately it only lasted about 2 holes before it lifted again.
It did occur to me, what if I have a heart attack out here? I'd have been a goner. For 90% of the round, it was just me and the golf course and there was nobody behind me. They do put GPS trackers on your pull cart, so hopefully when someone noticed one hadn't moved in an hour, they'd have come to investigate.
Well, I dragged my fat butt through all 18 holes. When I arrived back at the lodge, I packed up my clubs and my family arrived just as I was finishing. My wife was not feeling well, so we decided to skip dinner which was just fine with me. I went back and showered. I briefly considered writing this post, but I just didn't have the energy so I collapsed instead. Two days later I'm still feeling the after effects. I later added up my scores and was surprised to find I'd shot 89 on both courses.
I would not recommend walking 36 holes to anyone but the most fit of individuals. Like, you're competing in the IronMan triathlon and find Crossfit too easy.
I would recommend that if you're coming to Bandon, you try to schedule enough time to stay 3-4 days to play at least 2-3 courses. It's worth it.
Many thanks to tequila4kapp, aka Frank, who gave me outstanding advice, whether I listened or not.
A few pictures follow. Most are of Bandon as unfortunately my phone died on about hole 4 of Pacific.
My caddy on number 1 (the guy on the right. The girl to the left was only a couple years older but dwarfed him):
I think the ones that follow are of Pacific:
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