Bandon Dunes/Bandon Trails/Pacific Dunes

[Cory]

I am going to be in Bandon this summer and would like to take a day go play one of the great courses at Bandon.  Which one of these courses would you suggest to play?  I am about a 15 handicapper.  

[Tom Huckaby]

Cory - are you sure you can only play one of them?  Summer means a lot of daylight, and 2nd round of the day rates are pretty decent....

Assuming it is only one round, well it's hard to believe you wouldn't have the most fun at Pacific Dunes.  It's also the highest rated by every ranking, so it will impress the friends back home the most.

As a 15, you won't be killed, far from it - low cappers seem to suffer more there as it's kinda short but very tricky - they don't score as well as they feel they should - which to me is a good thing.  You won't lose many if any golf balls, and the trickiness won't hurt your score as much as the low 'capper I have to believe.

Bandon Dunes is a tougher golf course just based on pure length and difficulty... Bandon Trails is the tweener.

All are great.  You won't be disappointed no matter which you play.

BUT... do you have a tee-time?  Last I heard all of summer 2007 was booked long ago at all three courses.....

[George Pazin]

Huck, does that mean a single can't realistically ever get in at the last second?

Cory, whatever you play, please share your thoughts.

[Tom Huckaby]

Huck, does that mean a single can't realistically ever get in at the last second?

Cory, whatever you play, please share your thoughts.

George - I don't know - the place is just pretty remote and to me seems a long way to go to hope for a teetime.  I'd want mine planned before I made the commitment.  But hell, odds are any given day a single can get on.... I just was told awhile back that all of 2007 was booked on weekends from March on, and most weekdays as well.  And that was around summer 2006 when I asked.

TH

[peter_p]

You should be able to get on as a single, even as a walk-on, if you coordinate through the Bandon Dunes pro shop for all three courses. But how do you just happen to be in Bandon?

[Tom Huckaby]

You should be able to get on as a single, even as a walk-on, if you coordinate through the Bandon Dunes pro shop for all three courses. But how do you just happen to be in Bandon?

That was my point for the most part.  Even living in the great state of Oregon very few just happen to be there, right Peter?

Thus one would want to plan ahead... and well....

[John Kavanaugh]

Assuming it is only one round, well it's hard to believe you wouldn't have the most fun at Pacific Dunes.  It's also the highest rated by every ranking, so it will impress the friends back home the most.

Sorry, but that is not true.  Me, Brad Klein and John Kirk just to name a few have said in print that we think Bandon Trails is the best course.  My advice though for a 15 handicap would be to play Bandon Dunes first if it is your only round.  A tee time for a single is easy to get.

[Stan Dodd]

They are very busy but I think a single can find a spot, maybe not the course you might want.
   The pacific grove golf Team will be taking thier trip to Bandon this April and we were given times at all three course.  The principal will again have to chaperone this trip.  It is tough work but somebody has to do it.

[Tom Huckaby]

John:

I have no doubt that many people find other courses superior to Pacific Dunes.  I have several friends who swear by Bandon Dunes.

I guess I should have inserted the word "magazine."  That is, every magazine ranking has Pacific as better.  If one is into impressing the boys back home, I have to believe those are more valid than the thoughts of any individual, even one so mighty as you.

And are you sure a tee time for a single is easy to get?  I am not making up what I posted already... they did tell me all summer was fully booked at all three courses quite awhile ago....

In any case, outside of our sniping - which is getting boring, btw - why do you think BD would be better for a 15?  My feeling is he'd have more fun at PD, as it is a shorter course with generally less trouble....

TH

[Eric Olsen]

For a 15 handicapper, I would say that BT is definitely the most difficult.  I think BD is harder than PD, but it is generally more open than PD.  My guess is that late afternoon is the best option for a tee time, as you can tee off at 330 or 4  (or later) and get a round in...great sunset light

[rjsimper]

You guys really think PD is easier than BD?

[Kalen Braley]

A buddy and I made an impromptu trip to PacDunes last October and we got a tee time only a day in advance.  Sure this isn't prime summer month golfing, but it can be done.

As far as which one to play, you can't go wrong with any of them.  BD and PD have several holes along the cliff with great ocean views and BT is played inland amongst the trees and high dunes.  But they are all amazing.

Just visiting the resort was akin to a religious experience for me.  It really is all about the golf and not much more at Bandon Resort

[Dan Herrmann]

I'd do Pacific Dunes, Bandon Dunes, and Trails in that order.

When I was there in August of '05, afternoon tee times were readily available.  Of course, it gets darn windy in the summer afternoons.

[Tom Huckaby]

Kalen - October isn't summer, and last year is different than this year also.  As time goes on these courses get more popular, not less.  Perhaps I am being overly pessimistic for a single, but I know what I was told.

Now regarding:

You guys really think PD is easier than BD?

I think for a 15 handicapper PD will be easier.  BD is longer and I do think there are more places to lose a golf ball or suffer serious penalties (ie deeper straight-walled bunkers).  In any case it's not night and day or anything, and the numbers bear it out.

BD: 73.9, 142, 6732 tips
      71.1, 133, 6221 greens

PD: 72.6, 138, 6633 tips
      70.3, 134, 6142 greens

So not a huge difference, but enough, even with PD being par 71.

Main thing is I believe the 15 will have slightly more fun at PD - there are more chances for him to have success and less on which to suffer disasters.

Note I also believe it's a different equation for the low capper.  Unless he has a mindset for the whimsical, he'll get more frustrated on PD - which I have to believe is part of Doak's intent - perhaps not to frustrate, but to confuse the low capper.

TH

[peter_p]

Cory,
The challenge is to get on any of them without a reservation.
Checking the previous day may either get you a time, or give you the best insight on how to proceed for your play date.

Not all fifteens are alike, I've played with some who are short and straight, others long and wild, some good with no touch.
Go to theor website and look at hole descriptions and you'll have a feeling for which course and which tees.

Tom,
Bandon Dunes is a lot more open as they widened corridors to speed play. On #10 you can even play right of the foregreen hillock without fear.

[Tom Huckaby]

Peter:

Thankfully I'll see for myself and/or get to refresh my memory in about a month.  

And I could well have it wrong.  In any case it's pretty darn close and this ought not to be the determining factor; I sure didn't intend it as such.

I do think the 15 will definitely have more fun on PD.   I wouldn't say that for all low handicappers - I know too many who find it "tricked up", "unfair", "rinky dink", "mickey mouse", etc.  Most 15s don't tend to care about such things.

But of course these are huge generalizations and you're right, the man ought to go on the website and review and see for himself.  He just did ask for opinions here.

 

[Kalen Braley]

Peter:

Thankfully I'll see for myself and/or get to refresh my memory in about a month.  

And I could well have it wrong.  In any case it's pretty darn close and this ought not to be the determining factor; I sure didn't intend it as such.

I do think the 15 will definitely have more fun on PD.   I wouldn't say that for all low handicappers - I know too many who find it "tricked up", "unfair", "rinky dink", "mickey mouse", etc.  Most 15s don't tend to care about such things.

But of course these are huge generalizations and you're right, the man ought to go on the website and review and see for himself.  He just did ask for opinions here.

 

Thats an interesting observation Tom,

I'm not sure which holes would be considered tricked up or mickey mouse?  Or are you just saying that would be thier assertion/blowing-it-off because they aren't able to score well? While the course does require a ton of thought process as you go around, I would think that low handicappers have indeed mastered the process of thinking thier way around the course and using "strategery"  

[peter_p]

My preference has Pacific Dunes over Bandon Dunes, but that is because I think I am a reincarnated Scot. The group I play with has some cursing PD as they walk off and after a beer or three change their song.
  For me it is too early to tell about Bandon Trails, I have only played it once. But I have a feeling it is really a member's course with its idiocincracies that are learned through time.
Pacific certainly has its own dilemmas, but most are self evident before you play (#6 green complex is an exception).
At Trails they appear to me to be much more subtle.
  If I could bring back Hogan, I think that Bandon Trails would best fit his game.  
 

[rjsimper]

Call 20-21 days before you want to go.  With the cancellation policy for golf being 21 days prior, you will find plenty of tee-time squatters relinquishing their times at the last possible moment.  (Guilty)

[Tom Huckaby]

Kalen:

Of course I have to guess at what these low 'cappers were thinking - it certainly wasn't me saying this.

But I gathered what they didn't like was a back nine with 4 par threes and three par fives; and holes like 6, 8, 16 that didn't actively reward bomb and gouge.  Yes, some low 'cappers like to think their way around a course and enjoy that and are good at it; but a lot also just want "tough but fair."  PD isn't a bastion of that... which I find to be a compliment.

TH

[John Kavanaugh]

In any case, outside of our sniping - which is getting boring, btw - why do you think BD would be better for a 15?  My feeling is he'd have more fun at PD, as it is a shorter course with generally less trouble....

TH

Huck,

You have made 46 posts so far today and you say I'm getting boring.  

I simply think that given the location of Bandon Dunes to the main lodge it is a more pleasant experience for the drive up golfer. I also think the bunkering and setting is more attractive than Pacific Dunes.  Plus when you are done it is easier to get a bite to eat, maybe a trinket or two and be on your way.   I love the atmostphere around the Bandon Dunes clubhouse...I do hear though that they are improving that situation at Pacific.

[Kalen Braley]

Kalen:

Of course I have to guess at what these low 'cappers were thinking - it certainly wasn't me saying this.

But I gathered what they didn't like was a back nine with 4 par threes and three par fives; and holes like 6, 8, 16 that didn't actively reward bomb and gouge.  Yes, some low 'cappers like to think their way around a course and enjoy that and are good at it; but a lot also just want "tough but fair."  PD isn't a bastion of that... which I find to be a compliment.

TH

Well I thought I read on here that you were anywhere from a 0-6 depending on if the putts were falling?  As a 13 myself, thats a low handicapper.

In my experience with low handicappers, they tend to not only be a bit more intense on the golf course, but also tend to hit thier drives a lot longer and straighter than me.   Thankfully I've only played with one who claimed to regularly play in the mid 70s yet had no problem giving himself improved lies in the fairway.

[Tom Huckaby]

JK:

I never said YOU were boring - oh good lord you could never be that - I said our sniping was getting boring.  And it is, to me.  The fact you are now counting my posts kinda proves this.

In any case I still think the golfer will generally have more fun at PD, especially the 15 handicap.  I find the setting to be a wash between the two - they're both pretty great and hell they're adjacent, so it's kinda hard to separate them.  Re the clubhouses, heck they're 1/2 mile apart so it's not like he can't stop into the bigger Bandon version either before or after a round at Pacific if that's what he wants; and depending on one's tastes, one might prefer the informal "porch" at Pacific to the formal lodge at Bandon... I know you've come out against this, but your view might not be universal.  As for the bunkering, it would depend on what one is into; for a typical US golfer both courses are very different than their normal fare.  I just do believe the hazards are a little more prevalent and difficult to escape on BD (for the 15), thus he might have a little more fun playing the PD course.  The rest to me is a wash, especially given he's just there for one round.

TH

[Tom Huckaby]

Kalen - I never said I was from a 0-6; Jordan said that.  I tend to know the HUGE difference between a 0 and a 6 myself.  My handicap has ranged from a low of 2 to a high of 7 over the last 25 years.

So yes I am a low handicapper.  I just don't share the views of those I was with, and I've talked to, who criticize Pacific Dunes in that way.  I think it's a hell of a lot of fun and a great course in every conceivable way.  I don't go as far as others on here who say it's better than Pebble Beach, or who advise to split 10 rounds at the resort in a 10 for PD, 0 for the others manner, but I do think it is great for sure.

TH

[Sean Leary]

Kalen - I never said I was from a 0-6; Jordan said that.  

Getting harder and harder to tell you two apart. Easy mistake at this point..