As many of you know I live about 3 hours from the Bandon Dunes Resort. This is one of my very favorite places in the world, so I figure that while my family was still away visiting my in-laws I would get an impromptu day and a half of golf in down there. My goal was to get a round in at the new 13 hole Par 3 course, Bandon Preserve, and a round at Bandon Trails and then hopefully to play the remain 3 courses, Pacific Dunes, Old MacDonald and Bandon Dunes on Saturday. I figured this was a reasonable goal and since I had the second tee time of the day (7:10) on Saturday, I also figured it would be doable with the day light (sunset was at 7:45pm). I arrived at the resort at 3:30pm, after a half day of work. I got out first on Bandon Preserve (I will have a separate thread reviewing the courses), but this course is just pure fun. I then went over to Bandon Trails at 5pm and played a great round there.
I started the day early at Pacific Dunes and had a very enjoyable round, played at a leisurely pace (3:50). It was as fast as we could go since we had a group in front of us and I had a blast playing with the husband and wife group I was paired with. I headed directly over to Old MacDonald and went out on my own at 11:25. I caught up with the group ahead of me and we joined up at the 8th hole and I played one of the best rounds of my life, tying my PB that I set on the same course back in Dec. We finished that round at 3:45, so it was a very relaxed pace. When I was planning the day I figured that I needed to tee off on my last round around 4pm to get the full 54 holes in, so even with the leisurely paces of the previous two rounds, I was still right on track. The starter at Bandon Dunes said that the course was pretty open, but that I would eventually run into a log jam. I teed off exactly a 4pm and didn't run into anyone until the 9th hole. It took me just over an hour to play that nine and I was not looking forward to having to wait 5 minutes for each shot on the back nine. I had an idea, I decided to see what things looked like at Bandon Trails. Trails always gets the least amount of play of the 4 main courses. They told me that the last group teed off at 2:50, so it was wide open. So off I went and teed off at 5:20. I told the starter that I planned to finish the round, he seemed doubtful, but I was determined. I was playing well and hitting things pretty dang straight, so I knew I was going to finish and started to get the idea in my head that I might be able to go back to Bandon Dunes and finish the back nine as well. I finished my round at Bandon Trails in 1:50. It was 7:10 and I decided I was going to do it. I headed over to Bandon Dunes and the starter saw me and knew what I was attempting to do and just pointed to the 10th tee. I teed of after 7:15 and had just under 30 minutes before sunset and I figured that with the heavy cloud cover, I had 50 minutes tops before I ran out of sunlight. My left knee was just screaming at this point and I was dead tired, but I was going to really try and do this thing. After hole 12, I really didn't think I had enough time or enough energy to finish. But I went and teed off on 13 and the marshall came and met me. He said there was no way that I was going to do finish. I told him I was going to give it all I had and started running again. Having him tell me I couldn't do it totally fired me up and gave me a second wind. When I got to #16 (one of my favorite holes) I hit the ball right at the green and I knew that with that ball being in play, I might just do this. It turned out I had just out drove the green. I pitched the ball and made my birdie and off I was to 17. Hit two great shots and made my par. It was getting pretty dark at this point and I knew I had to get my tee shot in play to have any chance of finishing. I hit one of the best tee shots of my life into this finishing par 5. I laid up with a 4 iron, so I would be sure to find the ball and while I was standing around 150 from the pin, I took a deep breath as I could still see the green and knew that I was going to finish. I cooked my approach and pulled it, but I have never been so happy to hit a bad shot. I pitched my ball on and two putted as the last remnants of daylight ebbed away. I had just played 36 holes in under 4 hours and had done something that few people have done by playing all 4 golf courses at Bandon Dunes in a single day.
It was crazy, but this was something I had always thought about doing, and now as I sit here totally sore and exhausted, I am so happy I did.