Bandon Dunes thoughts

[Jim Tang]

Make sure to play each course at least twice. There is an awful lot to absorb during each round.  Bandon is as magical as everyone here makes it out to be.

[John Cowden]

My regular advice to anyone making the trip for the first time--just give yourself enough time to play all the courses.  Once you've made the trip, make sure you embrace it fully.  If it's taken this long to get to Bandon, make sure you leave knowing the offerings.


My list might surprise a few on here:  I love them all, and I love the resort.  Bandon Dunes in 1999 changed my world view entirely and forever. After 75+ rounds, it remains a favorite, tied with PD and BT, depending.  Every visit is different, and each is special.  I'll play seven rounds my next trip in January:  2 BD, 2 PD, 2 BT, 1 OM.  Want my over/under on rain?  My last 48 January rounds over seven years have had a total of three holes of rain.  Please do the odds.  Plus, our expenses are a fraction of your windblown summers. 


Kemper, I hereby receive a 3% credit for all winter bookings over the 2011 average. 


Bandon is East Lothian, Fife and Nova Scotia in one place.  It's that special.


Cheers.

[Pete_Pittock]

The beauty of Bandon is that each course tests a different discipline and course management practice. In order of age, Bandon Dunes presents a fairly straight forward resort course, where the ball roll is usually straight. Pacific Dunes is a combination of strategy, quirk and recovery. Bandon Trails is a members course with consistent slope, where multiple plays will have the greatest reward for how to play a hole. Old Macdonald tests the long game best of the four. Mix at your leisure. The Preserve is a short iron treat.  The Punchbowl is best enjoyed after a spiked punchbowl, and is worth a trip from Portland all by itself.

[Jim Nugent]

Here is how GCA members ranked the Bandon courses in those unofficial world ratings from 2009, based on the raw numbers.  Old Mac hadn't opened and is not included: 

1.  Pac Dunes (ave score 9.3.  Tied for 10th with Royal Dornoch)

2.  Bandon Trails (ave score 7.8.   Tied for 54th with LACC North, Portmarnock, Kingsley and seven others)

3.  Bandon Dunes (ave score 7.7.  Tied for 76th with Southern Hills, Kingsbarns and three others)

[John Cowden]

Well said, Pete.  I don't necessarily agree wholeheartedly, but your points are concise and well made. 


Bandon with gorse and fescue that defined the  routing was very special, and a helluva challenge.  The three foot high fescue was an automatic unplayable, if you found your ball.  A very special routing and course.[size=78%]  I miss it, but I try to play the course today the way it was designed to be played, e.g., no shortcuts, such as on 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, especially 14 and 17, and, to a lesser degree, 18.   [/size]
[/size]
[/size][size=78%]We miss David's design, Mike.  Can we try it again, briefly, and just stoke your marshall's to keep things moving?  [/size]


[/size]Cheers. [size=78%]
[/size]

[Carson Pilcher]

Gentlemen,


Thank you for all of the great suggestions.  I am excited beyond belief.  From your suggestions, I will change my Bandon Trails "opener" to Bandon Dunes to start it off where it all started.  I will then add Trails to end of the trip after Dunes the last day.


Now, I have to start working out so I can handle walking 36 a day for 4 days straight!!!

[Terry Lavin]

Gentlemen,


Thank you for all of the great suggestions.  I am excited beyond belief.  From your suggestions, I will change my Bandon Trails "opener" to Bandon Dunes to start it off where it all started.  I will then add Trails to end of the trip after Dunes the last day.


Now, I have to start working out so I can handle walking 36 a day for 4 days straight!!!

Another tip: After you've played Bandon Dunes on the first day, only replay it in the afternoon, in case your back gets the best of you.  It has returning nines at the Lodge, so it's an easy 27 if 36 ain't gonna happen.  This M/O has saved me on a few occasions.

[John Kavanaugh]

Gentlemen,


Thank you for all of the great suggestions.  I am excited beyond belief.  From your suggestions, I will change my Bandon Trails "opener" to Bandon Dunes to start it off where it all started.  I will then add Trails to end of the trip after Dunes the last day.


Now, I have to start working out so I can handle walking 36 a day for 4 days straight!!!

After my first trip where I spent as much on caddies as golf I trained for my next trip by walking on a treadmill with my bag.  What is your caddie budget because you can find better things to blow $600 to $800?


Really?!?, these are resort courses designed for smooth unencumbered play, what good is a caddie?

[archie_struthers]

 




Had some friends that recently played all the courses against the Bandon loopers . They got dusted but had a great time.


Surprisingly many liked the first course , Bandon Dunes , even more than their highly rated brethren .

[Peter Pallotta]

Pete P - thanks. Reading yet another thread on Bandon (not a criticism, Carson, I never get tired of them), I found myself wondering this time about exactly what your post so nicely answered. From your post and many others I've read, I've come to think of Dunes as Golf-In the Modern Style; Pacific as The Renaissance-Its Seaside Epitome; Trails as The Quiet Perennial-A Classic Journey; and Old Macdonald as The Founder-Principled Grandeur.

[Bill_McBride]

Pete P - thanks. Reading yet another thread on Bandon (not a criticism, Carson, I never get tired of them), I found myself wondering this time about exactly what your post so nicely answered. From your post and many others I've read, I've come to think of Dunes as Golf-In the Modern Style; Pacific as The Renaissance-Its Seaside Epitome; Trails as The Quiet Perennial-A Classic Journey; and Old Macdonald as The Founder-Manufactured Grandeur.

Brandon Trails is very much in the classic journey style.  Start into the dunes, up into a meadow-like environment, into the woods and hillside, finish back in the dunes.  Very much in the style of Cypress Point if not as elegantly presented. 

[William_G]

Carson,

If the Sheep Ranch is open you should consider that as well.

The conditions will likely be different every day, and as well as morning to afternoon.

 

[JLahrman]

My first visit I thought Bandon Dunes was my least favorite by far. After my second visit, I still think it's my least favorite but the gap is certainly a lot less than what I thought it was after my first visit.

Trails might be my favorite. Or maybe not.

No need to rank them, they're all great in different ways.

I wish I were heading there tomorrow.

[Sean Leary]

I would play them in the order that they were built if I were recommending a first time visit, all things being equal. 

[John Kavanaugh]

If I were to whisper into the ear of my wife for only her to hear I would tell her Bandon Dunes is my favorite. Of course I'd never tell you guys that. Like anyone would believe me.

[John Cowden]

I believe you, JK.  It's a very special course. 

[JLahrman]

I love Bandon Dunes. The weak spots on the course are more noticeable than any of the other three courses, but the good stuff is just as good IMHO. Several of the holes seemed much better to me on my second playing than my first. And while having 9 return to the clubhouse makes a few of the holes feel forced, it makes it the easiest to do a small extra loop of holes, particularly with its location next to the main lodge. After a 36 hole day, one of my brothers snuck back out onto BD to play 10-14-15-16-17-18. Great way to end the day.

[Scott Weersing]

Some suggestions:


Play all 4 courses and all par 3 courses and the punchbowl.  This is beyond discussion.  All are great and deserve to be played.
Don't eat at The Gallery.  Eat at Tufted Puffin, Pacific Grille and McKee's.
Play Old Macdonald in the morning when there is less wind (as the wind is crazy on that course). 
Play Bandon Trails in the afternoon when there is more wind (as it is somewhat more sheltered from the wind than the other courses)
Play Pacific Dunes and Bandon Dunes whenever, but at least one afternoon as they are great at sunset.
Take caddies.  I had Harry Lusk on each of my loops and he was very good.
Enjoy every minute as it is heaven on earth.

I would concur that you should try to play each course in the am and in the pm. They look and play different each time of the day.


My favorite memories are coming up 18 at Pacific Dunes late in the day, or using the lights of the lodge as a guide while playing no. 18 at Bandon Dunes. And one day we played Trails and almost got lost going from no. 13 to no. 16 in the dark.

[John Kavanaugh]

I feel like I was there.  Two questions: What are the weak holes at Bandon Dunes, and; What benefits do caddies provide beyond the physical?

[JLahrman]

I feel like I was there.  Two questions: What are the weak holes at Bandon Dunes

For me personally, #8 and #9 are not particularly interesting. #2 and #15 I do not care for.

Holes that I thought were much better after my second trip to Bandon compared to my first:
#12 - I don't remember it being memorable my first trip, but I really liked it my second
#13 - My first trip I wasn't sure that all the fairway rumples were enough to make it an engaging hole. My second trip I concluded that they are. But I agree with those who feel the wetland is out of place on the hole.
#14 - Perhaps because I took completely different lines (unintentionally) during my second trip, I found the hole to be a lot more interesting than I previously thought.
#17 and #18 - not the strongest holes on the course, but were better than I remembered.

[Pete_Pittock]

JLahrman
#13 - My first trip I wasn't sure that all the fairway rumples were enough to make it an engaging hole. My second trip I concluded that they are. But I agree with those who feel the wetland is out of place on the hole.

Since wetlands cannot be moved or filled in (darn government) what is your solution for #13?

[JLahrman]

JLahrman
#13 - My first trip I wasn't sure that all the fairway rumples were enough to make it an engaging hole. My second trip I concluded that they are. But I agree with those who feel the wetland is out of place on the hole.

Since wetlands cannot be moved or filled in (darn government) what is your solution for #13?

Doesn't need a solution. I'm not advocating changing it, just noting that it's an incongruous feature.

[Alex Miller]

While strategically sound I've found #11 uninspiring in my 5-6 plays of BD.

[John Cowden]

Interesting point about the wetlands.  I certainly agree it seemed a bit incongruous at first, but given that it's entirely natural, I've come to appreciate it while doing my damn best to avoid it.  I'm just glad it's on the left side of the fairway and not the right. 


But consider Portmarnock Golf Course, not the [newer] Links.  It has several wide, low spots in the rough throughout the course, mostly on the front side, as I recall, and they must, in fact, be wetlands as they each had a life ring nearby.  I played there last September; there was no real water in the one or two I checked out, but I suppose there must be at times.

[John Kavanaugh]

I don't recall the wetlands in question but they can't be worse than the pond on Trails.