Bandon vs. Scotland

[David_Tepper]

Interesting podcast with Ru Macdonald & Graylin Loomis discussing the pros and cons of a trip to Bandon vs. a trip to Scotland.

http://scottishgolfpodcast.com/episode-99/

[John Connolly]

Going to Bandon first is like skipping to the end of the movie.

[James Brown]

This is a serious question for east coasters who have never been to either.  I did 4 trips to the UK before Bandon.

[ward peyronnin]

Bandon is a great experience and the GOLF is a close enough match. However it is still a wholly American experience. The history, culture , and people of Scotland(UK) are many many additional layers. Not comparable in that sense.

[Mike Sweeney]

I did 4 trips to the UK before Bandon.

That seems like a reasonable ratio. I have not been to Bandon and I thought Old Macdonald would push me over the edge. It did not.

I live 20 minutes from JFK.

[David_Tepper]

Ward P. -

I don't know if you had a chance to actually listen to the podcast.  Graylin Loomis, who spent several years living in Scotland and recently visited Bandon for the 1st time, comes to the same conclusion that you do.

DT

[Tim_Weiman]

As nice as Bandon is, to me it is not close. Scotland far nicer. Ditto for Ireland and England.

[James Brown]

I did 4 trips to the UK before Bandon.

That seems like a reasonable ratio. I have not been to Bandon and I thought Old Macdonald would push me over the edge. It did not.

I live 20 minutes from JFK.

Bandon is totally worth a trip.  It's just not a substitute for the links courses of the U.K.  Good, just different. 

[William_G]

left hand drive, youthful, Manifest Destiny, Ring of Fire, the Pacific, 4 in 1 vs. right hand drive with lots of roundabouts, narrow roads, old universities, castles, pubs, Guinness and churches

 

[Brent Carlson]

Obviously the culture and experience is better in Scotland, but is the golf?  Golf alone having 4 courses of Bandon's quality in such close proximity is pretty darn incredible.

[David_Tepper]

Out of curiosity, has anyone actually listened to the podcast?

[Charles Lund]

I live in the Pacific NW near Seattle part of the year so Bandon is somewhat close part of the year.

I first went to Bandon in 2008 and played the three courses open then.  In 2009, I went to Ireland for five weeks.   In 2010 I went to Scotland for four weeks.  In 2011 in April I went back to Bandon for four nights and five days of golf.  That June I went to Ireland for two weeks.  The following year I went to Scotland for five nights and Ireland for three weeks.  In 2013, it was Ireland for two weeks.  The past two years I have done two trips a year to Ireland, spending six plus weeks each year.  This year I spent three weeks in June in Ireland and leave Monday for about ten days there and a week in Scotland.

Without my initial trip to Bandon, I would not have undertaken the extended trip to Ireland.  I ultimately found a club to join there.  I have played the best of the best and gravitated to a place where there were two good playing options and nice people.  I have come to understand craic.

I probably could have found a comparable experience in Scotland but think 16 years of Catholic schools with mostly Irish classmates is what draws me back to Ireland.

My time in Ireland has led to looking for side trips which combine Ireland and Scotland.  I will probably do a side trip to SW England next fall.

I'd agree that Bandon offers an amazing links experience, but I could not envision a two or three week trip there.  On the other hand, Ireland and Scotland offer a cross-cultural golf experience, with friendly people, and are suitable places to visit for extended periods.  I have come to enjoy lower tier courses,  which are fun and interesting.  The fact that many are community courses and , often built with donated labor which makes for a lot of quirkiness.

I admire Mike Keiser for his vision.  Having four courses ranked in Golf Magazine's top 20 public courses speaks to his vision and the talents of designers.  But my preference is for a long plane flight with a connection and a few weeks away, as opposed to a nine hour car ride or complicated fly and drive itinerary for three to five days of golf.

Charles Lund

[Keith Phillips]

100% agree with the consensus here.  Bandon may be the best pure 'contiguous' golf experience in the world...I've played and enjoyed the four courses very much.  Having said that, for those who live near a major eastern US airport, the totality of the experience of visiting Scotland/Ireland/England is beyond compare...non-stop evening flights landing early morning in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Belfast, Shannon, Manchester, Birmingham, London etc. and allowing access to dozens of historically significant courses...plus the pubs and culture and people...really a no-brainer.

[William_G]

Out of curiosity, has anyone actually listened to the podcast?

Thanks DT for sharing

I just did listen, and given that Graylyn did just 2.5 days  there without Old Mac, but did catch the Punch bowl speaks volumes about how his summary is that they are non-comparable, in that they are 2 different experiences

(I'm glad my comment above can stand without an edit LOL)

as Graylyn said it's the lucky ones who play both Bandon and the UK

life is good

[Sean_A]

Part of what makes Bandon a appealing place also makes it an unappealing place.  You get all the great golf packaged neatly for the user, but its a resort.  I am not quite at this stage in life where if I want to either settle into resort life or ignore resort life with an agenda of golf and more golf. Perhaps one day because Old Mac does pull hard at my this sounds like an ideal course strings.  But given the effort and expense required it is almost obligatory to spend the time to see the entire property even if hangin' out in a resort is not high on my list of things to do.




Ciao

[William_G]

Part of what makes Bandon a appealing place also makes it an unappealing place.  You get all the great golf packaged neatly for the user, but its a resort.  I am not quite at this stage in life where if I want to either settle into resort life or ignore resort life with an agenda of golf and more golf. Perhaps one day because Old Mac does pull hard at my this sounds like an ideal course strings.  But given the effort and expense required it is almost obligatory to spend the time to see the entire property even if hangin' out in a resort is not high on my list of things to do.




Ciao

don't be a idiot Sean, F there are golf buddies of mine who live in Eugene, Oregon or Portland, Oregon who have not been to Bandon, yet you are equating this as a nickel and dime issue as opposed o a passion issue, give us a break please

[K Rafkin]

Bandon is good enough that people are comparing it to an entire Country, so that should tell you everything you need to know about Bandon.


The four best courses at Bandon are better than the four best courses in fife, so theres that, but I really have a hard time comparing a small town in Southern Oregon (or really just a golf resort in southern Oregon) to an entire Country.  Maybe thats just me


Dont settle, visit both places.

[Andy Shulman]

Just listened and these guys nailed it.  Both are well worth experiencing.  Bandon is designed for total golf immersion, with second rounds 1/2 off the fairly expensive cost of the first round of the day and relatively little else in the way of must-do attractions nearby.  And, despite the suggestions to the contrary on the resort's website, you'd be very unlikely to have a non-golfing friend or significant other who's not a bird watcher tag along with you.  (While these last two points have been argued in other Bandon posts, I think they're generally true for 95+ percent of us and there was absolutely zero discussion during the podcast about visiting nearby lighthouses and beaches.  You go to Bandon to play golf and that's it.)


Scotland can be - and often is - all those same things, but it has much greater flexibility to mix golf and non-golf activities together.  And, there's the opportunity to immerse yourself in Scotting culture.  For those reasons, Scotland gets the nod from me and, in a few days, I'll have matched James with four Scotland visits to one Bandon.

[Mark Chaplin]

William G - Sean lives in the UK so the cost does come into it.

Couple of questions for Bandon experts, how do pairs of golfers get on? Are you paired up for golf and do you get lost amongst buddy groups of players?

Is the golf really that much better than four days at St Andrews playing the world's greatest course a couple of times plus the New and Jubilee?

[David Davis]

Personally, I love Bandon and being from Oregon that makes me biased perhaps. There is nothing even close to that experience in the US or in Europe. For a buddies trip it ticks all the boxes (well, except gambling and attractive women - that's Vegas) It's a trek, it's all about the golf, it's not culturally complicated, you don't have the jet lag which can heavily affect your golf and it will have those US centric comforts from food to hospitality and lodging that you are use to and comfortable with. The people are extremely friendly and you are likely to meet other fanatic golfers from all over the place. It's that good, it's the best golf resort in the world hands down.


Ironically I live overseas and have for half my life. I've been to Scotland every year for the past 10 years, also Ireland and also England. It's only an hour flight to Edinburgh or Glasgow and it costs less than a tank of gas to make the trip over. It's amazing there. I could easily live in North Berwick or St. Andrews and would be very happy there though I hate the dark winters here in Northern Europe so ideally I'd flee to OZ during that time.


It's hard to compare Bandon and Scotland and not realistic in my view. As already mentioned Bandon is just a great resort, vs an entire country of amazing links golf (I can do without Scotland's inland golf offering.)


What I would definitely say is that for Americans, the food is way better in Bandon (though more expensive). Also I would never consider taking a trip all the way to Europe for golf from the US unless you had a solid week to spend. Anything else simply is just not enough time given logistic complications with jet lag etc.


Bandon is just simply a special place and it's very modern. Scotland is going back in time, it's rough and "Golden Aged". Again not be compared.


In the end my final advice is 2-4 days a year in Bandon and 2 weeks min a year in Scotland.

[Sean_A]

Part of what makes Bandon a appealing place also makes it an unappealing place.  You get all the great golf packaged neatly for the user, but its a resort.  I am not quite at this stage in life where if I want to either settle into resort life or ignore resort life with an agenda of golf and more golf. Perhaps one day because Old Mac does pull hard at my this sounds like an ideal course strings.  But given the effort and expense required it is almost obligatory to spend the time to see the entire property even if hangin' out in a resort is not high on my list of things to do.




Ciao

don't be a idiot Sean, F there are golf buddies of mine who live in Eugene, Oregon or Portland, Oregon who have not been to Bandon, yet you are equating this as a nickel and dime issue as opposed o a passion issue, give us a break please

William G


I am not sure what the problem is.  For me, the one course I want to see is Old Mac, but given the nature of of getting to Bandon and the extremely high cost involved, I will feel like I need to spend plenty of time to see all the courses.  However, I don't really want to hang out in a golf resort for 4ish days because I don't want to play 36 or sun up to sun down golf everyday....I guess I just don't have the same passion for the game as you do. Its a catch22.  If the Bandon courses were centred around a lovely town I would already have the been there done that t-shirt.


Ciao

[Ian Andrew]

10 trips to UK
3 to Bandon ... so far

Go to Scotland ... and don't try to play only the biggest names.
Pick a spot - keep the driving down - and enjoy all of the lesser known courses too.
You'll be hooked.

I like Bandon ... but nothing compels me to return ... not like the UK

[Tom_Doak]

  If the Bandon courses were centred around a lovely town I would already have the been there done that t-shirt.

Actually, there is a lovely small town less than 10 minutes away.  You could stay there if you wanted, and just drive up to play the courses, although the green fees are higher for non-resort guests, to encourage you to stay on-site.

[K Rafkin]

We're still comparing a small resort with four courses in an unpopulated state to an entire country.  Am i the only one who sees this?


Of course there are more courses  to see in Scotland than in Bandon.


Of course you'd have a better time spending a month in Scotland than you would at Bandon.


Of course Scotland has more great courses than Bandon.


Of course Scotland has more culture than Bandon.


Scotland isn't a remote golf resort, its a Country.....

[Tom_Doak]

Bandon is good enough that people are comparing it to an entire Country, so that should tell you everything you need to know about Bandon.


The four best courses at Bandon are better than the four best courses in fife, so theres that, but I really have a hard time comparing a small town in Southern Oregon (or really just a golf resort in southern Oregon) to an entire Country.  Maybe thats just me


Dont settle, visit both places.

This is the best answer so far, from my perspective.


They are really different trips entirely.  No one flies from the US to Scotland for four days of intense golf.  If that was the comparison, Bandon would win.  But if you've got time to spend a week or ten days and see the countryside, and that appeals to you [or your significant other], than the calculus tips toward crossing the Atlantic.


Note this is also largely an East Coast bias centered argument.  Most of Bandon's business comes from the west, and the travel calculus [especially factoring in an 8-hour time change] is much different for those on the West Coast.