Bandon Dunes Review

So, I booked a trip to Bandon back in February of 2023. Over 600 days later, we finally got to go to golf heaven. Here's a recap for anyone interested in going. Overall spoiler...it was as epic of a trip as I had hoped for.

We left on Friday the 11th and flew into Portland. There are closer airports but the flight schedules worked out best since we had a few La guys and Memphis guys going. Also, we went early because we hit up the Oregon/Ohio St football game since Eugene was on the way to Bandon. Overall, the trip couldn't have started much better.

Drive into Bandon on Sunday morning. The drive was really gorgeous. Check in was as easy as possible. Shoe (the longtime greeter) welcomed us and showed us where all of the ShipSticks shipments were. They were all lined up ready for us to grab. We hung out at the Main Lodge (where some rooms, The Gallery, McKee's Pub, OG Bandon Dunes course, etc was). Walked around and just soaked it all in.

We grabbed our clubs and drove over to our rooms at Lily Pond. The shuttle service was incredible. Just call and 3-5 mins later, your shuttle pulls up to wherever you are. The staff everywhere was just as friendly and nice as you could be.

Went over to the main practice area before heading to Shorty's - the newest 19 hole short course. It was a really cool stroll through some nice property. Wild greens that were still so very young - firm, bumpy, patchy. If I came back to Bandon and had some time to kill, I might consider playing this again but I think I'd just hang out at The Punchbowl. We went over to The Punchbowl before dinner. What a cool arse putting course. 36 holes. Think wild putt putt golf with no guard rails. Holes placed on top of volcano-like mounds, quadruple breakers, 3" putts that roll 30'. Just a really fun thing to do to kill some time and have a few drinks. Lots of shouting and laughing from other groups. A must do.

Dinner that night was at Ghost Tree Grill. It's the newest steakhouse at the 18th hole of Old Macdonald. Absolutely delicious food. Really nice vibe and atmosphere inside.

Monday a.m - played The Preserve, the 13 hole par 3 course. Mature, gorgeous, unreal views of the property. Would absolutely play here again. Loved it. We played at 8am so there was a slight fog that broke when the sun came out and unveiled the amazing property. You could certainly understand why Bandon was built here at this point. Highly recommend playing. Yardages ranged from 75-175 so there were some nice challenges.

Monday p.m. - Bandon Dunes. We played the main 5 courses with caddies. Certainly your call whether or not to hire caddies but since it was our first trip there, they were invaluable. Temps for the whole trip ranged from about 45 in the early mornings to high 50s/low 60s. So the afternoon loop at BD was perfect weather wise. I picked the afternoon to play this one so we could see the sunset was we hit the coastline for the few holes in the middle of the back 9. It was everything I had read about...tough sand dunes to navigate, properly placed bunkers, and some tough greens. Hit the ball well and there are ample opportunities to score well. Not overly long but there are some monster par 3s from the tips. I think I had 3 of the 4 over 215. We finished up that round and walked over to McKee's Pub and had dinner. Really vibrant scene. Sports on everywhere. Lots of golf stories being told be the crowd in there. Food was good.

Tuesday morning - early morning tee time at Sheep Ranch. It's at the northernmost end of the property. This is the one course that has it's own driving range so we were able to hit some balls prior to heading out. The fog was the story on the day. 10 mins before our 8:30/8:40 tee times, it rolled in and was unrelenting all day. Winds were calm, skies were overcast. Nothing could break it. I would love to tell you how much I enjoyed the sights of Sheep Ranch. I think the course was pretty cool...what I could see of it. There were times where you couldn't see more than 10-15 yards in front of you. Again, having never played there, the caddies were a massive help. Only real complaint about SR was the condition of the greens. They lost them a couple of yeas ago and it's just hit or miss on them. Bumpy, patchy, really firm and because of the marine layer, they were full of top-level moisture so approach shots were skipping. Being that we were guessing on distances on almost every hole, it was a challenge. But there was something really cool about having that fog just lay over the course. Overall, I'll give it an incomplete rating because I really don't know how much I enjoyed it besides the uniqueness of playing a links course with no sand bunkers, loud roaring waves crashing against the coast, and a heavy fog. As we strolled up 18 fairway, the fog finally broke. So it was cool to be able to look around and see what we had just played. Pro tip...get the pastrami sandwich at the SR clubhouse. It was awesome.

We hauled tail to get to our next tee time at Old Macdonald. Old Mac was the course that routinely sits at 4 or 5 in everyone's rankings. Not mine. I thought it was incredible. Old Mac was designed by Tom Doak and he paid homage to CB Macdonald with the course design as every hole was a hat tip to features of holes all over the world. The course starts inland and heads out over the dunes on number 3. The tee shot at 3 has to carry a massive dune - it's completely blind save for this giant Ghost Tree which is the logo for Old Mac. Once over that dune, you stay out for about 12-13 more holes. The course runs next to Pacific Dunes and makes its way to the coast. There are some absolutely special holes and I thought the level of shotmaking required here was much different. Again, having caddies was imperative because lines taken would've been much different had we not had them guiding us. The greens were enormous which presented a challenge as well. There were blind shots, shots up massive dunes, shots from the tops of the dunes to greens perched below, elevated tee shots, giant par 4s...I think we ended up with about 5-6 tournament tees so it was well over 7,000 yards from the back. Fog was a problem for about half the round but still, what we got to experience and see - I thought it was incredible.

Tuesday morning - Bandon Trails. This was the day I was most looking forward to as I had heard so much good stuff about Trails and Pac Dunes. Trails was absolutely stunning. Coore and Crenshaw did Trails (and Sheep Ranch). This course has it all. Starting in the dunes and then weaving into the forest, it was perfectly manicured and as challenging as you could ask for. Some blind shots, short and very long par 3s, a couple of drivable par 4s from the tips (with lots of risk if you missed), elevation changes. Just an awesome, awesome golf course. The only downside...they punched the greens the day before we played. Had no idea. They did give us a 25% discount on the round so that was helpful. Another course over 7,000 yards from the tips so it was a brute. But it was right there at the top for me in terms of courses we played.

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