TempoTown

How are you guys handling the lottery? Just having all 40 guys enter? Or once your group gets big enough, can you call in for certain group pricing / tee times?

We only saw the tees messed up on Bandon, with the black nets all over the place in certain collection areas in the fairway. The course still played to its full length. It's just that the front 9 was similar to a Green/Gold combo tee set, while the back 9 was Green/Black.

I'm a 10 handicap so take it for what it's worth in terms of my ability to notice greens, but I thought they were all excellent except Sheep. We played that first thing out in the morning and the greens were still pretty bumpy. The only challenging thing we dealt with course-wise was they have a championship coming up at Bandon so all the tee boxes were screwed up (e.g. we had to use the alternate tee on 2, while all of the tee boxes were moved up on the front 9 and back on the back 9). Playing into 2 from that alternate tee box with the wind was fun though. I had to take a driver...

Absolutely. Most of my complaints are more how the influx of these super large groups / corporate outings are, in my opinion, what has forced them to go to a lottery that is very difficult to get into, which saddens me as someone who can't wait to return. But if you somehow luck out in the lottery - you should do everything in your power to get the dates to work out and head out there. It is absolutely special and hands down the best piece of golfing property in the country.

One other story I forgot to tell. My caddy was talking about a guy he had a couple of weeks ago who was part of a group. He said he usually asks guys what they're playing to handicap-wise, just so he gets a sense of their ability, along with understanding misses, strengths/weaknesses, etc. The guy responded that he doesn't golf. The caddy said "oh, so you don't have a handicap because you don't play enough?" The guy responded "no, this is my first time golfing." So yeah - can anyone imagine that type of story happening at Bandon pre 2020 unless it was a local who just got dragged along for the views? You hear of corporations bringing a big group of people for ski trips and other outings. Expect that Bandon is now that place as well going forward, and they will absolutely get tee times prior to you entering the lottery system.

What is the going rate for some of these big social media guys these days? 200 a bag? Or is it even more than that given demand lately?

I'll just note I did see the drunkest caddie of my life in my last trip. We noted it fairly early in the round, but we caught up to them on 17 at Pac. He was so drunk he did the following from what we saw through 18: - Slapped his player right in the butt after a tee shot - Called the entire group "a bunch of re****s" back to us who were waiting on the tee box - Carried the bags so tilted down that slope on 17 that half the clubs were about to fall out (and may have once he came out of sight down the hill) - Slurred his words so badly it was hard to fully understand what he was saying - Lost a player's headcover somewhere on 18, of which the player forced him to go back out and find it in the dark after the round was done (we finished right around sunset) I cannot imagine what the rest of the round was like. I've seen some guys out there who definitely looked on some sort of substance, but this was probably the drunkest I've seen anyone on a golf course, including golfers at charity scrambles.

Totally agree from a business perspective. Clearly this is better for them. Just sucks as your average group of 4 guys that a trip to Bandon may be off the table now going forward because of this. We are coming from the east coast so we need to get good tee times and dates for it to make sense.

I certainly agree that large groups are more prevalent than they were in the past at all large resorts. And clearly if it’s easy for us to go back to Bandon, I’ll be back as many times as my health allows. My broader point with the bigger groups is that at Bandon, because of the lottery, your average 4some is now at a disadvantage to large groups that are either getting preferential treatment through group/corporate bookings, or they have many times more shot at the lottery. A group of 40 guys has 10 times the chances I do to get a great seed in the lottery than I do as 4 guys. They just need one of those 40 names picked in order to book all of the guys. But my guess is they can call up some number at Bandon and get a big block of tee times anyway if they have some hookup. It’s the same thing all these social media guys get. Put more broadly, I think Bandon has more “VIP” or “Corporate” blocks than they had historically. Plus, demand is higher, so with the two combined, it’s very hard for your average guy to get out there. This isssue in general doesn’t exist at other resorts you mentioned. I can get on at Pinehurst, Kohler, etc. without entering a lottery where I need to worry about gaming the system. And finally - agree on prices. My guess is the real cost of Bandon is probably 50% more than they charge until they build enough lodging to cover tee times on the courses. They’ve effectively limited supply through that manner.

We just got back from our second trip at Bandon. We were lucky in that we were the last big block of non-lottery reservations, so I was able to call the morning the tee times opened and get our preferred dates, courses, and times. With the new system, I don't know that we will realistically be back which makes me sad. I still do not understand how a lottery system is more fair than call when the tee times are opening. It smells ripe for bots and other gaming systems. I know Bandon says they have a way to protect against that, but so does Bethpage and we know that's not true. I think all we can do is keep complaining every chance you get in those surveys. I had a couple of experiences I wanted to relay that echoes some of the vibes in this thread that the resort has gotten very corporate. First, I could not believe the amount of people introducing themselves to each other throughout the resort as part of the same group. It's clear that very large groups are being booked where 75% of the people don't know each other, which ruins the vibe of a "buddies trip" type place. On the range one morning, we got there, and there was legitimately 50+ bags all together with guys hanging out and acting like they owned the entire place. My last anecdote is what sold me though - we booked a 3:30 tee time on Bandon as a replay round. Note again I was probably one of the first callers into the system, and this timed nicely with our other round. Apparently, a group of at least 24 others guys booked around us. One guy who was clearly the leader of the group was losing it on the starter that we "split up" their group and that our time should have been moved to accommodate them. He then was demanding to know where he could lodge an official complaint. I think that could have been reasonable if, let's say, we had to move 10 minutes to accommodate their large group. But they had tee times at least 30 minutes in both directions on this, and this guy was livid about us ruining the experience. It shows to me the entitlement some folks have showing up to Bandon where they expect a group of 4 guys who booked before them to be moved to a tee time that frankly might not even finish with how slow that course can get in the afternoons. I can't help but wonder if Bandon is going to become a place where 75% of tee times are through preferential treatment going forward, with the other 25% of us trying to have normal groups being left out in the cold. It's a shame because I still loved it as much as I did the first time, if not more. The place is special, the courses are great, and the food has seemed to improve.