Random Bandon Thread

[VNutz]

19 hours ago, spud3 said:

I have my own bar...

Veteran move

[Edaw68]

1 hour ago, nycgolf529 said:

Are the course conditions starting to resemble last season when they had struggles? Or not that bad yet?

Not nearly that bad. BD#2 still has some remnants from last year, or maybe the same low spots. Other than that BD was fine, despite standing water on a lot of greens Wednesday. Trails has a couple spots on the edges of 13 (that green always has problems) but was in good shape green wise. Lots of repaired divots in the rollout areas of the fairways.

 

If the sun was out it would be the best I’ve seen in a few years.

[spud3]

+1 on Edaw's comments.  The courses are playing surprisingly well, given the amount of rain they have gotten here over the past couple weeks.  Except of course when the downpours don't stop and the greens turn into rivers, which there's nothing you can do about; just wait a few hours and they drain and you play on.  

 

PD today, and the wind was pretty heavy.  Spotty dense showers followed by drizzle with some breaks, but that course is just mean when the wind is up.  My push cart was starting to slide sideways on 13 green (one of the most exposed spots on property).  We were supposed to play Shorty's today in the afternoon, but only two of our six had the gumption to play, after a morning of a**-whuppin' courtesy of Mother Nature and Tom Doak, and the prospect of more of the same thing in the afternoon.

 

OM tomorrow morning, followed by SR if they haven't got the flags tied up. 

 

We've been pretty lucky the past few years with weather, so we were probably due for one of these.  Edaw commented that we usually get the start of Spring with our March trip, but this year we got the tail end of Winter.

 

 

Edited March 22 by spud3

[bird206]

23 minutes ago, spud3 said:

+1 on Edaw's comments.  The courses are playing surprisingly well, given the amount of rain they have gotten here over the past couple weeks.  Except of course when the downpours don't stop and the greens turn into rivers, which there's nothing you can do about; just wait a few hours and they drain and you play on.  

 

PD today, and the wind was pretty heavy.  Spotty dense showers followed by drizzle with some breaks, but that course is just mean when the wind is up.  My push cart was starting to slide sideways on 13 green (one of the most exposed spots on property).  We were supposed to play Shorty's today in the afternoon, but only two of our six had the gumption to play, after a morning of a**-whuppin' courtesy of Mother Nature and Tom Doak, and the prospect of more of the same thing in the afternoon.

 

OM tomorrow morning, followed by SR if they haven't got the flags tied up. 

 

We've been pretty lucky the past few years with weather, so we were probably due for one of these.  Edaw commented that we usually get the start of Spring with our March trip, but this year we got the tail end of Winter.

 

 

So you're saying usually around this time in March the weather has been good in your experience? I got reservations next year during this same time.

[Edaw68]

7 hours ago, bird206 said:

So you're saying usually around this time in March the weather has been good in your experience? I got reservations next year during this same time.

We’ve been doing mid march since before covid, and this is the wettest march week I’ve had. If I’ve experienced worse, it’s been December.

 

If I was a gambler I’d say the odds are good. (Pulls wedge out to lay up on 160 yard approach shot as the Wrxers boo)

[mallrat]

On 3/17/2025 at 2:21 PM, Aaf09001 said:

We have officially hit the one month away from our trip down the coast to Bandon. Going to be a long 30 days of praying for solid weather! We got 12 going down and will be an exhausting but incredible week:

Tuesday - Leave Seattle and play Gearhart, sleep in Newport

Wednesday - Bandon Crossings mid morning, head to resort for Preserve in the afternoon

Thursday - First group out at Bandon, followed by Old Mac in the afternoon and Shorty's in the evening

Friday - First group out at Pacific, followed by Trails in the afternoon

Saturday - First group out at Sheep, followed by Old Mac in the afternoon

Sunday - Bandon in the AM and start the drive back to Seattle

 

Trip has been booked since October of 2023, can't wait! Really pumped to check out Ghost Tree as that was not around during my last trip down in 2020.

IMO, in the future I would throw that Bandon Crossings in the middle for an afternoon. 18 with a cart in between multiple 36 days is a huge reprieve. Heck, caddies have said that you can even get them to meet you out there for a relaxing round. Had multiple caddies tell me they wish more people would do that instead of making the caddie drag them around for 4-5 days. 

[Aaf09001]

5 hours ago, mallrat said:

IMO, in the future I would throw that Bandon Crossings in the middle for an afternoon. 18 with a cart in between multiple 36 days is a huge reprieve. Heck, caddies have said that you can even get them to meet you out there for a relaxing round. Had multiple caddies tell me they wish more people would do that instead of making the caddie drag them around for 4-5 days. 

Ya for sure to that. I would imagine a nice summer day playing second round there would be great. Excited to check out Crossings for the first time when we head down. 

[Aaf09001]

22 hours ago, bird206 said:

So you're saying usually around this time in March the weather has been good in your experience? I got reservations next year during this same time.

We went in March 2020 and 2022 and of the 6 days on property between the two years we had no rain and 3 of the days in short sleeves with less than 10mph wind. It’s a crap shoot for sure but some golden days in March!

[imkirby34]

I'll be up there this coming Wed-Mon with rounds on Thu-Sun.  At this point, Sat may be the best day weather-wise and that'd be very good news as that's the day we're scheduled to play 36.  We'll just keep fingers crossed and hope for the best. 

[Aaf09001]

Can anyone confirm if the third round of the day is free if it is at Shorty's or the Preserve? I have been told different things by different people. Some claim the third round is free no matter where you play, some claim the discount or free round does not apply to the par 3's. 

We went to Bandon in 2020 and I am almost certain for our third round of the day at the Preserve it was free but can't quite remember.

[kkelway]

Third round at any course including those are free. 

[wtoomey]

From what I was told, the short courses can be the free round at the end of the day. 
 

However, if you play a short course at the beginning of the day, it will not count towards getting a replay rate for next round in your day. 

[imkirby34]

One of my buddies and I arrived on Wednesday, a day earlier than the scheduled arrival for the main group.  We were scheduled to play Shorty's and Bandon Dunes yesterday.  We showed up at Shorty's around 0715 and were let out without waiting.  There was one other player on the course, so it was clear sailing. 

 

It was breezy (maybe 20 mph gusts), #4 was closed, and there were sections of GUR.  The greens were a tad shaggy.  It was still a blast.  We finished just after our original 0845 tee time and that's when it also started sprinkling.

 

Our Bandon tee time was 1230, but we got it moved up to 1130.  Initially, it was raining lightly and the wind was still gusting to ~15 mph.  We had single join us and we behind a few foursomes.

 

After a few holes, it started gusting to at least 25 mph with stinging rain.  By the time we reached #7, we started seeing patches of standing water and mini rivers on the greens.  When we reached #10, it was clear some of the groups in front of us had stopped/paused as we no longer saw anyone in front of us.  No one was playing behind us.

 

Conditions continued to deteriorate and when we reached #15, it became epic.  The wind had already been gusting to what I'm guessing was at least 35 when the big rain drops came so instead of stinging, it was torrential for about 5 minutes.  

 

Then after teeing on 17, both the wind and rain stopped completely until we got to 18 tee.  While putting (trying to) on 18, the sun came out.

 

We finished in 3:35.  I've never played in such conditions and I can honestly say it was a blast and something I'll never forget.  We play Sheep Ranch this morning.

 

 

Edited March 28 by imkirby34

[kaschreiber]

4 hours ago, imkirby34 said:

One of my buddies and I arrived on Wednesday, a day earlier than the scheduled arrival for the main group.  We were scheduled to play Shorty's and Bandon Dunes yesterday.  We showed up at Shorty's around 0715 and were let out without waiting.  There was one other player on the course, so it was clear sailing. 

 

It was breezy (maybe 20 mph gusts), #4 was closed, and there were sections of GUR.  The greens were a tad shaggy.  It was still a blast.  We finished just after our original 0845 tee time and that's when it also started sprinkling.

 

Our Bandon tee time was 1230, but we got it moved up to 1130.  Initially, it was raining lightly and the wind was still gusting to ~15 mph.  We had single join us and we behind a few foursomes.

 

After a few holes, it started gusting to at least 25 mph with stinging rain.  By the time we reached #7, we started seeing patches of standing water and mini rivers on the greens.  When we reached #10, it was clear some of the groups in front of us had stopped/paused as we no longer saw anyone in front of us.  No one was playing behind us.

 

Conditions continued to deteriorate and when we reached #15, it became epic.  The wind had already been gusting to what I'm guessing was at least 35 when the big rain drops came so instead of stinging, it was torrential for about 5 minutes.  

 

Then after teeing on 17, both the wind and rain stopped completely until we got to 18 tee.  While putting (trying to) on 18, the sun came out.

 

We finished in 3:35.  I've never played in such conditions and I can honestly say it was a blast and something I'll never forget.  We play Sheep Ranch this morning.

 

 

Out of curiosity - do you know why #4 was closed on Shorty's? 

[imkirby34]

3 hours ago, kaschreiber said:

Out of curiosity - do you know why #4 was closed on Shorty's? 

 

Our understanding was that it was mainly due to damage caused a couple weeks ago when they had 7+ inches of rain in a very short period.  There were other areas under repair and a few tee boxes were also blocked off.  

[imkirby34]

<tldr>

 

I'm back home after playing the aforementioned rounds at Shorty's & Bandon Dunes on Thu and then Sheep Ranch on Fri, and Bandon Dunes & Pacific Dunes on Sat.  The Sheep Ranch round started with light rain and maybe 10 mph wind, both of which kicked up through about our 4th hole.  The rain stopped, but the wind was gusty to maybe 25 until around the 13th when it dropped back to 10 mph and it became partly cloudy.  For both rounds on Saturday, the conditions were glorious.  It was brisk at the start, but all the layers came off by the 7th hole and it was sunny with a gentle breeze, even when we hit the exposed holes at PD in the afternoon. 

 

We were scheduled to play Old Mac on Sunday, but vouchered out.  The 2 of us that had played in the "monsoon" on Thursday had had enough rain even though Sunday morning had very little wind.  It would've picked up near the end of the round.  I don't regret the decision.  Side note - my score was 3 strokes HIGHER at BD on Sat in great conditions than when I had the Bandon experience on Thu.  I did play the gold tees on Thu and green tees on Sat, but I don't think that was the main reason.

 

Course conditions were good.  Obviously, we had standing water at BD on Thu, but even with the bit of rain on Fri, there was no standing water at Sheep Ranch.  The greens were hard and rolling pretty fast at PD on Sat afternoon.  All the courses we played had areas of GUR, but not a lot - mostly some moved tee boxes.  Also, the courses had a few areas where gorse was being removed.

 

Pace of play was better than I expected.  I forgot to mention that the 3:35 round at BD in the extreme weather was as a threesome.  The other rounds were as a foursome.  Sheep Ranch was 4:05 with some waiting.  The 2nd Bandon Dunes round was 4:25 with waiting, especially on the tees.  The PD round was 4:20 with no waiting but we were playing very poorly and started dragging on the back.  However, the starter had said that there were 2 open times in front of us when when we began and we did catch the group that had started 30 mins before us on the par-3 17th.  They use the Tag Marshal to track groups, but I'm not sure if they actually enforce the POP.  For both the SR and PD rounds, we finished 2+ holes ahead of the group behind us and that's a generous estimate.

 

For lodging, we were at Lily Pond.  No complaints there.  I especially liked the bathroom layout with the shower and one sink which could be separated from the second sink and water closet with the pocket door.  Can't forget the shoe dryers and even the fireplace helped with drying some items.  The beds were comfortable for me.

 

For dining, we had breakfast at Trails End (yes, I had the Chicken and Waffle) multiple times, lunch at The Gallery & Puffin Bar and dinner at McKee's Pub (yes, I had the meatloaf) a couple times each.  For off-site dining, we had lunch at Tony's Crab Shack and dinner at Alloro and also The Wheelhouse & Crowsnest.  I'm not a food critic, but I really enjoyed Alloro.  I really liked the bolognese lasagne and my buddies enjoyed the Tuscan Cacciucco.  I also had their Bandon Mule cocktail and the carrot cake dessert.  The 2 buddies that flew into Eugene had a rental car, so that's how we got to those restaraunts

 

I had to thank my other buddy for suggesting that we fly into North Bend instead of Eugene for the proximity to the resort.  Of course, this may not be a practical option, depending on where you live and what time of the year you're coming to Bandon.  The inbound flight was a bit of a white knuckle rollercoaster on approach because of the weather - it sure seemed like we banked quite close to the McCullough Bridge...LOL.  If you do fly into Coos Bay or Eugene and don't want to rent a car, I would refer you to Bandon Golf Transporation for shuttle service between the airport and the resort.  You can even ask to make stop offs if you want to hit a store (grocery/liquour/tobacco) or, say, City Subs in Coos Bay (note - closed on Sun & Mon).

 

[wtoomey]

Arrived in Golf Mecca for five days of awesome! Hope to write up a report upon completion.

[Tha Carter]

Just returned Tuesday, so thought I would offer a couple of updates on condition.  Hopefully everyone is aware they are entering aerification season, and Preserve and BD were aerified during our trip.  BD was a replay, it was only $90 so can't really complain.  It's a full aeration, not just the needle holes.  It did have a noticeable effect on some of my putts, but again not complaining.  Preserve was the first round of the trip with all 8 guys so can't say I was paying much attention to the greens.

 

Greens at Pac and Old Mac were the best I've seen them in 4 trips.  Both played firm and fast, we had no rain in 5 days.

 

Sheep Ranch greens have improved, but still some rough spots.

 

Fourth Hole at Shorty's is still closed.

 

Trails in overall great condition, greens slower than Pac or OM.

 

 

[dcmidnight]

25 minutes ago, Tha Carter said:

Hopefully everyone is aware they are entering aerification season

 

I know this has been posted before but just to reiterate - they post their estimated schedule on their website and it usually goes two years.

 

2025 Aerification Schedule 

Bandon Dunes
April 8^th – 10^th  &  September 30^th – October 2^nd

Pacific Dunes
April 15^th – 17^th  &  October 14^th – 16^th       

Bandon Trails
April 22^nd – 24^th  &  October 7^th – 9^th

Bandon Preserve
April 8^th – 10^th  &  October 20^th -22^nd

Old Macdonald
May 6^th – 8^th  & September 23^rd – 25^th

Sheep Ranch
May 13^th – 15^th  & September 9^th – 11^th

Shorty’s
April 29^th – May 1^st & September 16^th – 18^th

2026 Aerification Schedule 

Bandon Dunes
May 5^th – 7^th & September 22^nd – 24^th

Pacific Dunes
April 29^th – May 1^st & October 14^th – 16^th

Bandon Trails
April 14^th – 16^th & September 29^th – October 1^st

Bandon Preserve
March 23^rd – 24^th & October 26^th – 27^th

Old Macdonald
March 31^st – April 2^nd & October 6^th – 8^th

Sheep Ranch
April 7^th – 9^th & October 20^th – 22^nd

Shorty’s
March 25^th – 27^th & October 28^th – 30^th

Edited April 17 by dcmidnight

[somerset]

On 4/17/2025 at 9:43 AM, Tha Carter said:

Just returned Tuesday, so thought I would offer a couple of updates on condition.  Hopefully everyone is aware they are entering aerification season, and Preserve and BD were aerified during our trip.  BD was a replay, it was only $90 so can't really complain.  It's a full aeration, not just the needle holes.  It did have a noticeable effect on some of my putts, but again not complaining.  Preserve was the first round of the trip with all 8 guys so can't say I was paying much attention to the greens.

 

Greens at Pac and Old Mac were the best I've seen them in 4 trips.  Both played firm and fast, we had no rain in 5 days.

 

Sheep Ranch greens have improved, but still some rough spots.

 

Fourth Hole at Shorty's is still closed.

 

Trails in overall great condition, greens slower than Pac or OM.

 

 

How quickly were the punched greens "back to normal" in your opinion? Heading there next week, first round is 8 days after Trails is finished with their aerifications. Otherwise the rest shouldn't be impacted aside from Shorty's day 1.

[bcc624]

4 hours ago, somerset said:

How quickly were the punched greens "back to normal" in your opinion? Heading there next week, first round is 8 days after Trails is finished with their aerifications. Otherwise the rest shouldn't be impacted aside from Shorty's day 1.

Good question. Older posts mention that Bandon used different aerification techniques super small tines and finer sand that was less disruptive then typical green aerations. I’m going in October and have one round at Trails that’s going to fall within like 5-6 days from aeration. I want to be able to level set my groups expectations. 

[jrg75]

I've been going in April the last few years and regularly experience a course that is a week or two removed from an aeration. I'm going next week and expecting some bumpy surfaces on Trails and some traces on Pacific from the aeration last week.  

 

My experience has been that for the April aeration, the don't use micro tines but actually do large core pulls followed by a medium top dressing.  A week out, the results are very noticeable and even two weeks you can still see little aeration marks.  It's nothing that has really bothered me, mostly because April has been a great value and a month I can work into my schedule.  However, if you are expecting perfectly prestine putting surfaces, you probably want summer prior to the fall aeration.

Edited April 22 by jrg75

[spud3]

I've said it a million times... no one should go to Bandon expecting pristine greens.  And that's most any time of year.  The weather conditions and rounds played make it nearly impossible to maintain perfect greens.

 

The good news is that you probably won't care, once you're there.

[Kernel]

One thing I forgot to mention from my recent trip was the new lodging that is going in at Old Mac. They had the layout staked and it looks to be pretty large. They are clearing trees/brush on the south side of the practice green for it. It wraps around the west side of the green, very close to the edge of the green. I don't know any details on number of rooms or timeline, but the work has begun.  

[jpdx]

1 hour ago, spud3 said:

I've said it a million times... no one should go to Bandon expecting pristine greens.  And that's most any time of year.  The weather conditions and rounds played make it nearly impossible to maintain perfect greens.

 

The good news is that you probably won't care, once you're there.

I dont know, they’re pretty darn good imo. Certainly not pristine as if i’m on tour, but they rival Kapalua when i played exactly one week before sentry. Ive never been disappointed despite all the criticism i read here. 

[spud3]

I've seen comments from folks who haven't been there about how much money they are paying and the greens should be perfect for those rates...yada, yada...

 

And that's fine.  They can go to Florida and we'll take their rooms at the Lodge 🙂

[dcmidnight]

 

12 hours ago, spud3 said:

The good news is that you probably won't care, once you're there.

 

I dont want people to take this the wrong way but I think conditions might be the most over-obsessed about thing in this thread. Short of a tornado actually tearing up and closing a course - there's a good chance if you never read this thread you would be having so much fun you wouldnt notice.

 

Case in point I'm going back next month and was going through my pictures from my 2020 trip. I started to notice patches on the greens, a tee box that looked chewy here and there....and I honestly dont remember spending one single minute worrying about it when I was there.

[R4haehl]

19 hours ago, Kernel said:

One thing I forgot to mention from my recent trip was the new lodging that is going in at Old Mac. They had the layout staked and it looks to be pretty large. They are clearing trees/brush on the south side of the practice green for it. It wraps around the west side of the green, very close to the edge of the green. I don't know any details on number of rooms or timeline, but the work has begun.  

To add to this, when we were there in March someone (caddy? starter? don't recall who) mentioned the new lodging at Old Mac but that they were also going to put in a putting course there as well. Won't be as extreme as the Punch Bowl but another added putting course. Unsure if that is "official news" but I do remember that being said while on the OM practice green or first tee.

[sniper]

17 hours ago, dcmidnight said:

 

 

I dont want people to take this the wrong way but I think conditions might be the most over-obsessed about thing in this thread. Short of a tornado actually tearing up and closing a course - there's a good chance if you never read this thread you would be having so much fun you wouldnt notice.

 

Case in point I'm going back next month and was going through my pictures from my 2020 trip. I started to notice patches on the greens, a tee box that looked chewy here and there....and I honestly dont remember spending one single minute worrying about it when I was there.

Agreed. I went two years ago when the greens on Sheep were getting bashed and I didn’t think they were that bad.
 

Like you I’m going back next month and ironically a week after Sheep is punched. Other than taking 3 first timers I’m not at all concerned about it. 

[Maroon_19]

Got to spend a week at Bandon last August - the first time out for all of us.  Everyone on GOLFWRX was harping on greens conditions right before the trip.  I don't remember a thing about "conditions" other than the Tuesday 50mph gusts (that was fun).  Nothing stood out as BAD. I do remember long fairway walks with my buddies, staring at the ocean, and wishing time would stop while we were out there.  Best golf trip ever.
 

Fast forward... My brother hit the May-September 2026 lottery, and we got a group of 8 booked for a week in early May, 2026.  6 rounds of golf (all courses and Old Mac twice plus the two short courses).  Looks like we'll be hitting all the courses after their spring aerification.  I could care less.  I cannot wait to get back out there.