Jon’s Week at Bandon Dunes – Part 2

After my first full day at Bandon Dunes (read Part 1 here), the adrenaline had worn off and the feet started to hurt a bit.  The most important thing is really to start getting ready for your next day, and that usually starts with a hearty meal…

Eat Up!

Bandon Dunes offers up more than just amazing golf.  Any part of a buddies trip or a solo adventure is made better by good food.  Like I mentioned earlier, this resort is its own little city, so there are multiple restaurants on site.  With my marathon travel day and then 36 rockin’ holes coming to an end, I’d pretty much survived on a couple granola bars and Sports Beans.  I needed the real deal, so my first stop was McKees.

McKees officially obtained its legendary status among golf hangouts decades ago.  Sure, I want to soak all that in, but I needed calories ASAP.  I was lucky to show up by myself and could steal a small corner table.  I immediately slammed a couple local drafts, some ridiculously good reuben bites, and a satisfying cheeseburger.  Don’t remember much after that – it all went down too fast.  The fun thing is that you can “max out” at the bar or the restaurants and they don’t crush you with absurd resort prices.  I also enjoyed charging everything back to my room – you feel like a real big shot signing away while leaving your wallet in your pocket.

I tried every restaurant on the property, and each offered a different menu and experience.  Other standouts include the Wagyu Burger from the Gallery/Tufted Puffin, and of course the McKees Meatloaf.  During your stay, you’ll surely give it a try.  Is it the best thing I’ve ever eaten?  Nah, but a solid loaf for sure and I’ll have another next time in town.

The Mysterious Old MacDonald 

With an actual night’s rest, a guy can feel so much better going into another long golf day.  When you go to Bandon Dunes, you expect to cram in as much golf as you can, and you’re on your feet for every step of it.  You pretty much have to go into this trip with some kind of base fitness.  I spent much of December running, doing cardio and leg exercises.  I’m generally in pretty good shape, but a month’s worth of 5ks and playing some practice rounds in the crappy winter Chicago weather paid off greatly.  Having done the training and prep work led to probably the highlight of the trip – not getting hurt.  Will also say that the hot tub in the Lodge might be the MVP…

Anyway, first up today is Old MacDonald.  Old Mac seems to be the most polarizing of the resort’s courses.  It was a bold design choice for Tom Doak, Jim Urbina, and crew to take on.  Most of the folks that I’ve talked to either love it or hate it, or have some kind of “rule” for playing it.  Like – “only play it early before the wind kicks up!” or “make it your first round of the trip and get it over with”.  Extreme opinions for sure, and maybe more here than any other.

I loved it.  It’s the closest thing to The Old Course that I’ve seen anywhere, and I’ve been seeking out true links courses for years.  Old Mac starts with a gentle starter hole, a killer par three for the 2nd, and then introduces you to the Ghost Tree on the 3rd.  You hit over the sizable hill, and you’re now exposed to most of the course.  The ability to see maybe a dozen holes is one of those truly impactful moments at Bandon Dunes.  Humps, bumps, and thousands of options.

Some of the real standout moments from Old MacDonald will have to include the enormous green on the 5th hole, and the absolutely challenging and unique 7th.  Seven is a shortish par four with a fairway you’ll hit 100% of the time.  Neat, right?  But the severely elevated and highly guarded green demand you find a comfortable, flat lie in order to loft one up.  I was able to smash a wind-aided 3 wood into a perfect spot and stuck a crisp gap wedge to about 20 feet.  Today, it was easy, but I can’t imagine trying to hit a long iron in.  Maybe you’d try to bounce it up?  Someone – tell me the play!

Old Mac’s midsection features holes bursting with variety and character.  I was particularly smitten by the Cape-hole 9th, the Road-hole 11th, and the shockingly difficult Redan hole 12th.  The wind did pick up about this time and for a moment I thought it might push me off a hill.  My bag went flying a couple times.  Another fun moment is when my new buddies told the tourist (me) about where the gorse fires from a couple years ago were (and how close they got to the course) and the best spot to sneak peek the Sheep Ranch.

I do feel the 17th, a long par five, was pretty awkward.  It has a ton of bunkers and left too much to luck to determine where your ball ends up.  I need to play it more to solidify an opinion, but I could say that for every hole out here.  The finisher is a pretty cool punchbowl par four.  I normally adore punchbowl greens, but I hooked my drive and approach, so didn’t get a good look.  At this point in my trip, I was starting to rate and rank a bit.  I’d left Old Mac thinking this was clearly the most interesting and complicated of the bunch.

Dreaming of Bandon Trails 

Going into the trip, I spent more time dreaming about what Bandon Trails would be like than any other.  It has a mysterious, ethereal look to it, and I’m of course a big Coore & Crenshaw fan.  For Mike Keiser to give the go ahead for a course winding through the forest and NOT hug the ocean, well, that’s pretty bold.  Trails sits in the southeastern part of the property and definitely feels separated from a lot of the hustle and bustle of the resort City Center.  This is very much my vibe – and an instantly recognizable trait shared by many of the remote northern Michigan courses I grew up on.

The “flow” of Bandon Trails really stands out.  The 1st hole starts you off in the prairie, then very quickly introduces you to the scruffy, intimidating par three 2nd.  This is the first time all week I’d needed to count how many balls I’d brought with me.  I lost more in this round than in the six other rounds combined (which was astoundingly ZERO).

Trails has some pretty gentle, rolling golf holes, but a couple tougher walks between holes.  There’s a bit of a rugged “old west” feel in a lot of areas, as they used old gorse branches to build some of the fences that guide you around.  Gorse bushes are total jerks, but damn, they’re pretty.  

The middle stretch of Trails features hole after hole of wide, varied holes.  While this course has what I think is the largest property, you’ll be isolated from other holes and other players most of the way.  It sounds different.  You don’t hear the ocean screaming, but you hear birds singing instead.  I had Trails all to myself for most of this round.  My partners from the morning round left for home, and the starter sent me off as a single knowing it’d be a slow one.  I ended up catching and joining two guys ahead of me on the 10th.

At first, I wanted no part of that group.  They were playing the back tees, smashing drives down the center, and effortlessly dropping iron shots on the center of the greens.  I was more than happy to watch them from behind and bunt around a 7 iron the rest of the day (at that point I’d lost my swing a bit – shocker, right?).  Anyway, they insisted I join, and I instantly realized I should have done this sooner.  They were both in the golf management program at their colleges and had recently arrived to work at the resort.  They turned out to be fantastic playing partners.

All three of us were discovering Trails at that point.  We each hit some good shots – my most memorable being the 3 wood hit to about 20 feet on the long par-three 12th hole.  We even took the long walk, NOT the pace-preserving cart ride up top to 14.  That hole is one I’m not sure about.  I mean, Coore & Crenshaw HAD to build it, it gets a ton of press, but I don’t think I loved it.  There’s a tiny bit of gimmick there, but that’s ok.  

By the time we were headed home, the sun was setting, the wind was gone, and the three of us had seemingly talked about every cool golf course we’d ever played.  Bandon attracts a certain type.  My two new buds were just as deep into golf history and architecture as I am, so hopefully we all get a chance to tee it up again.  I even think that we all left Trails thinking “that might be the best course out here…”

The Final 40 Holes

I did have one full day remaining, and got in a mid morning round at Pacific Dunes.  Totally different weather, different tees, different hole locations.  What a wonderful, fun, playable golf course.  Truly one of the best in the world.  Following that round, I intended to hang out and chill the rest of the afternoon, but I had three glorious hours of daylight left. 

I happened to play my best round of the week at Pac, so I decided to run over to Bandon Dunes and keep rolling.  They sent me out solo and I had the course to myself.  The front nine took probably fifty minutes and I don’t think I missed a single shot.  To have this place to yourself is truly what you’d call Dream Golf.  Unfortunately, the back nine was packed and instead of waiting on everyone, I ended on the highest of notes and called it a day.  Amazing.

That left me with only Bandon Preserve to play.  During the week I was able to change this tee time to the Preserve instead of Trails.  It’s my travel day and I needed to be at the airport early, so I’d never have finished a full 18.  The Preserve fits perfect.  I was the first one out that morning.

My gut feeling is that this course is best played with your pals as the camaraderie, the bets, and the (likely) beers only increase the fun.  I had the place to myself, and it’s hard to think of a course with more concentrated beauty than this one.  You have to attempt every single type of golf shot here (well, 7 iron on in).  You’re flighting wedges, aiming for slopes, and sometimes it’s even fun to hit from bunkers.  

 Tough to Say Goodbye to Bandon Dunes 

Among the many things I’ll think about my first trip to Bandon Dunes, is that the place truly is the complete golf “experience”.  After twenty years in business, I feel they’ve really obtained a level of operational perfection.  Every bit of my stay was perfectly timed and low stress allowing you to soak in as much pure golf as you can.  Of the incredible golf destinations I’ve been able to visit I’d consider it second only to St. Andrews in Scotland.

I’m shocked it took me so long to get here, but better late than never.  Each course truly has its own distinct moments ranging from subtle to spectacular.  A lasting thought for me is that it’ll be exciting to share the experiences with a group next time around.  There’s still so much more to discover.  The Sheep Ranch!  The nature trails and the potential to see some puffins!  The Labyrinth and the Punchbowl!  Wild caddie stories!  More meatloaf!

See you soon, Bandon Dunes.