Bandon Dunes: The PERFECT golf experience

This past weekend, I had the pleasure and privilege of visiting the Bandon Dunes golf resort in Bandon, Oregon. Bandon was at the top of my bucket list, and somewhere I had only heard amazing things about. A friend and I were able to do some research and find that although it is notoriously difficult to book (there is a lottery system), there are times of the year that are less popular and thus much easier to book. Of those times, February is known as the hidden secret. For many reasons, this was the ideal time for us to go.

There were a lot of firsts for me on this trip. I had never flown anywhere just to play golf. I’ve never stayed at a golf resort, nor did I even know these existed. And I have never played in the wind and rain. When we booked this trip back in October, we knew that the weather could potentially be a big factor. We planned on staying for 2 days to play a round each day, and hoped that we would have decent weather just one of those days. Boy, did we get lucky.

We landed at the Eugene airport and drove 2.5 hours to the resort. I didn’t know what to expect and was just amazed that a place like this existed. It’s not just a golf course that has lodging, but it’s an entire golf resort, which was a new concept to me. Bandon Dunes has 6 golf courses, and each course has its own clubhouse, pro shop, and restaurant/bar. We ended up getting tee times for Bandon Dunes, Bandon Trails, and a par 3 course called Bandon Preserve.

I’ll start with the amentities to get that out of the way, but by no means am I minimizing how amazing the amenities are.

The amenities:

• Dedicated practice area that has a ridiculously large putting green and driving range
• The practice area also has a par 3 course that you can just walk onto
• Another amazing putting green call the Punchbowl
• Shuttles that take you everywhere. Seriously, the resort is enormous
• Pro shops at each course that have merch for that specific course
• Cigar bar
• Restaurants everywhere with different types of cuisines. There’s even an Irish style pub called McKee’s
• Massage center
• Different types of rooms to fit your group size and budget
• Prices for food and merch are very reasonable. Plus there’s no sales tax in Oregon, which was very nice.

On the first day, we had a tee time at Bandon Dunes, their original and signature course. We had a late morning tee time and magically by the time we were up, the rain completely stopped and the sun started to come out. When we teed off, the temperature was in the mid 50’s. We opted to hire a caddy and I’m really glad we did. I’m pretty sure he saved me at least 5 strokes.

That first round is a blur because it was just so much fun. I just remember my jaw literally dropping when we would walk up to the tee boxes and seeing the view. I found that the course was extremely fair and forgiving for the average bogey golfer, but also challenging and a ton of fun. Playing with a caddy really made it feel like a party where we were talking lots of trash, laughing, and generally having an amazing time. When I could remember to, I would whip out my phone to take photos, but I really just wanted to soak in the moment. Plus photos just do not do this course justice.

On the second day, we had a morning tee time at Bandon Trails. It’s amazing how completely different this course is from Dunes, but is also amazing. It starts off on the beach, goes into the meadows, and then you go into the forest. I felt that Trails is more challenging in that you can definitely lose your ball if you hit it offline, which really wasn’t the case for Dunes. The greens were also much faster and had a lot more breaks. We had a blast playing Trails and unfortunately we were just so spent physically that we didn’t end up playing the par 3 course.

Some things to consider:

• There are no golf carts, so just know you will be walking the course. With the amount of elevation changes, this actually becomes pretty tiring. The course does provide push/pull carts though for free, which was a nice touch. Bring snacks and water!
• I’d recommend spiked golf shoes because the course does get wet and you might slip with spikeless shoes. Definitely wear waterproof shoes.
• Be prepared for rain. I brought rain gear, but actually did not end up needing it.
• Bring cash so you can tip drivers and staff. You can even pull out cash and charge it to your room if you need.

I’m keeping this review short but I really don’t want to spoil this resort for you. You really need to experience it for yourself. My rating is easily a 10/10.