des·ti·na·tion
destəˈnāSH(ə)n
noun
the place to which someone or something is going or being sent
"a popular destination for golfers"
synonyms:
journey's end, end of the line
Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is a golfing destination. That is a fact. I had the pleasure of going to Bandon in May 2016 and it is one of my all-time favorite golfing memories. The town of Bandon is small and pretty remote. There’s an airport that serves the nearby areas and, if I had to guess, 75% of the traffic in and out of that airport is golfers heading to and from Bandon. The reason that I bring this up is that once you get to Bandon Dunes, there’s nothing else to do other than focus on golf. And trust me, there’s plenty of golf to be had at Bandon Dunes.
In this post, I’ll give a brief overview of Bandon Dunes as well as provide a few snippets of some of the other amazing golf experiences that Bandon has to offer.
The Caddie Experience
The trip to Bandon Dunes starts before you get there. Be sure to plan ahead and book a caddie for your time on the courses. A cool nuance that Bandon offers that I’ve never seen elsewhere is they pair you with a caddie that will be with you for your entire trip. This is next level! Not only does your caddie know the property like the back of their hand but they actually begin to know your game and can legitimately help you pick clubs and shot types. We’ve all had the experience where a caddie swears on their mother’s life that you should hit a 6-iron, which you do, and then you watch your ball sail 20 yards over the green. This might happen a little bit on the first day but after a while you really get into a groove with your caddie and it significantly enhances the experience. Don’t skimp here, invest in a caddie for all days.
Bandon Dunes
Bandon Dunes has a really fun starting hole. The first tee box perfectly sets the stage for the type of experience you’re about to have. The first tee is a classic links tee box where it’s just an extension of the fairway with tee markers stuck into the ground. The day we played Bandon we teed off as the last group of the day around 3:30 or 4:00 and the wind was howling. On the first tee, and during most of your round, you’re completely exposed to the wind. As with most true links-style courses, there’s not really any trees to kill gusts of wind. Once you get off the tee the green is flanked by a few bunkers that perfectly frame the hole. Get your par and head off for the rest of your round.
The front nine offers a mixture of fun and challenging holes but some of my personal favorites ended up being on the back nine. The back nine starts with a short par 4. Hopefully you’ve established some rapport with your caddie by this time as the second shot into the green is a bit of a blind shot requiring you to really trust your yardage and listen to your caddie. After the tenth the back nine continues with a plethora of enjoyable holes. But my favorite stretch of the course are the closing three.
Hole 16 is a short par 4 that is perched on the edge of cliffs towering above the Pacific Ocean. Depending on how far you hit the ball and how aggressive you’re feeling this hole is one that can be driven off the tee. If that’s your choice, you must commit to it as trying and failing to the right means that you’ve just donated a souvenir to the nearby Pacific Ocean. I can’t tell you exactly where the right spot is to play as my friend and I both went for it off the tee and hit great shots that didn’t turn out to be all that great. I ended up running through the green and finished on the 17th tee box where I wasn’table to get up and in for birdie but did snag my par. My friend, Fischer, on the other hand ended up coming to rest in a horrendous pot bunker green-side that took him two shots to get out of for a disappointing bogey. This is a great hole! It poses classic risk against reward with a little bit of trickeration (<- that’s a word right!?!?).
Hole 17 is another par 4 that has one of the largest greens on the course. The ideal tee shot is one that hugs the left side of the fairway to give yourself a good angle into the green. We had a hilarious experience happen when we were there. My friend’s caddie told him to aim way left and try to play the ball into the 14th fairway as the angle from there would be even better than the left side of the 17th fairway. Well, my buddy listened as his caddie had been right all day and proceeded to crush the ball exactly where the caddie instructed. It was magnificent! As the ball was sailing through the air he gave us all a little treat with an extremely powerful club twirl (think Tiger in his prime) only to watch the ball fall about 75 yards short of the 14th fairway into knee high rough! It was so classic. We both turned to the caddie in disbelief and he slyly confessed that he’d never actually given anyone that recommendation before but thought it would be cool if someone tried it. Thankfully for my friend, Fischer, there was no money on the line! If you look at the course from an you can see what the caddie was onto but unless your name is Dustin Johnson you might want to stick to playing the hole as it was intended.
The closing hole at Bandon Dunes is a par 5 that gives you a great way to close on a high note. The hole is not overly lengthy and definitely accessible with two quality shots. If you get a good drive you’ll be presented with a bit of a blind shot. Aim at the right edge of the clubhouse and let it rip. Close with a birdie and then head over to the Punch Bowl for the real fun!
I’ll close my thoughts on Bandon Dunes GC with this note, we played in May and started in the late afternoon. This meant that as our round was coming to a close we caught one of the most beautiful golden hours I have ever seen (and being from Northern California I’ve seen my fair share of beauties)! If possible, I would recommend playing one later afternoon round as the sight of the golden glow of the setting sun cast over the course and its rolling hills is a special experience.
Punch Bowl
The overarching theme of Bandon Dunes is that it’s a golf destination. There’s no other attraction, it’s just pure golf. It's basically the heaven that golfers should aspire to go to when they die. The Punch Bowl was really the cherry on top for me when it came to just flat out being awestruck by the total experience at Bandon Dunes. The Punch Bowl is a 100,000 sq. ft. putting green that has something like 20-25 feet of elevation change from the high end of the green to the low end. But it's more than just a putting green. Bandon Dunes has routed two separate 18 hole putting courses across the green for fun competitions with your buddies. It’s like the best game of putt-putt you’ll ever play. Oh by the way, did I mention there’s a full-time bar attendant that walks out onto the green to take and deliver drink orders?! C’mon! Have mercy! From what I understand there’s also quite a bit of money that changes hands on the Punch Bowl each night. When we were playing Bandon Dunes on our opening night we heard a roar of a crowd and when we asked our caddies where that came from, they chuckled and said it was probably a big money putt on the Punch Bowl.
Grades (where 1 is significantly below average and 5 is significantly above)
Scenery: 5 stars
Design: 5 stars
Condition: 5 stars
Practice Facilities: 5 stars
Experience: 5 stars
Click here for a more detailed breakdown of how I think about course ratings.
I know that it may seem crazy that I just dropped a 5-star rating across the board but the fact of the matter is I wish my rating scales went up to 6 so I could give Bandon 6 stars across the board! This place is as good as any country club you’ll ever play. The only reason it’s not as widely known as other top venues is because it’s too small and remote to likely ever land a big-time tournament (e.g. US Open).
Bandon Dunes is always one of the greatest golfing weekends of my year. Everything about Bandon Dunes is perfect.
Do yourself a huge favor. Round up your favorite golfing buddies, book a trip to Bandon Dunes, golf your heart out each day, finish with a trip to the Punch Bowl each evening before heading to dinner and then wake up and do it all over again.
