Golf The Way It Was Meant To Be Played

Bandon, OR
May 27 - 29, 2011

This weekend I am off to Bandon, OR with my Dad to meet a bunch of his friends to play golf at Bandon Dunes. I’m pretty excited about it. The courses at Bandon are always ranked in the top 50 courses in the US. It’s pathetic that the resort has been open over ten years and I haven’t played it.

Friday morning dad and I were up early for the two and half hour drive to the coast. I was pretty tired. The evening before we went to the South Eugene High School Hall-of-Dinner. I found out at the dinner that Bailey was flying into Eugene that night and since I was going to miss most of her visit while I was at the coast, I decided it would be fun to go to the airport with Tim to pick Mark and B up. This led to a 1AMish bedtime leading into a 6AM wake-up call. For those of you that know me well, I’m not my best on five hours sleep. Thankfully on the ride down Dad was nice enough to drive so that I was able to grab another hour or so of sleep.

Upon arriving at the resort we were met in the lobby by Bill and Gaynell. Bill and my dad were in residency together at the Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia. I’ve met them numerous times and love them both. After checking in and heading over to our room I met Bill and Gaynell’s friend’s Sunny, Betsy, John Wayne (yes that’s his real name) and Martha, who were all making their first trip to Oregon. Not surprisingly, knowing Bill and Gaynell, these guys all made for great company as well. Shortly after unloading the car I was off to the practice range to hit a few balls with the golfers before setting off to play Pacific Dunes.

I missed Thursday’s round on Bandon Dunes because of the HOF dinner. Evidently I missed a beautiful course and a whole lot of rain. The gang said it rained for 85% of the round. Conversely on Pacific it only rained about 15% of the time. We got poured on during our first three holes and then it cleared up nicely. Below is a picture from when the weather was starting to improve.



After the round and a drink on the 19th hole we went back to the room to freshen up and prepare for dinner. One of the many nice things about the Bandon resort is that there are many restaurant options within the resort. All one has to do is call a shuttle, which always seemed to show up in five minutes or less, and grab a ride to the establishment of choice. On this night we went to McKee’s Pub. The food and service were both pretty good and the stories among the group were hilarious. We had a nice round table where everyone could share in one large conversation. Shortly after returning to the room I was out for the count.

Saturday morning we met the gang for breakfast in The Lodge. This was another good meal filled with a ridiculous amount of laughter. I’m always nervous, as my loyal readers know, when Dad talks me into trips exclusively involving people twice my age. In this case the nerves were totally unfounded because this group was awesome. For breakfast I had the ginormous golfer’s buffett and everyone took advantage. By the end I was feeling a little guilty about the amount of “to-go” items we accumulated but the waitress claimed she was totally fine with it.

Next it was off to Bandon Trails. Many claim Bandon Trails is the hardest of the four courses. I’m not sure if I agree with that. It is definitely different in that its holes are primarily in the woods as opposed to on the ocean. Like yesterday, I played this round with Sunny and Bill. Bandon’s motto is, “This is golf as it was meant to be played.” That means there are no golf carts and no groups larger than a foursome. To that end Gaynell and John Wayne played as a twosome in front of us. Sunny lit up the front side shooting three over through nine. Unfortunately he couldn’t keep it up on the back. Regardless he had a few incredible shots including a birdie putt on the par 3 fifth that would have made a pro proud.

After finishing 18 Dad, Betsy and Martha joined us for drinks on the 19th hole around the super cool outdoor fireplace. We then proceeded to return to our rooms to clean up for dinner back on the Pacific Course at the Pacific Grill.

Next to us at dinner we had a large and somewhat boisterous party of guys. We learned during one of the speeches from the table that the group was at Bandon celebrating the 40th birthday and retirement of MLBer Mark Loretta. His name seemed vaguely familiar to me but a quick search of the google machine confirmed he was in fact a 16 year vet who made two all-star teams and had a career batting average of .295. Once again we all hit the hay shortly after dinner.

Our tee time Sunday morning was at 8AM. I was up a little after 6AM so I had time to grab a little breakfast at The Lodge before the round. At breakfast I think I was one of two women out of about 40 patrons. I enjoyed my food and my view. I think I should hang out at fancy golf clubs more often.

Our final day we played the newest course at the resort, Old Macdonald. According to Bandon’s website this course “pays homage to golf course architect C.B. Macdonald by asking one simple question: What would Macdonald have created had the Oregon Coast been his canvas? Inspired by Macdonald's iconic work, course architects Tom Doak and Jim Urbina have crafted a course that seeks the answer upon vast greens, among myriad angles of play, and from the depths of fierce bunkers. By celebrating these classic concepts of design, we honor the traditions of this game we love.”

I’m not sure which course I liked the best. I do know, however, that I played my best golf on Old Macdonald. I played 14 holes in ten over. The other four holes weren’t pretty but for how little golf I’ve played in recent months, I’ll take it.

After finishing up our round we grabbed a bite to eat at the golf course and then proceeded to embark upon the longest drive from Bandon to Eugene in the history of the world.

Dad originally told Mom that we wouldn’t be back in Eugene with the company until 5PM. Unfortunately for him, we were ready to leave the resort by 12:45PM to begin what should be a 2 hour and 30 minute drive. In order to kill time Dad drove the speed limit the entire way, which meant cruising at 50 or 55 for most of the drive. We stopped for gas at a 76 station, drinks and the bathroom at McDonalds, at a scenic stop to look for elk, and at Arlene’s Cafe and General Store for who the heck knows what. All in Dad accomplished his goal of us not getting home until five. That means it took us 4 hours and 15 minutes to make a 2 and half hour drive. Needless to say I was happy to be home when we FINALLY made it.

All in the Bandon trip was fantastic. I would highly recommend a visit to any of my golf readers out there. In fact, if any of you read this and want to go, tell me when and I’ll go again with you.

Until the next adventure,
Katy