Random Bandon Thread

[mallrat]

1 putter head cover, driver head cover, 3 ball marks and a divot tool. This year got a ballmarker from the opening of the Preserve.

[wtoomey]

Wall calendar last year in the mail.

[spud3]

Magnetic ball marker, and a key chain thingy. it's a nice gesture.

[Edaw68]

The repeat guest gifts must be whatever they buy in bulk for a year. I've got the beer cozy, oversize ball marker, an LPGA hat clip magnet ball marker, and a wooden bag tag.

Was that last year we each got like one half of the magnetic ball marker when checking in and had to ask for the other half so it's useful?

[buzlin]

Last weekend in February 2021 is basically booked up if you want 36 guaranteed. If you're looking to play SR in the morning, things get tighter. Tried to get into the Inn, no golf doubles left and limited forest, had to move to Lily Pond the last week in February. Get it done! Woohoo!

[spud3]

Yeah, it was a bit awkward. They gave us the clip on part, without the ball marker, and we went.."uh, shouldn't there be a ball marker with this?" They were a bit reluctant to hand over the rest of it.

 

I did get one of the wooden bag tags, too.

[spud3]

Yup - I was on the phone at 8 and was on hold (boy howdy, they need to update that on-hold muzak) for an hour. By the time I got on, the last week of March was completely booked in the Lodge and Inn. Had to adjust and move to Plan B for dates (note to self: always have a Plan B). Ended up with a Wednesday - Saturday instead of the Sunday - Thursday, but that's fine. Tee times were going fast. This seems to be the new reality.

[jrg75]

Yikes, dates in 2021 already filling up, I guess I better decide on what to do that year, tough to commit to something 16-18 months out

[mallrat]

That’s my problem. I can commit but getting others to commit is nearly impossible.

[duffer987]

2nd 1/2 of Feb and 2nd 1/2 of Mar are seen as the best deal - vis a vis price/sunlight/weather - so they can and do go quick. But if you shoulder season/off season it in general you don't necessarily need to be that far out for foursomes or less. Also worth noting those winter '21 dates will be the first time those players get to see SR, which is likely helping the initial burst of reservations.

[Chivas Irons]

Great thread and really helped me as I plan for a future trip.

[duffer987]

One other piece of randomness - I bought a Proquip PX6 jacket yesterday as my last bit of holiday season shopping - because I didn't need another proper rain jacket, but hey I didn't have a grey one and it has a 'lifetime' warranty, so theoretically I won't need another as long as I'm making trips to Bandon and Proquip stays in business.

[eboettne]

To follow up on the reservations filling up, I've found it depends on how many you're traveling with. For example, two of us booked in August for last weekend in February and were able to get out as 1st or 2nd tee time of the day for all but the last day of our trip allowing us a comfortable turnaround for 36 holes a day. We also were able to get a double room at the Inn which I'm excited for since we were in Lily Pond rooms last time(which I loved btw).

My main point of posting however was to point out I only have 55 days left until my trip. It's starting to get to the point where it feels more real rather than some trip way out there that I occasionally daydream about. Time to read Dream Golf again and start hitting the simulator once every other week. Also started to ramp up my workouts so I can endure 36 holes a day for 3 straight days w/ 18 the last day. Interestingly enough the last time we went, it wasn't my legs that had the issue but my forearms from swinging the club so many times. I actually had tendinitis for my last 3 rounds of the trip which was kind of annoying in that I couldn't make my normal swing.

[buzlin]

The upside of when you get old and fat is that you get to replace $5K worth of rain gear.

[dearth12]

Last week of March is when I went last time and being in education, with that as our spring break in 2021, I was looking to go again. However, like has been said, I’m ready to commit, but getting others to do so is proving difficult.

 

Granted these are all guys that haven’t been there before and don’t really know how special the place is. They can’t wrap their head around having to book something 16 months out.

 

Hoping to call tomorrow and see what we can do.

[buzlin]

Yeah, getting commitments is tough that far out. If you can float the $1,000ish per foursome deposit for at least a few months, it may be worth going for it and then cancelling if necessary. Especially if you're limited on which dates you can go.

[StarFleetGolfer]

Arrived yesterday. Great weather today. 50's and some sun, no rain

 

 

[duffer987]

GA/GN reviews came up in the Streamsong thread and thought I'd take a look at Oregon for a laugh to see how the resort gets on, definitely a snortle/chortle: Golfers' Choice: Best of Oregon golf coursesLooks like we'll have to change up our Thanksgiving Bandon trip to include The Reserve Vineyards, lol.

[puttnforthe8]

Wow....this is a pathetic disgrace of a list - whoever wrote this should be hung by their ankles from the Bandon Ghost tree!

[mallrat]

Holy carp. What a load of garbage those rankings are. I don’t even think there is 1 purse on there I agree with, at least positioning wise

 

oh well.

[spud3]

Oy. The Reserve (either of them) aren't even the best course in Portland, much less the whole state.

 

I think we now know where the readers of GA play their golf...

[DFinch]

That list is shockingly wrong. Wow.

 

 

[Edaw68]

The list must be skewed by the number of reviews. The Bandon course have 18 to 30 something reviews, versus 180 something for Reserve Vineyards. At the top it also says recent ratings are weighted more heavily, so I wonder how may of those are recent and skewing things. Or someone is creating accounts to drive up property values or business.

 

Edit: yeah if you look at the actual course ratings and not the overall list, they skew it for some reason. Pacific for example got 28 out of 28 five star ratings, Trails got 21 5 star and 2 four star. The Reserve got 108 5 star, 61 ffour star, and a handfull of lower. A ton of the Reserve ratings are also in the last 6 months, and only 3 a Pacific. Trails and Pac got 5 star average, Bandon 4.9, and the Reserve 4.7, but it ranks higher. However they compile it is a dumb method.

Note to self: don't plan stuff based on golfadvisor.

 

2nd Edit: when reading the ratings and the comments, seems like a lot of em put down the greens fees as an important factor. So the ratings could also be skewed toward bargains versus best. Looking online the reserve is a lot cheaper than Bandon.

[Edaw68]

More random: I now have 3 emails from Bandon Reservations with trip itineraries in my inbox, my personal record. I've had two before but never three. I'm going next week to take advantage of the cheap rates, then my annual March trip for 2020 and 2021.

[Cwing]

August 2020 will be my first time. I’m really looking forward to it.

[duffer987]

Ya I didn't look at the specifics for Oregon, but did in relation to Streamsong and nationally, so basically 7 or 8 GN users leaving reviews over an entire year is enough to make your course a 'top course'.

Those users maybe having left 4 or 5 total reviews, including reviews they were compensated for in some way. Ya I'm listening to some guy who got a free burger and drink tell me how awesome the bag drop is and how nice the carts are, that make Fancy Golf Course the #1 in the US.

[dearth12]

I was able to call in today and make my reservations for the last week of March 2021. Reading some posts in this thread had me worried about availability, but I was able to get almost exactly what I wanted.

 

Here is our itinerary:

3/29/21- Fly from Ohio. Not sure where from or to just yet, but plan to arrive on property with plenty of time to use the practice facilities

3/30/21- 7:40 Pacific Dunes and 1:50 Bandon Trails

3/31/21- 8:50 Sheep Ranch and 2:40 Bandon Dunes

4/1/21- 8:00 Old Mac and 2:00 Pacific Dunes

4/2/21- 8:20 Bandon Dunes and 2:40 Sheep Ranch. Leave the resort after this round and start dreaming of when I can make trip number 3.

 

Like some have said before, when I made this trip in 2017 I really believed that it was a 1 time "bucket list" trip and that I would not go back. Instead, of Bandon I would find other places to cross off the list. However, I vividly remember sitting in the airport on my layover heading back home and already looking ahead to when I could get back, Bandon is THAT special!!!

 

 

Only 448 days, but who is counting

[eboettne]

That itinerary literally looks perfect to me, well done

[duffer987]

Agreed :-) Pretty close to our first post-SR opening trip, except switching around a PD for an OM. New being new, I expect SR to initially become a lot of folks #2 or 1a, be interesting to see how it's regarding 5+ years down the line. 5 courses definitely getting to extravagant levels of choice! Makes an unmatched collection of public courses on the same site, more unmatchable.

[jrg75]

I agree, absolutely perfect, 8 rounds may be the new magic number for me with the addition of the sheep ranch.

How does everyone keep from going crazy while waiting for their trips? I'm a little over 100 days out and often find myself daydreaming about my trip. So tough to wait.....