Thursday morning- Langdon Farms (customer golf)
Friday morning- Heron Lakes (customer golf)
Saturday afternoon- Pacific Dunes (personal golf)
Sunday morning- Bandon Dunes (personal golf)
Really, with Pacific and Bandon Dunes reviews to come, no need to spend any time on Langdon or Heron Lakes apart from- Langdon is overpriced and given Heron Lakes (Great Blue Course) and some othe muni courses I've played in the Portland area, their muni courses are hard to beat.
I left Portland Sat. morning, 4.5 hr. drive ahead of me to make my way down to Bandon. Not too bad of a drive... some scenic... some shit-assed. If you can help it, don't get stuck behind a truck or anything cumbersome on rt. 38 that takes you from I-5 to Rt. 101. Also note that you shouldn't tail anyone on that road since it appears that Oregon has it's share of road rage
Coos Bay, while pretty industrial looking, also looks to be a great place.Arrive at Bandon and your first thought is that it is EVERYTHING it is touted to be... and that is a golf mecca. There is nothing about the place that doesn't ooze golf.. and even better, nothing there that oozes anything OTHER than golf. I check in to my room and immediately head to the practice facility for my afternoon round. bandon dunes is relatively spread out. Three courses, and myriad accomodations/bars/restaurants on the premises. Shuttles take you wherever.
Pacific Dunes is up for me first. I'm playing as a single, so I'm paired with a threesome- all about 60 yrs. old. One is a retired principle in San Diego, another is a podiatrist, and the other runs the Buick Championship (or Open, whichever it is there in SoCal). Yeah, they have money... I don't. Hell, $$$$$ was EVERYHERE there. At one point, I'm standing outside one of the three pro shops and a near to me are five or six guys. One says to the other, "Is Dave going to be able to fit into your plane too?" Of course, no carts at Bandon. I meet my caddie at the tee (everyone tees off from the same tee, one forward from the tips. No questions asked unless you're a senior) and after introducing myself, my first question is, "How long you been caddying here?" Four years, he says.
Off we go. Bogey. Bogey. Dbl. bogey.
I couldn't hit a fairway if they were 100 yards wide. It was horrible. I'm playing what many consider to be the best course in the United States, a finer experience than Pebble, and possibly top ten in the world, and I drive it like shit. Fucking horrible. Nerves 'cuz I'm finally getting to play there, I dunno. Other than that, I struck the ball well (irons were crisp), but add on another stroke/hole everytime you're hacking it back out onto the fairway, happy to advance it 50 yards, from deep shit. Add on another 5 or so putts/round given the greens and you've got an 8 handicap shooting a 91 at Pacific Dunes.
The course is gorgeous. Cut through the dunes and very pleasing (and intimidating) to the eye.
Few of these pics taken w/my phone:
Par 3- hole, I don't remember. My tee shot off the green on the right.
Another par 3. I did par this one. Of course, it helps that this was one of the largest greens on the course.
Par 4. Of course, I missed the gargantuan fairway... by a mile. See the bunker on the right? Well past that, but also well right and into the gorse. Fyi, don't fuck w/gorse. If you've never seen or played w/it, consider yourself lucky. It is miserable shit.
Par 3. Towards the ocean.
We finish up, pay the caddie + tip, and I go clean up. Get a few emails done in the room then head for some dinner at one of the restaurants on property. Everything is classy, yet understated. Pure golf. I get a pork loin and a couple jack and cokes. Back to the room, read one of the golf magazines waiting for me in the room, and crash.
The next morning, I've got a 9:20 tee time for Bandon Dunes. I'm gonna figure out this driving crap, so I head to the practice facility at 7:45 or so. Fixed. Backswing is too far.
Picture of the main clubhouse/restaurant as I walked to get breakfast before practice:
Picture of 18 fairway right after I finished breakfast. Looking out towards the ocean.
Various shots from bandon Dunes (don't remember any hole #'s)
One of the best holes on the course, imo. Aesthetically awesome. Par 4. I good drive would be over the waste area in the distance leaving about 75 yards in to the green on the right. Bail out drive is to the left. I came up short on the 'man-up' drive and ended up in the junk. With a great up and down from the greenside, I still made par.
One of my best shots occured on this hole. Long par four, into the onshore wind, dogleg right. My approach was a bit blind. Got my line, and from 200 out, nailed my five wood to the center of the green. Par.
Anyways, finished with an 83 on Bandon Dunes, the harder of the two with a 139 slope. I'll take that. The irons weren't as crisp as thye could have been.
Two great courses. Spectacular courses. Cannot wait to get back there, which I will do next Sept.- this time w/a customer so I don't have to pay. My only complaint is this (and really, who am I to judge, but nonetheless)- Both Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes are touted to be as true links style as possible. And they are- Hard, fast greens. Sand base everywhere. Ocean or seaside. Natural dunes. Prevailing winds. Where they fail, imo is that a good links style course, due to their very fast and hard greens, will allow for creative approaches to greens. Running them up, being the primary method. Bandon nor Pacific allow for that as much as they should... something that is integral to a links course w/hard greens.
Lastly, went out yesterday and played here in the 'burgh. Reasonably difficult course and one the better ones here north of Pgh.
Best.
Round.
Ever.
68
No gimmees, no mulligans, no anything.
Oh, one last thing... I'll leave you with this. Spent the next few days back in Portland on biz. Met this chick at a sushi bar downtown and fucked the hell out of her that night. The face was damned near as good as the legs and rest of the body. She called the next afternoon wanting more. So I gave her more.
Served well as a nice topper to two rounds at Bandon.
