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THE MAGIC OF THE OREGON COAST'S BANDON DUNES
What it was like to play Sheep Ranch and Pacific Dunes, two of Bandon's legendary cliffside golf courses.
Kendra
We knew it was going to be bad. The weather, that is, as we all drove in the early morning hours on Tuesday to meet at Oswego Lake Country Club. The rain poured, as did the tree limbs, so we quickly hopped in Daniel’s car and begin the picturesque voyage to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in the dark.
This trip was a couple months in the making. Caroline, Daniel, Joslyn, and I had been hyping each other up in our group thread “Bandon or Bust” for weeks on end leading up to it. Daniel had been several times, and I as well (though it had been nearly a decade). But in Caroline and Joslyn we had two Bandon greenhorns; which made the prospect of this trip even more exciting.
It rained. A lot. The entire drive down. “The heavy stuff isn’t due to come for some time” must have been uttered a dozen times between the four of us; and unfortunately, that proved to be true. First up for us upon our arrival at Bandon was Sheep Ranch, in conditions that I would go on to declare “the craziest conditions I’ve ever played in.” A constant wind of 30mph, with gusts of 40-50mph, and to add to the fun was a driving, sideways rain. Welcome to Bandon.
Bandon is a special place. If you’ve visited, you can commemorate the experience with Lie+Loft’s Bandon course map, which features all six courses.
Though we thought we knew just how bad it was going to be; nothing could’ve prepared us for what we endured. As stated above, it was the craziest, most difficult round of golf I’ve ever played. All of us win burnt and soaked to the core with coastal rainfall, we got to Hole 12 and the ranger, who was one of 8 souls left on the course, offered some advice.
“Skip over to 15 from here, play the coastal holes and get the hell out of here.” he said with a chuckle. We laughed too, and happily passed go and collected $200. It was good advice, too. Seeing #17 was worth it all. The otherwordly trees mixed with the weather made it feel as though we were in another plane of existence. Or maybe that was the exhaustion speaking. Either way, the most difficult round of my life was nearing its end.
We walked off #18 green and all took a look back at what he had just endured. A lot of bad shots, a lot of missed putts, but most importantly a lot of laughs and fun. We threw our things in Daniel’s car, headed back to our cabin, and hunkered down for the night with some hard earned beverages and belly warming food; needless to say I slept like a rock that night.
I woke up early the next morning before the sun had come up. The night before I had declared to the group that I was going to catch sunrise on the beach if anyone was interested. Daniel, initially having said “hell no”, changed his tune as just as I was about to leave. The other two slept soundly as we headed down to catch some vibes.
For as bad as Tuesday was weather wise, Wednesday was the polar opposite. It was truly the calm after the storm, and after our little beach excursion, we could sense something special was in store for the day.
We had the pleasure of getting to play Pacific Dunes on day two; my favorite track at Bandon. Daniel and I being the more experienced golfers in our crew, explained to our newcomers Caroline and Joselyn that what they had experienced yesterday was as bad as it gets, and what they were about to experience was as good as it gets. The Golf Gods definitely have a sense of humor, sometimes they’re twisted, sometimes they’re sick. But every so often, if you pay your dues and just hang in there; they reward you in ways you never could imagine. Wednesday was an instant reward for what we had gone through the day prior.
As we neared the end of our round on Pacific, we all shared the same sentiment: we didn’t want it to end. What felt like a week was only about 36 hours. We wanted more and were sad to see it come to an end. Sad because we wanted more of what we had just experienced: the highs only being made as high because the lows the day before were *very* low. That’s life though, isn’t it? What are joyous moments without the context of knowing what the low moments are like? I will long be thinking on and finding ways to express and showcase the parallels between these days two days on the golf course and life itself. Golf is such a wonderful vehicle for self discovery and reflection, and I feel as though all four of us left Bandon with a little more grit and a lot more gratitude.
A special place and a special game, indeed. Until next time, Bandon!
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*** We also recorded a podcast on the experience! Check out the episode here or search “Lie + Loft” to listen on your platform of preference. Keep spreading the good feeling that golf is home! // #golfishome
