This is a short essay and list about what to expect and bring to your golf trip to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, here after referred to as BDGR.  When you live two hours away from BDGR and you get the same rate as a resort lodge guest all winter, you play all the golf you can on three of the best public courses in America.

 Here are sections:

Things to Bring:

Things to leave at home:

Things to leave in your room:

Playing the courses:

• Bandon Dunes, (Dunes), was the first course built at BDRG by David McLay Kidd.  The folks at BDRG will tell you this is the Scottish style links course of the three.  The course with its crumpled fairways and generally flat but sloping greens starts at the lodge and is the only course of the three that returns to the club house at the turn.  It meanders through the heavy gorse at times, but at one point you can see 3 greens all lined up in a row,(4th, 12th and 15th).  This is where it all started for this resort, when you play it for the first time you will be playing with your mouth open, staring in wonder at the course, the ocean, and the scenery.  A long hike but a great place to play 36 holes if you can get it in. 

• Pacific Dunes, (Pacific), is Tom Doak's shining achievement  and with the best world ranking of all the courses at BDGR.  It is also the course that is the most in demand, so make an early tee time and try to get 36 holes on this course.  The wind on the Oregon coast tends to stay down in the morning and its possible to play this course in under 3 hours.  But the afternoon 18 with the wind howling will make Pacific Dunes a much tougher track to get around.  The is course with its humped greens, wind blown bunkers and off beat routing, (five par 3's, four on the back and two of these are back to back, four par 5's with 3 on the back, Par 71), is the shortest of the courses in yardage but perhaps the longest walk.  You'll spend a great deal of time taking pictures and staring at the coastline and intriguing golf holes.  Your caddy will tell you this is the Irish style links course at the resort.

• Bandon Trails, (Trails), is the work of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, if you've ever played the Plantation course on Maui, or Talking Stick in Scottsdale you know you will be in for a treat.  These guys know how to build a great golf course.  This is not Scotland or Ireland but an Oregon links course.  It starts on the ocean but plunges into Oregon coastal forest on the third hole.  That is where you'll stay until the 18th hole takes you home.  Each hole on this course is an epic, it may not remind you of any other hole you've seen or played.  But each will stay with you and you'll find you self looking back down the fairway as you walk off the greens.  It has become a favorite of regulars at BDGR, many times it the quietest of the three courses in the winter.  You can feel like your group is all by themselves on the course.  This course also adds some protection from the wind and exposure that the other two courses may have put you though.  But bring you best socks and shoes because this course has  the hardest walk of the bunch, a lot of elevation changes to work your way through as you play.

• The caddies are friendly and you will get to know yours if you choose to.  They will get to know your golf game and help with club selection if you wish.  If any caddy is helping to much, just let them know you just want the yardage, same with reading putts and lines in the fairway.  Though on the I recommend to take the line advice, they know which way the fairway will run and where the trouble is.  But it is your game if you just want your caddy to shut up and keep up let him know.  He'll rake the bunkers, keep the clubs and balls clean and be your work horse.  He was going to do that anyway.
• The caddies are also your guides on the course,  its easy to get lost from hole to hole at BDGR even after you've played here a few times.   If you don't know where you're going you could end up playing 1,2,3,16,17,18 on Bandon trails and have a short round indeed.
• The caddy does not expect you to be Tiger Woods, or even a really good amateur.  What he does expect is proper decorum on the course, respect for the grounds, the game, and himself.  He has caddied for better golfers and worse.  There is a fair chance he is a better golfer than you.  He will not hit shots for you, most won’t cheat for you either.  He wants you to have a good game, and a good time.  Happy golfers tip better.   If you really like your caddy make sure the caddy master knows, and ask for him next time you there.
• One thing you may notice right away is the caddies will walk in your and the people playing with you putting lines.  You'll also notice that they won't leave a mark.  Neither will you, the greens are so firm at BDGR that many times there is no ball mark, so don't fret walking or have someone walking on your line.  If you hit it pure the ball will go in.
• Remember the caddy is an independent contractor not an employee of BDGR, if you treat him badly he will walk off and leave you holding your own  bag.  If you treat the course badly it may even be you leaving.  It's a partnership, enjoy it and have fun. 

Odds and Ends

• There are perks to staying at BDGR rather than the town of Bandon or Coos Bay.  Though there are many nice houses for rent in Bandon, you will find no nicer rooms then those at the resort.
• The resort always has tee times for people staying there and can usually get you 36 holes a day.
• The green fees during peak season and for non-Oregonians in the off season are considerably higher if you stay off the property.
• Resort guest can have their replay 18 holes on any course at the resort. All others must take it on the course the original 18 was played.
• Resort guests can use the shuttle service to move between their room and the courses and facilities at the resort.  No need for a rental car or other surface transportation.
• If you are looking for other entertainment after golf there is some shopping in Bandon and a Casino in Coos Bay.
• There is internet access at the resort, so feel free to bring your laptop and internet ready devices.  The city of Bandon is much more limited with access even at rented homes.

• Though people claim otherwise, Tiger Woods has never played at  Bandon.
• Arnold Palmer was asked to pay for his round at Bandon.
• Gorse patches are removed each year by BDGR because it is considered a noxious weed, each time thousand of golf balls are recovered.
• There is a property north of the BDGR that has no water known as the sheep ranch with greens laid out by Tom Doak.  This is played in the old style, the winner of the last hole walks off the green, drops the ball, picks the next green and that’s the next hole.
• There are multiple tee boxes on Dunes and Trails  that are rarely used that can stretch the courses even further and change the characters of many holes.
• The Puffin is the mascot for Bandon Dunes in General and for the Bandon Dunes Course. 
• Two Dolphins is the branding at Pacific Dunes, thought club cover is a blue seal
• A Yellow Butterfly is the logo for Bandon Trails.
• Mike Kaiser owns a lot of land in southern Oregon both inland and on the coast.  Could there be another resort someday ?
• If you want the full story of how this course came about you should buy "Dream Golf: The Making of Bandon Dunes".  A good read its available at most book stores and of course at BDGR.
• You might want to also play a more conventional course while you are at BDRG.  It can reinforce in you that you can play golf on a regular course and might be a break.  There are 2 within driving distance:
•  Bandon Crossings just south of the town of Bandon and is a more inland course, 18 holes on regular turf rather than links.  The bunkers were done by one of the locals that worked on Pacific Dunes.  The course is quirky but fun and golf cars are allowed so your feet can have a rest.
• Sandpines is north of BDGR in the town of Florence, Oregon and is about an hour and half away.  This Rees Jones course is managed by Troon Golf.   The course is a very challenging , (76/131),  the wind blows constantly.  It’s a traditional golf course not a links style course.   They do have golf cars so you can ride, a restaurant\lounge for lunch and dinner.

•  There are 3 and soon to be 4 links courses at BDRG, there are only about 160 in the entire world.
• What's a links course?  There are more definitions but these 3 are pretty essential.
• A course built along the seaside on ground that links the ocean to the inland farm land.
• The soil is sandy and drains easily, this produces fast and firm fairways to play golf on.
• The course is laid out naturally on the land, rather than the land moved to create the course.

The Final Putt:

You'll come, stay and play on the courses at Bandon.  When you leave you will take a part of them with you.  A longing to return will develop.  You see a lot of fathers and sons, brothers, family and close golfing buddies at Bandon Dunes.  Usually one golfer of the group has been here before and they have brought back other special golfers in their lives.  There are also a lot of couples here where both are golfers.  There are people coming off a trip to Scotland or Ireland that have just arrived.  There are the folks that are trying to do a golf Oregon in a week where Bandon is a 2 or 3 day stop then its off to Bend and Portland and the courses there.  In the end you don't just play the courses here you experience the courses, the resort, and the people.