Oregon/PNW guys or others who have been - thinking of adding on Chambers before this trip as a flight to Seattle may make the most sense and CB is on my hit list.

Week after Thanksgiving - could be pretty wet obv but my research seems to suggest that Chambers drains as well as any other sand-based course so it should be fine?

Any experiences or reservations about trying to do it that time of year? Save that adventure for a better time?

it was built on an old sand and gravel site, and they hauled off, cleaned, and brought back almost 1.5 million cubic feet of earth to build it. it won't be soft to walk, if the grass is wet the fairways will play short and you won't get as much of the linksy roll out

If you have time I highly recommend Pebble/Spyglass -> Bandon -> Chambers Bay. You could probably do it all in about 8-10 days. If you have extra time can head over to Coeur d'Alene and onto Glacier National Park area. Neither of the last 2 stops were golf focused although I believe Coeur d'Alene has some good courses. One of my favorite trips ever.

That does sound good. I did the Pebble/Bandon combo within a week of each other once and it was an awesome combo. Didn't plan on doing it, just happened to have work trips line up that way.

Yeah, you might get rained on, but the course will be in good shape, and that's too early for it to be very cold. I really like Chambers, and I actually haven't played it since the redid the greens, so I presumably might like it even more. I watched a lot of the Women's Am there a month or so ago, and had me jonesing to play it again.

Coeur d'Alene should definitely fall into the golf-focused part of such a trip. Circling Raven on the Reservation near Coeur d'Alene is one of my favorite courses, and the Coeur d'Alene Resort course is definitely worth playing once for the floating green and how damn good they do keeping it in shape (the turf is impeccable).

I've often preached (including on here) that an "Inland NW Golf Trip" is a very economical way to plan a long weekend trip with great golf. Circling Raven is $150 a round during peak season, and I think the Resort is about the same. To make it a three-course trip I'd throw in Palouse Ridge in Pullman, about 50 minutes south of Coeur d'Alene. I really, really like that course. It's around $115 a round.

And if you want to expand your geographic reach, Wine Valley in Walla Walla is a REALLY good course (although you're rolling the dice with the wind...it is often windy, and often VERY windy).

Oh, and I forgot Gamble Sands since I've never played there. #1 public course in Washington. I would say it's "right off I-5" and perfect for this golf road trip, but it's nor really "right off." It's in the middle of nowhere.

God, I gotta stop. Road tripping along the coast from Pebble up through Bandon, Oregon, and Washington has too many good courses (including a stop off at my home course, but also Salish Cliffs and Gold Mountain in Washington).

i haven't played the big Monterey Bay courses, odd considering i lived half an hour away from them for five years and dated the daughter of a Pebble greenskeeper (my next door neighbor, she didn't live with him). i was playing baseball then and golf wasn't a thing for me yet.
don't overlook Pasatiempo up near Santa Cruz, it's an Alister MacKenzie course and the one he lived on when he died. they've been allowing public play for several years now at certain times.
Bayonet and Black Horse are two other courses that were part of the old Ft. Ord military base before it was decomissioned (hard to guess by the names, right?) and are different from each other and said to be solid value

no experience with the eastern WA-ID courses other than having heard about them for years and wanting to play them for just as long

Awesome stuff and great advice. I was in my RV for the trip and transitioning from golf to hiking mode, but did swing by the Highlands Course in Coeur d'Alene and enjoyed it. Eyed Circling Raven and Resort but didn't pull the trigger. These posts have me thinking about doing it all again in the next year. Truly phenomenal.

Monterey Bay does have some amazing courses. With that being said, and I may get slaughtered for this, I can't recommend Pasatiempo even though it is an Alister MacKenzie design. Disclaimer: I did play it shortly after greens had been punched. But very small driving range and chain link fences and roads lining quite a few fairways just don't do it for me. Seeing Mr. MacKenzie's house (on I think it's #5 green?) was pretty cool though.

In Monterey Bay I would recommend Pasadera, Bayonet/Blackhorse, Quail Lodge, and Poppy Hills on the "value" end of the spectrum.

https://coloradoavidgolfer.com/ready-to-ride/

The Keiser boys (Mike's sons) have about 2,000 acres in some sandy soil Northeast of Denver to build on!

Oh, Rodeo Dunes is a terrible effing name but I'm sure we can workshop something before the first rounds are played.

Centennial Dunes, Columbine Dunes (State flower), Spruce Dunes (state tree) anything!

Not sure how well Columbine Dunes would play. Seems like a terrible option to me.

I'd vote for Doobie Doobie Dunes tho.

columbine dunes would be horrible...the reason is sad but it's a thing
from all i've heard to date Spruce Dunes is the option i'd pick so far but i'm thinking there's a better one out there

Meh good points

Rodeo dunes is terrible is all I’m saying. But a (likely public) coore Crenshaw sand based course less than an hour from the Denver airport sounds great

Looks like a great day at Bandon today. 60 degrees and no rain. That's 12 degrees warmer than here in Tampa.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Duney McDuney Face

Cheers to you!
looks to be hazy but calm at 15:00 today at the Punch Bowl. the concrete patio is starting to dry out but still has wet shadows from some earlier rain. https://www.bandondunesgolf.com/golf...c-dunes-camera

Less than an hour from the Denver Airport and somehow 2.5 hours from Downtown Denver

Flying to Bandon in 2 weeks, can't wait! We have gotten the lodging alllllmost entirely squared away. Staying in a Chrome Lake Double 1/11-14, then a Lily Pond on the 14th, then back in a Chrome Lake Double the 15th and 16th. So just need a CLD to open up for the 14th, then we can just be in the same room the entire time.

Plan and participants:
Me, currently a 19, wildly inconsistent (shot 77-108 back to back last year).
Brother RT, currently about a 12, gets frustrated when it starts going south, short game is wedge-based, two factors that may be rough.
Dad DT, currently about a 25, good hybrid bump and run short game, just no distance. Fatigue is a factor and concern.
Best friend JK, currently about a 17, pretty weak short game and putting.

Jan 11 - 330 Bandon Preserve
Jan 12 - 950 Old Mac - group caddie
Jan 13 - 1240 Bandon Dunes - group caddie
Jan 14 - 950 Sheep Ranch - group caddie
Jan 15 - 1130 Bandon Trails - regular caddies
Jan 16 - 840 Pacific Dunes - regular caddies
Jan 17 - 900 Bandon Preserve, then drive to Portland and fly home

We are playing skins on every hole, 18 hole round robin matches each main round, and playing 2 v 2 best ball the first 3 rounds rotating partners. Then for the last two rounds, the guy who is up the most will team with the guy who is down the most to play the other two in a 36 hole best ball, with the double bag caddies each assigned to one of the teams.

RT is playing green, JK and I are playing gold (tho will prob hit a few of the epic tee shots (like Bandon 16, Sheep 6) from the green tees where appropriate), and DT is playing orange, and JK and I get 5 strokes from RT and DT gets 10 (and 5 from JK and I obv).

I have a request in to see if KingJames' brother is available for our trip.

I'll def post a TR here, will see if it is done live or not. Old Mac will be like my 3rd or 4th round with Arccos also, so looking forward to getting that data as I'm a stats nerd, and am annoyed af that Sheep Ranch isn't mapped yet.

Ghost Tree starting to lean. May be RIP one day soon.

i saw that as well. they'll find a way to keep it upright, just too iconic to that course to let it go over.

looking forward to the TR Aces.

Ha yeah my group was texting today about the "OMG" moment if you snap hook one into the Ghost and it topples over. Banned from Bandon.

Aces -
has everyone been there before?
how many rounds has DT walked recently?

looks like they raised the Jan rates five bucks to $110, combine that with $110 a bed in a Chrome Double and you've spent $130 less than a green fee peak season. makes it easy to play a single round each day and not feel pressed to reroute for the discount.

similarly, don't sleep on playing an afternoon Shorty's round after one of those 9 or 10am starts, you'll have plenty of daylight and it's a cheap and easy stroll.

your Bandon 1240 time will end right around the 500 sunset. that last stretch of holes is best experienced late afternoon, imo, and you're right in the sweet spot. hoping you get a clear horizon

Yeah I'm mad jealous on hearing of Bandon again. On my last trip I decided I can't do 36 holes on back-to-back days any more. I really like the December or January idea where I only play 18.

i won't begrudge you if you do, but please don't tell or bring anyone else
our secret, k?

None of use have ever been to Bandon. Have walked ten or so rounds with DT over the last few months. He got pretty powered down on one round where it got pretty warm but obv that won’t be an issue.

One of the reasons I really wanted to get us in a room without changes on premises was to allow everyone to kind of choose your own adventure pre and post rounds as far as how much more golf (if any) people want. Def looking forward to time on the Preserve, Shortys, and the Punchbowl.

And yeah your point on cost was a huge reason we decided on January, our group would largely struggle walking 36 a day anyway, so don’t get the replay discount benefit.

And I had looked at going earlier on the BD round, but had heard the same about how elite the closing stretch is at sunset so gonna roll with it and keep fingers crossed for a wee good rub of the green.

first time for all is fantastic, and your schedule is set up well for a choose your own adventure.

also don't overlook the option of playing Sheep 1-11 as a reroute (another great stretch of land to be on near sunset), or Bandon back nine again after a different course...never hurts to ask and they'll do their best to get you on if they can.

i just re-read the posts from back in April when KJ was praising the merits of gortex and Aces didn't think he'd be able to patch a trip together. excited to see how this one turns out.

a couple-more tips:
- never under any circumstances break in a brand new pair of shoes at Bandon unless you bought them in the pro shop because alaska lost your luggage
- Sheep Ranch makes a pretty fat breakfast burrito and they have their own driving range north of the first hole. even if you skip the burrito i recommend warming up at that range at least once just because you can, cool experience.