Just plowed through this whole thread, and had gotten the itch a while back for a Bandon trip and it's now through the roof again.

Interested in thoughts on the best bang for the buck combo on price/weather for time to visit. Some potential visitors may be slightly whiny on weather, and some slightly whiny on price. My plan is to pick the best time that works for me and is best bang for the buck, give full disclosure to potential participants, and pull trigger.

Also any thoughts on group caddies? I was pretty interested in caddies, but extra $125-140 per round def increases pain threshold.

Thanks for any feedback and all the great TRs!

overlay this

with this
https://www.bandondunesgolf.com/2023-lodging-rates

I have priced the trip for every month from Oct-April, just was curious on thoughts on what the best value is on that. For example, is April worth paying 2x January?

Absolutely not. Looks at the average temps for Bandon. Average high is 54 in December and January, 67-68 in July - September. Not that big of a spread. What you are going to get in the Summer months is far less chance of rain. In your example you are just as likely to get rained in in January or April. The difference between the two is the amount of daylight that you are going to get which means a less chance of getting 36 in. Also you are drawing live to a frost delay in January.

I think so far I have gone in February, March, and October (and in less than 3 weeks May). If cost is your #1 concern then I would look at the October - March timeframe. If you need good weather that bite bullet and pay for the summer.

Oh, also one other thing is the winds. Courses were made with the summer winds in mind. Meaning if you play in the winter you are getting long into the wind holes and short downwind holes. Certainly not all but something I am mindful of.

i've played approximately eighty 18 hole rounds on Bandon courses during the first week of January. i once experienced a 20 minute delay due to frost at old mac when our five groups were first off, and players in couple of groups behind us were shuttled to the 5 tee and started from there. yes, frost is in play but the likelihood of it happening is really low

Thanks Scott and RedEyes for your input! RE I know your group goes in Jan yearly, the value seems really good at that time to me.

it's all about if you want to play the second 18. if that doesn't matter, early Jan is money. if it does, you're prob best trying in feb or mar when the days are a bit longer.

Thanks! One thing I was thinking was maybe playing 4 courses one a day and doing a “replay” for BD twice, playing the front once and back once. Workable IYO?

Bandon would be the easiest course to get a split nine since the turn is right at the clubhouse. i suppose you could do the same at Sheep but let's not talk about that right now

i strongly recommend playing the 13 hole 3-par Preserve. a single group of eight would blend right in

the south end of the Practice Center turns to the Shorty's Course when the south range is closed (they fly red and green flags to let you know to stop or go). leave a donation in the box at the starter's shed and go have fun. all proceeds go to the caddie program. it's a fantastic course for a three club challenge, don't even carry a bag (unless it's a backpack with beer in it) and play until it gets dark.

and of course the Punch Bowl putting green just west of the Pacific clubhouse

Thanks for the intel on Bandon, was just gonna look at the layout to see if feasible. 10000% want to do all 3 of those also! Just sounds like such an amazing place. So something like:

Arrival day: Preserve
Day 1: Old Mac/Punchbowl
Day 2: Pacific/Bandon
Day 3: Trails/Preserve/Shortys
Day 4: Sheep/Bandon

Arrived today and got the preserve in. Cool and breezy but awesome.

Weather looks awful for the week but we’ll gear up and see what we can get in.

Old Mac and Bandon on the schedule tomorrow.

yeah, looks to be wet and windy. let's hope the electricity stays away.
https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...2=-124.407&e=0
https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...Type=graphical

bring an extra pair of socks to swap out between rounds if you need them.
looks like the wind is still coming from the south (winter winds).
https://www.windy.com/43.188/-124.390?42.730,-124.390,8

you should have some good holes to take advantage of it (Bandon 5 & 11, Mac 6, 7, 11 & 13). you'll also get the teeth of it on Mac 3 & 4, 9 & 10, and 17 & 18.

i'm jealous. even a wet windy day at Bandon beats the hell out of most other things you could be doing.

Old Mac #4 with Winter winds is death.

right? i'm honestly not sure i've every played that hole with a big helping wind. i can remember a few times when the wind was down, but it seems almost every time is into the teeth.
the drive on #3 can also be really tough when you're trying to get it over the hill and the wind is coming hard off the left. any bit of wrong spin and away it goes.

Friend of mine hit the Bandon lotto last week. Our new pro posted about needing a last minute fourth for a pro am and friend snatched at it. Pacific, Old Mac, and Trails, all paid for. Rough life.

rough life indeed!

Shoe gave yesterday a 2....yikes.

JFC. On a waitlist for both Jan 11-17 and Jan 18-23. Feeling pretty soul-crushed right now. She said no avail for more than 1 night til Nov-Dec 2023. She did also say they get cancellations every day but holy fk

Looking a little wet out there today. Saw standing water on a Sheep Ranch green. I will be checking course cameras daily now for the next 2 weeks!

Monday was a **** show. Went on Old Mac and had decent weather for 11 holes. The last 7 were tough with wind hard steady rain. We were standing under the cover near Bandon one tee for a replay and it started gusting 40-45 and dumping buckets so we skipped the pm round. A few hours later it was nice enough to do punch bowl before going to dinner in town.

Today was nasty in the morning with a forecasted decent afternoon. Swapped am Sheep for pm as we sat at breakfast and it was pouring. Was a pretty good decision as it was 14 nice weather holes and 4 of downpour. Played the preserve in the morning and got about half of it in before the heavy stuff started.

But the goretex saved the day. All very playable with good rain gear.

Eagled #1 at Sheep today en route to an 80 with 3 doubles. A really good round for me considering the wind and how bad the rain was for a few holes.

Pac:Trails tomorrow but it’s 100% chance of rain all day so we’ll see about 36.

keep up the positive attitude. if you can't have fun playing on a links course in the wind and rain, you may be doing it wrong.
congrats on the eagle and your score on Sheep with those conditions. Sheep 1 is such a great opening hole.

not really surprising. i think they're taking reservations up to 2 years out now.
i suggest staying in active touch with them...something will open up and everything will come together.

Thanks for the encouragement! We are willing to switch rooms a time or two during the stay if necessary, so I'm hoping we can at least piece something together, it would be depressing to have to just book Jan 2024 right now and spend 21 months refreshing the course flyovers from the Bandon site

just took a peek at the Pacific webcam (live) since there are trees next to the tee and the wind today looks like fun
https://www.bandondunesgolf.com/cour...-course-camera