Make Time: Golf Weekend: Bandon Dunes

Vasili and I woke up Friday morning to a light rain and tons of mist, making it hard to see down to the water from our room. We had to drive about two hours south along the coast to pick up Jim and Stewart, who were both flying in for our golf weekend. I've been hearing about this golf course along the coast of Oregon called Bandon Dunes for many years now, and it was a huge bucket list item for me. I organized this group of four to play 36 holes at Bandon on Saturday, and so this was the beginning of our weekend. Stewart has been my close friend since we were in 3rd grade. We grew up a few houses away from one another, and we have always been close. He still lives in Chicago, but just before coming to Bandon he was in Houston on work, so it was a big sacrifice for him to make this trip. I really appreciated the fact that he was there - would not have been the same without him. Jim went to college with me, and we were roommates our senior year. It's safe to say that we had a blast that year, and have stayed close ever since. Jim now lives in SF with his wife and their child, so it was fantastic that he got the "hall pass" to come away for this golf weekend. Vasili and I picked up the boys around 12:30pm from a small airport near Coos Bay, and we drove directly to a local golf course called Watson Ranch. None of us played terribly great, but it was a good warmup for Saturday, when we would be playing 36 holes (two rounds) back to back. After Friday's golf we drove about 35 minutes to Bandon Dunes Resort, where we checked in and got to see one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen all year (pics below). We grabbed a quick bite at the least formal of the 5 restaurants at the resort, and then we headed to our room to bunk for the night. A few drinks later and everyone was ready for bed.

Saturday morning we got up around 7am and headed up to the main clubhouse to checkin and get some breakfast. We heard the buffet was amazing so we hit that up. Unfortunately when we pulled up we saw that the mist was very thick, and it was drizzling. No bueno. Everyone at the course said it would clear up by either 11am or 1pm, which sounded ok for us. Our first tee time was on the Bandon Dunes course at 8:50am, and our second tee time was on the Pacific Dunes course at 1:50pm. Neither golf course allows carts, so we hired caddies and walked both. I shared a caddie with Stewart, and his name was Dave. Great guy. From San Diego but had been at Bandon for 12 years, so we felt lucky to have someone with such great expertise to help us. The fog never lifted, unfortunately, which made us all a bit sad, but we couldn't get sad on such a beautiful course. Walking both courses made us appreciate the beauty, and even though we couldn't see everything we enjoyed our time immensely. I shot a 93 and a 90, and by the end of it all I was dead tired (as was everyone else). Regardless, a fantastic day and a fun time. The course is meant to be similar to those in Scotland, where it's always misty and foggy, so we felt like we did it the most classic way possible. After golfing we had some drinks at the clubhouse and then cleaned up and headed to dinner at an asian/fusion restaurant called Trails End. Great food. Tons of laughs. I loved the dynamic of this group, and it was fun to cap off our night with a great meal and lots of laughs and reflection over the day. After dinner we sat outside at a big fire and laughed even more loudly over some drinks. We didn't last too long, and we were in bed soon thereafter.

Sunday morning we woke up to a perfectly clear and sunny day. Damn! Why couldn't we get this the day before? Ah well. We grabbed breakfast and then walked out on the course to take some pics. We saw some of the most beautiful holes, which we played the day before, and it was nice to be able to see them. One of the holes at Bandon has been labeled a top 500 hole in the world, so it was nice to actually see it in the clear of a sunny day. We grabbed some things at the pro shop and then Vasili and I dropped Jim and Stewart at the airport. It was hard seeing my close friends leave, but I know I'll see them both soon. I can't express enough how grateful I was that they both made this trip. I will remember it for the rest of my life. Thanks fellas.

Vasili and I headed to Eugene to watch the Seattle Seahawks game, which they lost, and then Vasili was off on his way up to Seattle. I hung around and unfortunately couldn't find an open and respectable campground, so I pulled into a Walmart and slept in my car in the parking lot for the night. I knew I would do this at some point, and so it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. Funny - I went from one of the nicest resorts in the country on Saturday night to sleeping in my car at Walmart on Sunday. Classic. I laughed myself to sleep.

Today is Monday and I have been driving around central Oregon just getting lost and seeing some amazingly beautiful countryside. The colors are unreal. The people are very kind. I'm going to drive over to Crater Lake right now and see that before heading down to Ashland later this evening. I'm loving Oregon!!