A four-day buddies trip to Bandon Dunes, paced right

How to play all five Bandon courses in four days without burning out — anchor rounds, rest hours, and where to eat in between.

You land in North Bend at 11:14am. The drive south on US-101 is thirty-five minutes of cliffs and fog and pasture, and by the time the gravel road turns into the resort entrance the sky is doing that thing it does at Bandon — bright and grey at once, like someone pulled a sheet over the sun.

You're here for four days. Five courses. Eleven other guys.

Here's how to pace it so you actually enjoy round five.

Day 1: Travel + a soft landing

Get in early enough to play one round, but don't book the marquee. Save Pacific Dunes for tomorrow when the legs are fresh and you can stop and look at the ocean without falling behind your group. Day-one tee time should be Old Macdonald at 2:30pm — the late afternoon light makes the rumpled fairways glow, and even if you're tired from travel, OM rewards a slightly checked-out brain. Wide off the tee, room to roll.

Dinner at the Pacific Grill, the restaurant overlooking Pacific Dunes. Nothing fancy. Get to bed by ten.

Day 2: The big one

Pacific Dunes in the morning. 8:00am or 8:30am tee time — early enough that the wind hasn't fully come up, late enough that the dew is off and you can putt with confidence. Walk it. Caddies if your group can afford them; you'll learn more in 18 holes than in a week of YouTube.

Lunch at the McKee's Pub between rounds. Reuben, fries, one beer maximum. Then Bandon Dunes (the original) in the afternoon. This is the round most golfers describe with hand gestures and trailing-off sentences a year later. Just play it. Don't film. Don't post. The 16th will end the day for you whether you finish it or not.

Day 3: Recovery, kind of

Thirteen holes at Bandon Preserve in the morning. Par-3 course on the cliffs above the ocean. Show up at 7:30 with a bloody mary, play it in 90 minutes, take pictures of your friends backlit by the Pacific. This is the round you'll remember the warmth of, not the score.

Afternoon: do nothing. Sit by the firepit at the Inn. Get a massage if that's a thing your group does. Read. Nap. The trip is half over and you've got eighteen big holes left tomorrow plus the trip home.

Dinner at Tony's Crab Shack in old town Bandon if anyone in the group is on a "we drove all the way to the Oregon coast and we're going to eat seafood somewhere divey" mission. Otherwise the Trails End at the resort is fine and you don't have to drive.

Day 4: Sheep Ranch + home

Sheep Ranch is the most recent of the five championship courses (Shorty's, the new 19-hole short par-3, opened in 2024 and is the latest add overall) and the one your one friend who's been here three times will say is his favorite. Tee off at 9:00am. No bunkers, every hole on the cliff, every shot a decision. You'll either love it or your back will hurt from playing five rounds in four days and you'll wish you'd skipped it. Both are valid.

Lunch at the Bunker Bar — the underground cigar and spirits lounge that feels like a speakeasy for golfers. Order a beer and a sandwich and don't apologize. Wheels up at 4:00pm.

A few practical notes

• Book 14+ months out. Bandon's tee sheet for premium dates fills early. June and September are the windows where weather and tee-sheet pressure balance best.
• Walk everything. The whole point of Bandon is the walk. Caddies will save your scorecard and your back.
• Pack for three seasons. It's the Oregon coast. Bring rain layers even in August.
• Don't try for six courses in four days. Pacific Dunes deserves your A-game. So does Sheep Ranch. So does the conversation at dinner.

Track the trip

Five courses in four days is the kind of run your friends will be referencing at dinners for a decade. Don't try to remember it all from memory — log each round in AwayGame as you play it, drop a few photos, and let the map fill in. Years from now you'll open it on a slow Sunday and the whole trip will come back.

Drop the pin. Start the journal.

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