BANDON DUNES FOR A GROUP

Bandon is the American buddies trip, and it is the one most likely to be over-scheduled. Five full courses, a par-three course, walking only, and wind that will take three clubs out of your hands on the back nine. Groups book thirty-six a day for four days and finish the third round of the second day in silence.

Here is a trip that works.

How many rounds actually fit

Three days, five rounds. Not six, and certainly not eight.

Every course is a walk, and the wind does more damage than the distance. A morning round and an afternoon round on the same day is very doable once; doing it twice in a row is where a group falls apart. Plan one thirty-six day, put it in the middle, and keep the last day to a single morning round so people can travel.

If your group is over fifty, make it four rounds and add a day.

The order to play them in

• Bandon Dunes first. The original, the most straightforward, and the right introduction to how the wind works here.
• Pacific Dunes second. The best course on the property and the one everybody has come for. Play it fresh, in the morning, before anyone is tired.
• Bandon Trails as the afternoon of the thirty-six day. It moves inland into the trees, it is sheltered, and it is a relief after a windy morning.
• Old Macdonald on the last morning. Enormous greens, enormous fun, and forgiving enough that a group leaving for the airport is not fighting it.
• Sheep Ranch if you have a fifth round. No bunkers, thirteen greens on the cliff edge, and completely exposed, which makes it either the best round of the trip or the worst.

The Preserve, the thirteen-hole par three, is the most underrated thing on the property. Play it at the end of the thirty-six day with a drink in hand, for something small.

What to play for

The wind makes this a difficult place for a pure stroke-play competition. A crew can play the same course two days apart and score eight shots differently for reasons that have nothing to do with golf.

Play Stableford as the running individual competition. It absorbs a hole where the wind took your ball into a gorse bush in a way that stroke play does not, and it keeps everyone in the trip through a bad afternoon.

For the team game, better ball on the exposed courses and something harder, aggregate or Cheetah, at Bandon Trails, where the trees make scoring more predictable.

A shamble on the last morning at Old Macdonald is a good way to finish. Everybody hits a full round, nobody is grinding, and the tee shots stop mattering.

Practical notes

Caddies are worth it, particularly on the first round at each course. Not for the bag, for the lines. You will not read the greens correctly on your own here.

Book the Lodge or the Inn together. The trip is made in the evenings, and a group split across two buildings is two trips.

Bring rain gear you actually trust. It will rain sideways at some point and the golf carries on.

Nobody is riding. If somebody in the group cannot walk eighteen twice in a day, plan for it honestly when you build the schedule rather than on the second tee.