Bandon Dunes, Oregon "The first tee is yours." Said the golf club pro, a moment later I stood at my car changing into long pants and my spikes. Two minutes and I stand on the first tee of Bandon Dunes, a 357 yard par four, dogleg right. The sun hangs about three-fourths of the way along its path, maybe two more hours of light left. Without any warmup, I stroke a four iron into the fifteen mile per hour breeze. Thwack! A crisp shot as I relax and swing smoothly, but the ball balloons into the air and lands a mere 160 yards out, but in the fairway. I shoulder my bag and walk off the tee box. There seem to be no carts here; and I did not ask at the pro shop. I debated whether or not to play Bandon Dunes as I drove down Highway 101 from Portland. Over the five hour journey, I finally decided to go for it, despite the $175 green fees. When my car turned the final corner into the compound, where a two story wooden lodge, in modern Ikea style, overlooked the true links style course, I hopped out full of excitement. The course lies adjacent to the azure blue Pacific Ocean, ranked #3 by Golf Magazine for Top 100 Courses in the US. I can see why. A little haggling gets me on for $60 and a $270 room for $100. Nice to see how sympathetic people are to someone driving and golfing across the continent. |
I play smoothly, hitting crisp iron shots and a couple wayward fairway metals, but the low cut gorse makes balls easy to find off the banged up, thin links fairways; true to form with not one level lie.
On the eighth tee, the lengthening and orange shadows vanish as the sun dips behind some low lying mist, coloring the sky an irridescent pink. Finishing my nine in greying twilight, a silver sliver of a cresent moon appears, hovering over the silhouettes of the wind bent trees.
I retire to the dining room for a nice cabernet and Cohiba, looking forward to a full round of 18 holes tomorrow morning.