Golf Course Reviews Archives - Page 2 of 6

September 22, 2020 Off By BBF

Del Monte Golf Course

Del Monte is definitely the “runt of the litter” when it comes to golf at Pebble Beach. Even though it’s officially a “Pebble Beach Company” golf course, I’m not sure it even makes the “must play list” when staying at Pebble for your bucket list golf trip. For sure- if you are playing only 3 rounds it’s not the third round to be played. After Pebble and Spyglass the plan of attack would be to play Poppy Hills, Spanish Bay, Black Horse or even Pacific Grove before you play Del Monte. Another approach would be to have your round number 3 be at Pasatiempo on your way from the Bay Area to the Monterey Peninsula.

September 8, 2020 Off By BBF

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort: Definitive Trip Guide

Bandon Oregon Buddies Golf Trips Five Buckets

The tagline for Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is “GOLF AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE…”. While this may be true, we think the better tagline should be “The Buddies Bucketlist Golf Trip: As it was meant to be… Full Stop”. Bandon Dunes sets a bar by which every other bucket list golf trip will be measured. The nice thing about Bandon is that it just fits the bill. Everything, every detail is thought through with a lens of making it the most enjoyable buddies golf trip experience that can be. With this Big Ball First guide on to how to best plan your trip, we hope it will be just that much better.

August 31, 2020 Off By BBF

Pacific Dunes, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort

Five Buckets

All of the courses at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort are truly bucket list golf courses, and they all have their own unique personality. A few weeks back I likened Pacific Dunes to the “Star Quarterback”, handsome and the most popular kid in High School. While that is true, Pacific Dunes must have also been voted “Most likely to punch you in the face” during senior year. You see, this golf course is just a little bit louder than the others. The greens are harder, the bunkers are gnarlier, the wind feels windier and the gorse seems gorse(ier). This golf course goes to 11, for sure. Don’t get us wrong, the other courses all have elements that are this hard, this fantastic, and this majestic. It’s just the way Pacific Dunes is assembled from start to finish that can be the most completely enjoyable wire-brushing you’ve ever experienced.

August 17, 2020 Off By BBF

Bandon Preserve Golf Course: Bandon Dunes

Three Buckets

Bandon Preserve Golf Course at Bandon Dunes is a unique 13 hole all par 3 layout that is nestled with ocean views between Bandon Trails Golf Course and Bandon Dunes Golf Course. You might think The Preserve would be a waste of your time while at the world’s pre-eminent golf course resort and wonder, “why do I want to blow time on this little par 3 course”? But Bandon Preserve is more than meets the eye on paper.

August 3, 2020 Off By BBF

Bandon Dunes Golf Course

Five Buckets

In our review a few weeks ago of Old Mac, we referred to Bandon Dunes as a “Stiff upper lipped dad” kind of golf course, when comparing it to its other family members. It’s clear we wrote that review the morning before before we played Bandon Dunes for what would be the fourth time, and honestly we don’t think we could have been more wrong. This is the golf course that started it all, if you think about the accomplishments at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (4, soon to be 5 public golf courses in the top 20 public golf courses according to Golf Digest, then Bandon Dunes deserves some serious street cred, if for no other reason, it’s O.G. full on original gangster.

July 27, 2020 Off By BBF

Bandon Trails Golf Course, Bandon Dunes

Four Buckets

I don’t think anyone would begrudge Bandon Trails if it were having a hardcore inferiority complex, or suffered from Impostor Syndrome. The third of the golf courses built at the resort after Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes is likely the least played of the bunch at Bandon. Yet it is still one of the most loved courses by die hards and caddies alike. It’s hard to talk about a genuinely world class Coore and Crenshaw designed golf course in this regard. Anywhere else in the country and this golf course would definitely be a bucket list destination golf course in its own right, in fact it even regularly breaks the top 15 public golf courses in the country.

July 20, 2020 Off By BBF

Bandon Dunes Sheep Ranch Golf Course

Five Buckets

This being the newest course of the bunch at Bandon Dunes Sheep Ranch feels like it has something to prove. Opened in June 2020, it comes out of the cuts trying to set itself apart and feel different. And that it does. Although it’s set at a higher elevation the overall angle of the golf course creates a very different feel from the other courses on the complex- as though you can just reach out and touch the water- from everywhere on the course.

July 13, 2020 Off By BBF

Bandon Dunes: Old Macdonald Golf Course

Do not use this category Four Buckets

The best analogy to explain the courses in the Bandon Dunes complex is that they are essentially an extended family. Pacific Dunes is the older brother star quarterback handsome who always gets the hot girls. Bandon Dunes is likely the stalwart dad who started the whole movement in the first place, stiff upper lip kind of guy. Sheep Ranch is the upstart kid who’s currently too big for its britches. Bandon Trails would be the middle kid who genuinely would be a super star if he could just pick up and go somewhere else and not be in the shadow of his dad and older brother (but for the record, it’s a golf course and they can’t really do that). And in that context, Old Macdonald is the crazy uncle who’s half off the ranch and generally drunk all the time. Old Macdonald is the Rudy Giuliani of golf.

July 6, 2020 Off By BBF

Half Moon Bay Golf Links Buddies Golf Trip

Buddies Golf Trips California Do not use this category Three Buckets United States: California

Half Moon Bay Golf Links is the golf complex at the Ritz Carlton in the sleepy seaside village of Half Moon Bay about 45 minutes south of San Francisco. It would be hard to call Half Moon Bay Golf Links “must do” destination golf. Although it has broken the top 20 Golf Resorts in the United States and the Ocean Course is ranked 70th on the list of top 100 golf courses as ranked by top100golfcourses.com (whoever they are).

June 29, 2020 Off By BBF

Half Moon Bay Golf Links: The Ocean Course

Three Buckets

Outside of Bandon Dunes, Half Moon Bay Golf Links – Ocean Course may be the most authentic public golf attempt to replicate Scottish or Irish links golf courses on the west coast. Designed by Arthur Hills, the course opened in 1997 and features wide open fairways that play fast and firm right next to the coast of the Pacific ocean.