Sunday morning we woke up with the excitement and anticipation of a 36-hole day. Sheep Ranch followed by Bandon Dunes. The weather was perfect. It was cool in the morning, and there wasn’t too much wind.
We drove to the Sheep Ranch clubhouse, which is a good ways away from Lily Pond. On the way, you pass the main Bandon Lodge, Pacific Dunes, the Practice Center, and Old Macdonald.
There is a lot of commentary online about the order in which Bandon’s courses should be played. I’m not sure we had much of a choice, but Sheep Ranch was a wonderful start to the trip. It is wide open and very playable–you can get away with some loose shots here and there and still not make blowup-type numbers. I loved Sheep Ranch. The drone footage of Sheep Ranch on the Bandon website is incredible. It is the newest course at Bandon, and it has a mythological origin story. Mike Keiser and Phil Friedmann originally built it seemingly almost as a hobby or side project, then Coore and Crenshaw refined it, and it opened in 2020. One of the caddies said that it was called Sheep Ranch because someone told Mike Keiser that if he built a golf course on this property, it would become nothing but a sheep ranch. I haven’t read that anywhere else, but it sounds good.
I feel like I have returned from a religious pilgrimage for serious U.S. golfers. Bandon Dunes. Remote Southwest Oregon. Only golfers seem to know about it–I’ve mentioned the name to friends and family and get somewhat blank stares in return. Mentioning Bandon around other golfers, however, evokes hushed, slightly jealous responses like, “Ohhh, okay” [head nodding] and “Hmmm, cool.” If they have been, they know, and they are calculating several things all at once, like how does he get to do this, who is he going with. And if they haven’t been, they’re probably thinking, just what is Bandon, again? Well, Bandon is fantastic and fun and overwhelming all at once. Return trips are definitely a necessity.
Going into the trip, I feel like I did more than your average amount of research. I heard and read a lot about the difficulty in getting there, the size of the property, the purity of golf (no carts!), and, of course, the golf course architecture. After returning home, I feel like I just barely scratched the surface. This will be the first of a few posts on Bandon. I have a lot of thoughts on the subject now.
A couple of weeks before heading to Louisville, I was not familiar with Edward Lee. After returning home, I realize Edward Lee basically planned my trip, and to good effect.
Lee is a well-known chef from Louisville. 610 Magnolia is his primary restaurant, though he has other interests in the area. When I started researching Louisville, I read about 610 Magnolia, went to its website, and found out that it’s open Wednesday-Sunday and serves only from a tasting menu. I immediately e-mailed for a reservation. No luck. I was asking about a Wednesday, so I had some hope. But I went about my trip planning, thinking a visit to 610 Magnolia might not pan out.
Later online, I found an interview Edward Lee did with Andrew Zimmern. The subject was what to do in Louisville. Lee recommended staying at Gralehaus, part of the Grales family. I looked into that, it seemed cool, so I booked it. Gralehaus was cool. I added the Beer Lover’s package to my room, and four unique beers awaited me in the mini-fridge when I checked in. The room was dark and smartly decorated. It looked down into the biergarten, but the biergarten wasn’t open on Tuesday night. The room had an old school tape deck with a drawer of tapes I had never heard of. The set up looked too inviting, so after checking in, I put one of the tapes on and listened with headphones to some cool music. Next, I needed to get out and walk around.
I headed toward the Big Four Bridge; this is a pedestrian bridge over the Ohio River that crosses into Indiana and is recommended by any what-to-do-in-Louisville feature. On the way, I passed Cave Hill Cemetery, where Muhammad Ali is buried. It looked inviting, and I wish I had a gone inside to take a look. It’s huge, and you could see all the paths and plentiful green space through the entrance. I kept walking toward the bridge. The walk was too long, probably two miles, but I think I just wanted to get out in the city and explore. It was at times pleasant and at times ill-advised. Pleasant: walking through tree-lined streets near North Campbell Street, looking at lovely old houses. Not pleasant: walking past a desolate rock-crushing plant near the soccer stadium; there were sprinklers running here to tamp down the dust. Nonetheless, I made it to the bridge and walked across.
bar Vetti pizza; the Big Four Bridge; Gralehaus
The bridge was cool, definitely worth doing. There are great views into Louisville and into Indiana. The University of Louisville women’s crew team was practicing below when I walked across. There were a lot of people on the bridge, but it didn’t feel crowded. My plan was to eat at bar Vetti after the bridge, but I was now tired of walking and sitting on the Indiana side.
