Announcing my Bandon Dunes Partnership
I am so excited to announce my latest partnership: Bandon Dunes Golf Resort! Bandon Dunes has had a special place in my heart since I visited for the first time as a 9 year old. Their support of my journey to the LPGA means the world to me!
Bandon, oh Bandon!
As a 9 year old junior golfer, my first ever Oregon Junior Amateur Championship was hosted at Bandon Dunes. Bandon Dunes was legendary in Oregon (and the world!), but I had never been there. When the Oregon Junior Golf Association announced Bandon Dunes would be hosting the Junior Amateur, my family was SO excited!
We made it a family vacation – even my grandma and grandpa came to watch!
That week, it was very hot in the Willamette Valley (where most of Oregon’s population lives) but cold and windy on the southern Oregon coast. None of the junior golfers cared. We would play our competition rounds, and then hop on the shuttle out to Shorty’s, the par-3 course at the practice facility, and play (often in 8-somes!) until dark. If we got cold, we would head into the practice facility shelter for the best hot chocolate in the world. Bandon Dunes is what golf is all about – playing the sport we love alongside the people we love. What more can you ask for?
A magical place
Since that time, Bandon Dunes has always been a magical place to me. I’ve had the privilege of playing there multiple times with OGA and my family. My last junior tournament in Oregon was the Oregon Junior Amateur and it was also hosted at Bandon Dunes, when I was 18. Starting and finishing my Oregon junior golf career at Bandon Dunes made for some of the best golfing memories I have.
My final Oregon Amateur
In July 2021, the Oregon Amateur Championship was hosted at Bandon Trails. (Fun fact: Trails is tied for my number one favorite course in the world with Nanea Golf Club in Hawaii.) With my dad on the bag, I played 9 rounds of golf in 7 days, had a hole in one on hole number 2 and secured my third Oregon Amateur Champion title. Playing my last Oregon Amateur at Bandon Trails just adds to the list of reasons that Bandon holds a very special place in my heart.
World class golf and world class support
When you love a place as much as I love Bandon Dunes, you naturally want to tell everyone what a great place it is. But you really don’t need me to tell you that. Bandon has been legendary for a long time and I just feel fortunate to be a small part of it. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort offers six courses, five of which are in the top 100 public golf courses in the world according to Golf Digest. They’re ranked #2 (Pacific Dunes), #7 (Bandon Dunes), #12 (Old MacDonald), #13 (Bandon Trails) and #15 (Sheep Ranch.) The final golf course is Bandon Preserve, a 13 hole Par 3 course. It’s one of the most beautiful places in Oregon, if not the world. And as I have already said many times, it is a magical place. I have played there in a tee shirt in December (and in full rain gear in July). It has beautiful views, comfortable lodgings, accommodating staff and of course, world class golf. I cannot say enough good things about Bandon Dunes. Our partnership is in the very early stages, but as I mentioned in my post about my partnership with Seamus Golf, I want to align myself with those who give back to the game, support youth and honor my Pacific Northwest roots. Bandon Dunes is all those things and I look forward to working together with them. I’ll keep you posted, but I wanted to share their amazing generosity and support of my journey to the LPGA. Thank you, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort!
