We are lodged in the Lily Pond complex, with rooms that feature gas fireplaces, two queen beds, WiFi internet access (free of charge) and a great shower head.

Along with the Dartmouth contingent we are joined by four friends of John Blair and Jim Noyes.

The weather, which is of utmost importance to us golfers, is nothing short of extraordinary-clear, sunny days with temps in the 60s and shirtsleeve golf weather-from what we understand, a real treat for this time of year. There is a possibility of rain on Thursday, but we should be mostly done with our golf before the heavy rain begins.

We played the Pacific Dunes course on Monday morning. This is the most famous and most highly rated of the three (soon to be four) courses here. The course is spectacular, the conditions superb and the company and camaraderie great-what more could we ask for! We played a modified skins format, with the lowest score (handicap adjusted) being awarded the skin for each hole. In addition, we played closest to the pin on four of the par threes. We each kicked in $5 to the prize pot, which was then awarded to those victors among the 12 of us. Dinner Monday night was at McKee’s Pub on the premises, an Irish style pub with a big screen for watching the Phils best the Yanks in game five of the series.

Today we played the Bandon Trails course. Unlike the Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes courses, this course winds mostly among trees and is sheltered from the ocean and its breezes. The format was two-man teams playing better ball, handicap adjusted, to be matched against the other teams. We each kicked in $10 per person, with the awards being distributed to the three best, lowest handicap adjusted scoring teams.

Dinner tonight was in the Lodge. An excellent menu and wine list. The highlight of the dinner was a visit from Mike Keiser, the gentleman who is the owner, developer and visionary of the resort. He knows Jim Noyes (they are both members of the Chicago Golf Club). We had a wonderful discussion with him about the resort here and what he is doing elsewhere in the world developing new courses. Mike is truly one of the extraordinary golf personages of our time, and it was a special treat to have him take his time to visit with us. We all toasted his ability to make his visions a reality.

Tomorrow finds us on the Bandon Dunes course (the first of the courses here and the one that initially put Bandon Dunes on the golf map) first thing in the morning. We have a special treat awaiting us, as we will follow that round with a second round that day on the brand new, and not-yet-open-to-the-public-18-holes course that is a tribute to C. B. MacDonald called Old MacDonald. This has been arranged specially for us, as the public has been able to play only 10 holes until next spring, and the full 18 holes is being made available to us even though the course is now closed to the public until next spring. What an outstanding treat this is. For those of us who survive the potential of 36 holes tomorrow, we will be having dinner again at McKee’s Pub, as we figure that is easy to get to for weary legs and worn out bodies.

On Thursday, our final day of golf, we will play the Pacific Dunes course again, clearly the most spectacular course of the three present courses.