Brandon Tucker: Don't trust weathermen at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort

Pay attention to the weatherman over the last week, and you would be led to believe Tuesday would be a golf washout at Bandon Dunes. I'd been checking the weather about three times a day over the last week, and Tuesday looked to be the worst day: rain all day with highs topping out in the mid 40s. It's hard to really look forward to the sound of your alarm clock in the morning when you're anticipating that kind of punishment - even on the finest of links.

So what happens? Well, by the time we woke up, the rain's pitter-patter had ceased and the sun was shining bright. Our 36-hole day went as scheduled and plenty of sunshine followed us along the way. It made for some great photography and a very pleasant day (with two birdies), even in late April, where the weather can be more of a crap shoot around these parts.

Turns out, most locals here in Bandon take the forecast about as seriously as a Roger Clemens steroids denial. Many simply tell you all you can do is prepare for anything and just go with the flow.

"Must be nice to be wrong all the time," quipped the woman at the halfway house of Bandon Trails, who said she hardly ever considers the forecast.

Much like in the British Isles, the weather is simply unpredictable on this spot on the Pacific coast in southern Oregon. AccuWeather may as well put a chimp on salary reading the Doppler Radar and publishing Bandon's forecast.

In reality, you're likely going to see a little bit of everything over the course of 18 holes (or in this case, a jam-packed 36 from sunrise to sunset today). We experienced about five minutes of hail, intermittent sprinkles of rain and sunny skies. The weather probably changed 15-20 degrees over the course of the afternoon and I was adding or removing clothing every other hole. Every time I put on my wool hat or windbreaker, five minutes later I was sweating like Willie Nelson at tax time.

There were moments where there was a menacing black cloud that appeared to be headed right toward us, and by the next hole it had vanished and blue skies were magically back.

So the lesson is: don't sleep through your tee time on any of the three Bandon Dunes courses just because the weather man says golf is a lost cause. You'll miss out on some of the most incredible golf holes any coastline can yield. I hear the forecast is supposed to be bad tomorrow too, but frankly I've stopped looking it up myself. There are other golf destinations where you can look at the radar and start making plans to go bowling, but not here. I'm actually a little nervous that Thursday, originally scheduled to be sunny, may now be our worst day.

Stay tuned for plenty more on Bandon Dunes and the rest of Oregon at WorldGolf.com.

Despite a rainy forecast, it was sunny skies on Pacific Dunes at the Bandon Dunes Resort.

Bandon Trails is the least famous of the three Bandon Dunes courses, but still has plenty of picture perfect moments.

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