[William_G]

Eugene Country Club was organized in 1899 as a 9 hole golf club south of the Willamette River in the College Hill area of town.
The current site of the club and it’s 18 hole golf course is now just a few hundred yards north of the river.
Chandler Egan designed and built the original 18 holes over a 2 year period from 1923-1925.

Aerial from 1939.



Johnny Miller seen putting out on 18 to earn medalist honors at the 1964 USGA Boys Junior Amateur, which he went on to win and help launch his success in golf.



In 1965, the club commissioned Robert Trent Jones, Sr. to remodel it’s outstanding golf course.
Many golf insiders still consider the remodel/turnaround to be among Jone’s best and most sensitive pieces of work. By turning the greens into tees, and tees into greens, the 18th green became the 1st tee. Water in front of a tee now became water in front of a green, while maintaining the beautiful trees and fairways thereby saving money. The total reversal was completed over 6 months from April to October 1967.

Aerial from 1968



Aerial from 2008



Routing



Scorecard



New this year are Family Tees, Level 1 at 150 yards, and Level 2 at 200 yards.







#1…(yardage book images by BestApproach.com)



A straight forward start into a cathedral of trees, evergreen Cedars with a variety of deciduous trees.







#2
A challenging par 3, a 3 is a always good.







#3
A nice drive leaves you with a short iron and a birdie chance.









#4
A par is a good score here as bigger numbers loom. The fairway bunker was recently moved further away from the tee under the guidance of the then architect of record the late John Harbottle (he will be missed).









#5
A beautiful par 3, don’t be short.







#6

Risk reward.











#7

Tiger Woods 4-putted here during the Duck Invitational.







#8
A well shaped drive makes this a birdie hole.







#9
Need two well struck shots here. The old apple orchard on the right and left provides a nice snack.









#10
Best to avoid the large maple tree on the right off the tee.









#11
Nice to shape it left to right and get up the ridge off the tee. Many player’s favorite hole with a classic camouflage water hazard.









#12
A deceptive par 3 where the tightly mown areas short and left can make for a tough par.









#13

A reachable par 5 when you hit a good one down the slope off the tee.









#14
A left to right shot off the tee is best, aim at "Marge", the cedar tree on the left and fade it into the fairway.







#15

A wonderful dogleg left, you must make the corner to have a clear shot at the diagonal green.









#16

A reachable par 5 with a good drive, Spencer Levin 4-putted here to lose the Pacific Coast Amateur.

The 2nd photo below illustrates the fairway undulations present not only on 16, but on the entire course. The old farmland and present course is on a flood plain, where meandering waterways shaped the ground. The old river beds and tributaries of the site traverse the course, with one particular ridge cutting across 13, 16, 17, 11 and 8.









#17

A short par 4 where "Olajuwon", the cedar on the right off the tee, is ready to reject the poorly shaped tee shot.







#18

Jones Sr. framed 2 straight shots with Spencer Butte in the background to finish with a large green with 4 distinct hole areas divided by a large swale.








Thanks

[Emile Bonfiglio]

there are a couple of boomerang dog legs huh?  I only hear the best of things about this course.

[Dan Herrmann]

Some friends from my Pennsylvania club were recently guests at Eugene.  They fell in love with the place.  Nothing but high compliments from all!

[William_G]

thanks Emile and Dan, it's a nice walking course where you have to shape shots

[Bruce Wellmon]

Thanks for doing this. I had always heard good things. Nice to see the course.

[Terry Lavin]

Looks great but would surely look better if they cut down 1000 trees.

[Sam Morrow]

I like the look of the course but it actually looks like what this site usually condemns. Wall to wall green, trees everywhere.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

It is a much better course than it generally gets credit for. I do feel it is a lower top 100 which is high praise in the big scheme of things. I loved it when i played there.  Of course the club does have to over come being in a corporate town aka Nike South.

[Stephen Davis]

William,

Thanks for posting this. It was very cool to be walked through the course like that. It looks gorgeous. Well thought out and in immaculate condition. So all of the rain up here is good for something huh.

[Tim Gavrich]

The 6th hole looks like a mirror image of the 4th at The Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach.  Reachable hard dogleg where you can challenge bunkers on the inside of the dogleg and have a go over water to the green.  I think the tree-lined aspect of it is quite alright, especially since I imagine it's less narrow than it looks in places.

Thanks; I'd always been curious about the green-for-tee switcheroo early on.  I've never heard of any other golf courses that have done this.

[David Lott]

First of all, great job with the photography. Very well done.

There are a few comments to this effect: Looks great but would surely look better if they cut down 1000 trees.

There are a lot of overtreed courses, and obviously this one had considerably less tall lumber in its early stages. But aesthetically the trees seem to fit the shapes of the course. The very tall trees behind greens especially give both texture and aiming points. They look natural and fit the land and the climate. It's impossible to tell the total impact of the trees on playability from a set of photos, however good they are. But visually the trees are great.

Looks like it would be a lot of fun to play.

[Morgan Clawson]

Beautiful.

It seems like there is 1 tree on every hole that really encroaches on the fairway.

Taking down just 18 trees woukd really make it more playable imo.

[William_G]

Stephen,

Yep we get a ittle rain here, but golf year round. The maintenace depends a bit on mother nature as to timing of aerification and fertilization. The sprinklers were on a little in late May when it got unseaonably warm, but generally the club only irrigates from about mid-July to late-September and the course does get firm and fast.

Tim,

Yes the old switcheroo appears to be a one time thing, but when you play it you'd never know unless someone told you. Trent Jones Sr. caught lightning in a bottle with his re-design of ECC.

thanks


PS. Tiger, hahahaha

[Michael Dugger]

Granted it was about 1996 when I played ECC, but I didn't find the trees to be problematic.  They are mostly huge, majestic beasts, and the corridors are amply wide.

For the record, I don't think the 6th at ECC is much like the RTJ dogleg par 5 at The Dunes.  The 6th at ECC plays up and over a hill.

ECC is a nice course, my only complaint is 3 of the 4 one shot holes have water fronting.  That gets old.

The last par 3 comes at #12, and the rest of the back 9 gets to be a bit of a slog.  #15, #16 and #17 afford some nice architectural features, however, the rumpled fairway at 16 being a highlight.

The big tree at 17 actually makes the hole.  Whoever said trees cannot add strategic value?

[Garland Bayley]

...

Thanks; I'd always been curious about the green-for-tee switcheroo early on.  I've never heard of any other golf courses that have done this.

Stranz did it at MPCC.
Egan routes things pretty well. I'm not convinced the switheroo here was the thing to do. I'm not convinced adding water to ANGC was the thing to do either. But, I imagine it works for guys like Gray. (He has said so hisself.)

[Garland Bayley]

Gray,

I've always read that RTJ reversed the holes so that water holes had water before the green, not off the tee as it was before. However, my old eyes have trouble making out water in the first photo. Is it there? If so, can you edit in MS Paint for example to identify and post an updated version?

It does look like RTJ also widened the water hazards as he did at ANGC? Do I see that correctly?

[Bill_McBride]

Looks great but would surely look better if they cut down 1000 trees.

There. Is nothing wrong with Eugene CC that a few chain saws wouldn't cure. 

It's very cool to see the Egan and Jones routings side by side in the clubhouse.   I think the original routing might be a bit longer. 

[William_G]

Gray,

I've always read that RTJ reversed the holes so that water holes had water before the green, not off the tee as it was before. However, my old eyes have trouble making out water in the first photo. Is it there? If so, can you edit in MS Paint for example to identify and post an updated version?

It does look like RTJ also widened the water hazards as he did at ANGC? Do I see that correctly?

Not sure what the water size was in the 20's and 30's, the pictures are what they are, I do have other aerials of Egan's routing, (all B/W by the way, LOL), but the one in the post shows the original routing as built the best.The stream beds have not really changed as tributaries/estuaries/ponds of the Willamette with all the development around the area. The original drainage/low spots are what they are, but some widening around the new greens looks to be definitely what happened.

Much of the water in the 30's-60's was shrouded in trees as  RTJ Sr. removed many trees at the north boundary to accomodate. #6, 7, 11, 12, and 13...tee or green.

Interestingly, the dams built upriver post WWII allowed for development of north Eugene as well as control of the waterways at ECC and elsewhere... the floodplain that existed is no more.

I'll see what else I have......

thanks

[Garland Bayley]

...

Much of the water in the 30's-60's was shrouded in trees as  RTJ Sr. removed many trees at the north boundary to accomodate. #6, 7, 11, 12, and 13...tee or green.

...

Thanks! That explains why I find it so hard to see water.

[William_G]

Looks great but would surely look better if they cut down 1000 trees.

There. Is nothing wrong with Eugene CC that a few chain saws wouldn't cure. 

It's very cool to see the Egan and Jones routings side by side in the clubhouse.   I think the original routing might be a bit longer. 

The Egan routing was maxed at 6600 yards.

[Garland Bayley]

I posted a question to the Fircrest thread, but got no answer, so I am going to post it here.

With the caveat that I have not played ECC, how could ECC possibly be better than Fircrest?
As you may be able to tell, I was highly impressed with Fircrest.

[Sean Leary]

I have been lucky enough to play Eugene quite a bit. To me it is the quintessential NW course, more so than Sahalee. Could it lose some trees? Sure. But the trees are without a doubt part of it's identity. Again like Olympic, it looks tighter in pics because of the height of the trees.

The members are very proud of their course and they should be. It tests really good players from the tips but is very playable for all, including kids.

[Michael Marzec]

William:

Just stumbled across this post. Gorgeous pictures. I played Eugene two months after you posted these, but I was not yet a member of the board. My pictures are nowhere near as beautiful as these.

I thoroughly enjoyed the course. There was quite a heat wave when I was there and the course was plenty firm and a very pleasant walk. I agree with Sean's observation that the height of the trees makes them appear more intrusive than they are. I think they add a uniqueness to the course by providing an unusual backdrop that plays tricks on your depth perception.

I hope to be back in Oregon next year. A return to Bandon is definitely in order, and perhaps another go at Eugene. Any other courses you would recommend in Eugene?

[Bill_McBride]

#6 must have been a real bugger when it played straight uphill on the tee shot!

[Connor Dougherty]

I hope to be back in Oregon next year. A return to Bandon is definitely in order, and perhaps another go at Eugene. Any other courses you would recommend in Eugene?

Michael,
If you're coming from bend maybe consider playing tokatee up in the hills, but the only thing really worth checking out is probably Laurelwood, a nine hole design that may be worth seeing just because it's an interesting piece of property and a good example of designing a course for beginning golfers. I've heard great things about Shadow Hills but haven't seen it for myself.

But I'd get down to bandon as fast as possible. Outside of Eugene CC, Bandon crossings is better than any offerings in this area.

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