Waverley.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Waverley Country Club (Portland, Ore.) might be my new answer to, "If you had to play just one course for the rest of your life, which one would it be?" I really like the golf course; and, the work Gil Hanse and co. have done there recently is absolutely top-notch; but, it's also the place - the location, the clubhouse, the history... the quirk.

Waverely is super-cool... for my tastes, anyway.

[Jordan Caron]

Waverely is super-cool... for my tastes, anyway.

Based on what you told me last weekend...Waverly must be VERY good then!

I only know about the club from the Seniors Northwest Tournament at Victoria. A few of the members came up and played. Other than that I had heard next to nothing about the club. From the pictures on their website, it looks fun. Not too many trees and a little quirk. And any course who gets the Hanse treatment is good in my books.

Who is the original architect?

[Jeff_Mingay]

Ya, you can make it eleven courses now, Jordan!

You're right, too, the Hanse treatment is always good... but, in this case, there was some really interesting stuff for Gil and co. to work with. Get there.

Oh, ya... the original architect - some guy called H. Chandler Egan. Look him up!

[Jordan Caron]

When I head to Bandon I will mark this down on my way.

How does it compare to Broadmoor and Overlake?

[Jeff_Mingay]

How does it compare to Broadmoor and Overlake?

I presume this is a joke

[Jordan Caron]

How does it compare to Broadmoor and Overlake?

I presume this is a joke

Nope but I have my answer. Who is the original architect? The square greens are something that reminds of some of great courses out east.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Jordan,

You would expect much about Waverley to be east, not in Portland. It's kind of amazing.

Chandler Egan is the original architect. He was partners with Alister Mackenzie in some shape or form for a bit, during the 1920s. He remodeled Pebble Beach in preparation for the 1929 US Amateur. His Lake Oswego course, also in Portland, features on the cover of George Thomas' Golf Architecture in America (1929) - though, I hear it's no longer something Egan would be proud of. 

Egan was a Portland native, too; a Waverley member; and a champion golfer - silver medalist (losing to Canadian Geo. Lyon) at Olympic golf in St. Louis, US Amateur champion (twice), etc. I think he knew what he was doing. 

[Emile Bonfiglio]

Chandler also did the poor man's Waverley (eastmoreland) just down the road.  So far the redesign looks great based on what I have seen.

[Pete_Pittock]

I played Waverley Thursday morning, with camera in hand to complte a set of before and after pictures.  They took out 270 trees, the majority on 1-5. About thirty new bunkers, many repositioning amd arestoration of cross bunkering. The most massive bunkers are on the par 5 5th, just in front of the tees (I think a tee on the green side of it may help some megaseniors), and a fronting bunker on the par 3 9th. 16-18 are all improved. I'll probably get around to downloading and posting on Monday.

[Dan Herrmann]

I think I played it in 1992, but I remember it with great fondness. 

[John Kirk]

There is some disagreement here about who designed the golf course.

The Wikipedia entry for the course says the course was designed by Jack Moffat in 1898, and was the second private club opened west of the Mississippi River.

The "restovation" looks great.  Looking forward to Pete Pittock's pictures.

[Pete_Pittock]

.

[John Kirk]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverley_Country_Club

[Garland Bayley]

...
Egan was a Portland native, too; a Waverley member;...

Egan was born Chicago, graduated from Harvard, and won his national titles while living back East before moving to Medford, OR (a very long way from Portland) to become an apple farmer. He did get out of Medford from time to time to design courses. He has three courses in the Pacific Northwest that have hosted the US Amateur Public Links, Eastmoreland in Portland, Indian Canyon in Spokane, and West Seattle in, well, Seattle.

[Pete_Pittock]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverley_Country_Club

The original nine hole course at the riverside location was laid out by Willie (Jack) Moffett. That is the spelling of the last name in the Waverley club history. After a number of modificationa, at a later time HC Egan built a new golf course on expanded property.

[Jeff_Mingay]

...
Egan was a Portland native, too; a Waverley member;...

Egan was born Chicago, graduated from Harvard, and won his national titles while living back East before moving to Medford, OR (a very long way from Portland) to become an apple farmer. He did get out of Medford from time to time to design courses. He has three courses in the Pacific Northwest that have hosted the US Amateur Public Links, Eastmoreland in Portland, Indian Canyon in Spokane, and West Seattle in, well, Seattle.

Whoops! Thanks for this correction... very interesting. I do know Egan is one of two Waverley members to win back-to-back US Amateur titles. The other is Lawson Little. (I think?!)

[Jeff_Mingay]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverley_Country_Club

I sgtand corrected. The original nine hole course at the riverside location was laid out by Willie (Jack) Moffett. That is the spelling of the last name in the Waverley club history. After a number of modificationa, at a later time HC Egan built a new golf course on expanded property.

enought of tonight.

Yes, I did know there was another course on the same property designed by the club's professional prior to a major redo by Egan in 1912 - which is today's routing, basically. 

[John Kirk]

To return to the relevant topic, isn't the club nice?  Great location, right on the Willamette River, with outstanding buildings and a solid golf course that is highly improved after the changes.  In particular, the modification of a few greens to add pin placements and moderate a few severe slopes is a much needed improvement.  Another great quality of Waverly is the walk, which is neither easy nor too difficult.  It's a good, proper hike, a "career extender" as me and my Dad used to joke.

I live a long ways away (45 minutes or so); otherwise I would inquire about membership opportunities.

[Jeff_Mingay]

To return to the relevant topic, isn't the club nice?  Great location, right on the Willamette River, with outstanding buildings and a solid golf course that is highly improved after the changes.  In particular, the modification of a few greens to add pin placements and moderate a few severe slopes is a much needed improvement.  Another great quality of Waverly is the walk, which is neither easy nor too difficult.  It's a good, proper hike, a "career extender" as me and my Dad used to joke.

I live a long ways away (45 minutes or so); otherwise I would inquire about membership opportunities.

Like.

[Jordan Caron]

To return to the relevant topic, isn't the club nice?  Great location, right on the Willamette River, with outstanding buildings and a solid golf course that is highly improved after the changes.  In particular, the modification of a few greens to add pin placements and moderate a few severe slopes is a much needed improvement.  Another great quality of Waverly is the walk, which is neither easy nor too difficult.  It's a good, proper hike, a "career extender" as me and my Dad used to joke.

I live a long ways away (45 minutes or so); otherwise I would inquire about membership opportunities.

Like.

It's #like Jeff!!!

John, 45 minutes doesn't seem far to me. Are you a member anywhere down there?

[John Kirk]

Pumpkin Ridge for 20 years.

[Garland Bayley]

Pumpkin Ridge for 20 years.

Don't let John fool you. He's just being nice about Waverley. He has many times professed a preference for modern courses over classic courses. Just look where his memberships are.

[Josh Smith]

The added shortgrass and improved throwback bunkering are such a delight.  This is a special place.  I grew up caddying there for a bit and working in the Bag Room.  Such a history, I was also on hand watching during the Junior Am when the Tiger came from behind, something we don't see much of as a pro.  An amazing Final against Ryan Armour who birdied 15 to take him 2 down with 3 to play.  This is an oil painting I completed for the club earlier this year.  A view from across the river.  The food and Clubhouse buildings are amazing.  They have built in a history museum which reminds me of a USGA museum effort.  Oh and Caddies are used regularly and somehow they are still around 40 bucks before tip. :0

[Sven Nilsen]

Is there a course with a more confusing history than Waverley?

Built in 1896, it had a new 18 holes at a new location some time between 1897 and 1899.
The original course is attributed to Moffet, but the dates for his work vary from the early days of the course until as late as 1918. 
Barker is noted as having done work in 1910, which could coincide with the 1912 work given for the creation of the current routing.
Egan was involved, but the range of dates for his work stretches from around 1912 to as late as 1930.
Macan was named as the consulting architect, but the extent of this role remains a mystery.

Seems like the answers should be somewhere.

Anyway, the course looks from pictures like it would be a lot of fun to play.

[John Kirk]

Pumpkin Ridge for 20 years.

Don't let John fool you. He's just being nice about Waverley. He has many times professed a preference for modern courses over classic courses. Just look where his memberships are.

First of all, one reason I belong to modern clubs is that I'm not a blue blood, with no familial connections to clubs of high repute.  Modern clubs need members, so they let the riff raff in.

Pumpkin Ridge is very close to my home, and I like the two courses there very much.  I like the country setting.  But the upgraded Waverly course is very nice.  New bunkering, wider fairways, and very short green to tee walks.  Plus the unusual 3-5-5 finish along the water is sensational.  It's already the premier club for the older, well heeled Portlanders, and I imagine its stature will only grow with the changes.

This spring I toured the course with a friend who was on the greens committee in 2007-8, when they decided to renovate the course.  He helped convince the committee to renovate then; since the economic situation was bleak, they had a better chance at hiring a top notch architect for the job.

According to my friend (FWB), they interviewed Gil Hanse, Tom Doak and Tom Fazio.  Not surprising that Mr. Fazio suggested the best use for the land was to build an entirely new course.  This was briefly considered, but eventually dismissed.  So it came down to choosing between Tom Doak and Gil Hanse.  My friend thinks that hiring Hanse would be much more difficult today, given his recent successes at Castle Stuart and the award for the 2016 Olympic course in Rio.