[Richard Choi]

I recently vacationed down in Bend, OR and had the opportunity to play Tetherow, Pronghorn - Nicklaus, and Crosswater. The other two courses have been well discussed on these boards, but strangely, I cannot find any discussions about Crosswater, so let's start here.

Crosswater is part of the Sunriver resort - a vast high desert vacation community with three other golf courses on site; Woodlands (RTJ 2), Meadows (Fought), and Caldera Links (par 3 course). While other courses are open to public, you must be a member of the club or a guest of the resort to access Crosswater.

Crosswater was designed by Robert Cupp and John Fought and opened in 1995. Since there were already two resort courses existing when Crosswater was built, the resort owners wanted a difficult, championship caliber test to attract private memberships. Since its opening, it has hosted many PNW championships and a Senior Tour major.

As the name suggests, the course traverses in and out of Little Deschutes River. It is a target golf as target golf gets (Floridian golf courses would tell Crosswater "you have too much water hazards"), and if that is your thing, this is the golf course for you.



Scorecard:


As you can see from above, Crosswater can play very, very long at 7700+ from the tips. In play, the course plays quite a bit shorter as Bend, OR is high in elevation and you will hit about 1 club longer than usual.

1st Hole, Par 4



This first hole opens gentle enough. This is a short par 4 and driver is not required. The play is to hit long enough to carry the right bunker to give yourself and open look to the green.



From the right side of the fairway, you need to make sure you carry the bunkers guarding the green front right. If you over compensate to the left and long, there is a shaved collection area (which is a very common feature at Crosswater).





The greens are very subtle at Crosswater. I think I can count a putt that broke more than a hole in one hand.

[Richard Choi]

2nd Hole, Par 5



This is a reachable par 5 that plays around a pond. From the tee box, the pond on the left is not visible. But it is reachable if you are a long hitter so you need to decide whether or not you are going to challenge it.



Hitting a safe shot short of the water means you will probably be laying up somewhere in the neck. You will also probably want to carry it beyond the bunkers on the right about 150 from the green



Laying up just short of the green will leave you with a short wedge to a simple green that has a ridge that bisects the green in two (higher in the back right). Another relatively gentle hole that lulls you to sleep before the real action begins.

[David Harshbarger]

Richard, thanks for posting this.  Looks like.a mid-90's housing development course, but so far interesting,  keep it coming.

[Mark Saltzman]

Rich, I see the second is 582 yards... I think we have different definitions of reachable par-5s!

[Richard Choi]

That is only from the very back, which isn't even open on normal play. Most people will be playing it as 480 yard or 518 yard par 5.

[Richard Choi]

3rd Hole, Par 3 (160 to 188 yards)



This mid-length par 3 is pleasing to the eye from the tee with wetlands surrounding the hole with 4 bunkers guarding the front right of the green.



There is a spine that runs diagonally from back left to right and a little collection area on the back left for the tee shots that overcompensate for the bunkers. Strategy off the tee is minimal.



The "fun" really begins on the 4th hole...

[Jason Topp]

Richard - this will be an interesting tour for me as Fought did work in the Minneapolis area during this same time frame.

Are the greens big?  Did he use many short grass surrounds on this course?  Are the bunkers difficult?

[Michael Dugger]

Yardage needs to be interpreted with the knowledge this golf course is nearly a mile high.

Ball go far...

[Richard Choi]

Jason, the greens are on the big side, which is one of the reasons why the internal movements do not effect the putts that much.

There are shaved runoff areas in almost every green, usually on the opposite side of bunkers. They do give the course a bit more variety than usual. The bunkers are not too deep as the course is flat and only the height of the pushed up green adds depth.

I personally prefer John Foughts work since Cupp and Fought split. His courses are bolder with more daring bunkers.

[Pete_Pittock]

I would think the bunkering at Crosswater is more reflective of Cupp than Fought. Fought was more into steep flashface sand bunkering (I know of three courses which have softened the facings).

Crosswater is a little over 4100'

[Richard Choi]

Hole 4, Par 4, 314 to 415 yards



The one thing that you learn as you play Crosswater is the intensity of contempt it has for high handicap players. This is a CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE DAMN IT (did I mention that this course hosted a Senior major?)! And if you have trouble getting the ball in the air every now and then or if you slice your drive 30 or 40 yards off the line with regularity, the course wants to have nothing to do with you.

This nasty bit of attitude is put on full throttle starting on the 4th hole where the most common theme of Crosswater appears - significant carry to the fairway with water between you and the green on the second shot.



Even though this is a relatively short hole, the tee shot is certainly intimidating. There is about 180 yard carry to the fairway with wetlands on the left and houses (and OB) on the right. I witnessed a few lost drives (thankfully not mine) on this hole. The best play is to hit something less than a driver and hit towards the barber pole.



If you are fortunate enough to hit the middle of the fairway on your tee shot, the air challenge continues as the line to the pin is pretty much all carry. This poses little challenge to the low handicappers as the lie is flat and you are probably hitting a short iron in, but for mid to high handicappers, the intimidation factor is high.



As you can see from the photos, there are minimal internal movements on the green. There is a bit of back to front tilt to catch your shots, and you do not want to miss long.

[Richard Choi]

5th Hole, Par 4, 357 yards to 460 yards



Yes, the hole looks almost indentical from above as the previous hole. But it does play quite differently from the tee as the tee shot is at about 45' angle from the fairway. This is a cape hole where you have risk/reward on how much you want to carry on the tee shot.



The tee shot is quite intimidating to say the least. The fairway is barely visible from the blue tees (410 yards). The required carry is anywhere from 160 yards or so to the very right of the fairway to 240 yards or so on the left side.



If you take an aggressive line and your tee shot carries the significant hazard, you are left with a simple wedge shot to the green that hugs the river wetlands to the left. All carry, of course.



The green has 3 parts with the highest in the back with lower middle and slight raised front right. If you were conservative from the tee, you could aim more right and be left with a simple chip from the fairway.

[John Percival]

Woowee!
Wait til u see #12.
3/8ths of a mile of beautiful hurt.

That said, didn't like the course, as too many forced carries (for a resort)

But Bend is one spectacular place. On the eastern side of the mountains, so no summer rains. BUT, a major river runs thru it and a major aquifer is under it, so all the water you want or need.

[Rob Rigg]

Thanks for the pics Rich - Been to Bend a bunch of times but never had interest in playing Crosswater just from photos and seeing Freddie and Daly play it during a Shell WWoG episode.

This looks like classic Cupp with way too much water. Point and Shoot golf designed specifically for really good amateurs and pros.

Bend is such a spectacular environment, it's unfortunate that many of the courses in the area don't "work" very well with the setting.

Juniper is by far the best value in the area and a really fun track.

[Pete_Pittock]

Woowee!
Wait til u see #12.
3/8ths of a mile of beautiful hurt.

That said, didn't like the course, as too many forced carries (for a resort)

But Bend is one spectacular place. On the eastern side of the mountains, so no summer rains. BUT, a major river runs thru it and a major aquifer is under it, so all the water you want or need.

I agree on the forced carries. I was playing with a bunch of low hdcp amateurs and I had to aim for the red tees and flirt with the OB to carry on the 5th hole.  This is a site of one of my top five beaten down exhausted rounds

[John Percival]

Woowee!
Wait til u see #12.
3/8ths of a mile of beautiful hurt.

That said, didn't like the course, as too many forced carries (for a resort)

But Bend is one spectacular place. On the eastern side of the mountains, so no summer rains. BUT, a major river runs thru it and a major aquifer is under it, so all the water you want or need.

I agree on the forced carries. I was playing with a bunch of low hdcp amateurs and I had to aim for the red tees to carr on the 5th hole.  Pick your tees carefully.
This is a site of one of my top five beaten down exhausted rounds

Pete,
The sad part about Crosswater is that the cupp cse could have been an exciting, yet golfer friendly track, especially with the river and vegetation handy. Just look at #2. A terrific example of a hole that the low hdcper can be aggressive on, with the element of danger, and one that the average player can handle with bail out all along the right. Yet, many others (especially #6) just destroy everyone. If ever a cse needed a reno...
BTW, if ur ever back in that area, make a side trip to see the lava fields. Mystical, magical and a stark example of Ma Nature's awesome power.

[Richard Choi]

Hole 6, Par 5, 471 to 635 yards



This is a long, long par 5, unreachable in two, with strange split fairway near the green. The very first time I played it, it perplexed me. Now that I have played it again, it perplexes me even more.



The tee shot is gorgeously framed, Mt Bachelor in the background and Little Deschute River running between you and the fairway (what is a Crosswater hole without a forced carry???). There is really no strategy off the tee other than you want to hit it as far as you can while avoiding the junk on the right and left. I hit the ball into the junk in the right side of the fairway, but was fortunate enough to find mine (which is a rarity) and many other lost balls (most of them were ProV1's to boot).



For most mere mortals (and most pros for that matter), will not have an opportunity to hit the green in two, so the decision for the second shot comes down to whether or not hit is short of the split or hit longer and choose one of the split fairways.

For the life of me, I cannot find any reason why anyone would want to choose to hit to the split fairways. The fairway before the split is wide (~80 yards) and if you get it close to the split, you will only have a wedge or a short iron into the green.



I guess I can see why someone might choose the right fairway (picture above) as it is more direct route and you may want to hit a half shot into it, but why would anyone choose the far left fairway? You first have to deal with the tree island between you and the landing zone. And if you are successful, you STILL have a hazard between you and the green (both wetland AND a bunker!). And if that wasn't bad enough, the approach angle is such that the green is very narrow from where you are hitting. I guess if you are TERRIBLE with your distance control, but with great with direction control, this is the way to go, but not sure why this would be an option for anyone.

Having a split fairway can bring a lot of strategic elements to a hole. But for that to be true, you need to offer SOME sort of advantage for both fairways. I still cannot think of any strategic advantage presented by this split fairway.



From where most people are going to play, the green is wide, but shallow. The distance control with your wedge is going to be the key to scoring here. If you miss long, there is deep collection area, from which up and down is certainly not guaranteed.

[Pete_Pittock]

http://www.golfscorecards.com/pdf/sunriver_crosswater_front.pdf

Richard,
The reason for the split fairway is its designation as being environmentally sensitive, no troops on the ground. Inidcated in tan on the back of the scorecard. That may be why you found so many Pro V1s.

If one goes to aerial maps you can see previous channelings of the Little Deschutes.

[Richard Choi]

Hmmm... Pete I did not see any environmentally sensitive markers lining the fairway. The PDF does not show what areas are sensitive either.

[Pete_Pittock]

Hmmm... Pete I did not see any environmentally sensitive markers lining the fairway. The PDF does not show what areas are sensitive either.

Knowing the area, it is all the tannish or browning coloring. Every hole seems to have some, except for # 12. Seems like a failure to communicate by the course or the starter. Maybe they are not formal ESAs under golf rules. Oregon was one of the stronger states in ganting conditional approval and these ESAs are quite common on courses constructed in the 1990s.

If yo are interested I can follow up by asking the OGA to check their notice to players.

[Richard Choi]

7th Hole, Par 3, 177 to 206 yards

As you can see from above, it is yet another green surrounded by wetlands on all sides. Surprisingly enough, it is probably my favorite par 3 at Crosswater.

My fondness for this hole is mostly due to how the hole looks from the tee. The mounds on the left gracefully flowing into the green with bunker accents in the front with the sea of wetland seem calming and very zen-like (at least to me).
The basic strategy for this hole is to make sure you play the correct distance based on whether or not the pin is in the front or back of the ridge that bisects the green. Hitting the section short of the ridge is simple enough, but the back tee can be tricky as the green runs away from you. With balls carrying further than usual, there is a pretty good chance that you will miss this green long and have to chip back into it from the runoff area in the back.

[Garland Bayley]

Rich, I see the second is 582 yards... I think we have different definitions of reachable par-5s!

And reachable par 4s. E.g., the current 9th at Soule Park.

[Richard Choi]

8th Hole, Par 4, 289 yards to 427 yards



Perhaps no hole better demonstrates the main theme of Crosswater than the 8th hole. It is a target golf through and through with distinct islands of tee, fairway and green. The hole is not without some natural charm with Little Deschutes running in and out of the hole.



As with most holes at Crosswater, the tee shot is an intimidating one for a mid to high handicapper as there are trouble everywhere outside the fairway. Not sure about the strategic nature of the bunkers as anywhere on the green is probably fine for any pin position. Since this is a short to mid length par 4, a driver is certainly not required and probably not the prudent play.



Another common design element at Crosswater is the shallow but wide greens. The main defense for this hole is the distance control with the wedges. If you are not precise enough, you will encounter bunkers short or a shaved collection area in the back.



The green does have some interest with double plateau like features. You definitely need to hit the right section for you to have a good look at a birdie.

This is probably a good a time as any to rant about Crosswater. Here we go...

I am hopelessly confused on exactly what the course is trying to achieve.

I believe the stated goal was to create a "championship" course (to go along with much gentler sister courses on the resort), to challenge accomplished players. I can understand that. Courses like Sawgrass (or PGA West) and numerous TPC courses have similar aim and they punish low and high handicappers alike with its exact demands and punishing hazards. May not be my favorite type of golf, but challenges can be interesting and fun.

However, Crosswater offers very little challenge other than short iron distance control for low handicappers. The fairways are dead flat. There are no bad lies anywhere on the fairway. There isn't much preferred approach angles into the green to speak of. If you hit anywhere in the (fairly generous) fairway, you will have a very good chance of hitting the ball close to the pin. It is like you are playing on the range the entire day.

You would think with this much water hazards, they would provide some additional challenges to low handicappers, but very few water hazards actually come into play. They are usually placed far from the green or fairway. Most are mere window dressings that low handicappers would hardly even notice during their round.

The length is not much of a burden either as, even from the tips at 7600+ yards, due to altitude, it is going to play like a 7000 yard course at sea level. This is one VERY easy course for a low handicapper (unless you narrow the fairways and jack up the green to ungodly speed).

But on the other hand, it is a VERY VERY VERY difficult course for a mid to high handicappers. There are forced carries everywhere and wetlands surround most fairways and chances of finding your ball away from the fairways and rough are not very good. If you slice consistently and have trouble getting your shot in the air every now and then, you are going to have a very long day.

We had a ~18 handicapper in our group and he lost about 20 balls during the round. Almost every drive that he sliced was gone. He hit numerous fat/thin shots that dumped into the water before the green. I am not sure how that could have been much fun. The other guy who was probably low teens handicap also lost about a box of balls during his round.

How could a course be considered a “Championship” course when all it does is punish 15 handicappers? Crosswater calling itself a “championship” course is like a normal guy calling himself a “champion” by finishing first in a Special Olympics event. What is the point?

[John Percival]

Richard, you are spot on. Just look at the run from 8 to 10 at Crosswater. 8 is a forced carry mess. 9 challenges, yet allows the player some options and makes running plays available, thus making it a treat. Then 10 reverts right back to the forced carry nonsense.

That's what so confusing about all the love for True North and Tullymore. Why all the raves? Forced carries all over (for the record, at True North I shot 73 from the tips and HATED the experience. Pretty clubhouse and a Dave Mocini is a terrific Pro, but would play Harbor Point (in Harbor Springs) a thousand times before going back to that mess.

[Mike Hendren]

I believe I'll save 5 hours, a half dozen Titleists and a few dollars and instead poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick.

Bogey

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