Columbia Edgewater with Bill McBride's past comments

[Garland Bayley]

Garland,
Why did you park the cart so close to the green ?  As you surmised earlier, the pond was a low area, maybe swampy, as was the case with #4. The fairway bunkering has been changed since my first encounter,

Because I wanted the exercise gained by walking all the way around the stands to near 1 tee to take the picture.

Actually, the only people I saw in carts were rules officials so I assume that cart was parked by one of your friends.

[Pete_Pittock]

check your PM. I have a 1936 aerial photo for you, and figured I'd let you figure out where to put it into the thread.

[Garland Bayley]

Routing by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

#10 Drive and iron
 Again a hole that doglegs around a group of sequoia trees. Green is on top of a small hill. I like this hole as I have a fondness for uphill approaches. Apparently that is not a common thing.

In the historic picture you can see the club house that burned down in 1971. In the recent picture you can see that it is relocated on land where at least the 10 tee was, and maybe with the nearby proshop some additional parts of 9, 1, and possibly 18 are displaced.

1936columbia_edgewater10 on Flickr

ColumbiaEdgewater10 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1001TenTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1002TenFairway by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1003TenSequoia by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1004TenApproach by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1005TenGreen by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1006TenLookingBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

#11 One-shotter

Since I am not a fan of ponds, and there are only two par three holes not fronted by ponds, this would be my favorite par three on the course.

Other than additional teeing area added to the back of the hole, this hole looks very much like the Macan original seen in the historic picture.

1936columbia_edgewater11 on Flickr

ColumbiaEdgewater11 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1101ElevenTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1102ElevenBunkering by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1103ElevenGreen by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Pete_Pittock]

#11 One-shotter

Since I am not a fan of ponds, and there are only two par three holes not fronted by ponds, this would be my favorite par three on the course.
20170831_1101ElevenTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1102ElevenBunkering by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1103ElevenGreen by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Funny, I'd have picked the other water free par three. It is uphill, and you mention that's your preference on the 10th. 7th requires a pure shot, this one doesn't.

[Garland Bayley]

My recollection of the 7th is that it is pretty flat.

The elevation profile on Google Earth shows 7 green 2 feet higher than the tee.

[Garland Bayley]

If you click on the link below, it will take you to the course tour on the clubs website where you can click ? to learn how to get yardages, see close ups of the greens, go to other holes, etc.

https://course.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/course/course/columbiaedgewatercc/aerial.htm

[Garland Bayley]

#12 Drive and iron

In the looking back image from behind the green, it occurs to me that the bunkers are not visible. I have to wonder if this is another attribute he got from MacKenzie.

1936columbia_edgewater12 on Flickr

ColumbiaEdgewater12 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1201TwelveTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1202TwelveApproach by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1203TwelveBunkering by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1204TwelveLookingBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

#13 Drive and iron

Thanks to Pete Pittock, I now have a 1933 aerial to supplement the tour with. Can't help but notice that the fairway is a lot wider back in 1933.

1936columbia_edgewater13  Flickr

ColumbiaEdgewater13 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1301ThirteenTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1302ThirteenGreen by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

#14 Limit of reachability

As a lefty who's tee ball typically turns varying degrees to the left, this hole suits my eye, and would be my second favorite nearly reachable hole on the course. The tee shot is uphill a bit, so when you get to the drive the ball will be below my feet as a mollydooker for the second shot which is nearly 90 degrees to the left of the direction the ball was driven.

1936columbia_edgewater14 on Flickr

ColumbiaEdgewater14 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


20170831_1401FourteenTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1402FourteenLandingArea by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1403FourteenApproach by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1404LookingBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1405Approach by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Pete_Pittock]

Garland,
I don't know if you are aware that the clubhouse position has changed since the 1936 aerial.
The clubhouse and parking lot were located between Marine Dr. and the Columbia River. They had a decorated tree in the lobby at Christmas time of 1971. It caught fire and the clubhouse burned to the ground. They were not allowed to rebuild because of PDX flight paths. The relocated clubhouse probably affected 1,9, and 10. The 18th green and the west side of the pro-shop probably in the same positions.

[Garland Bayley]

#15 Drive and iron

Tee is will above the fairway, so it is a downhill tee shot leaving an approach into a bit of a punch bowl green. When the ladies hit it too far through the green the had problems getting it up and down with a downhill lie in tall grass.

1936columbia_edgewater15 on Flickr

ColumbiaEdgewater15 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1501Tee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1502Green by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1503LookingBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

#16 Limit of reachability

This is my second favorite hole on the course. The landing area for the drive has a turbo boost that I have seen three or four other times on Mac's courses. The current rendition of the hole is hindered in my opinion by the narrowness of the fairway and trees up the right side on what could be the approach. The turbo boost is sloped so that it kicks balls to the right. With a narrow fairway, what is the point of trying to reach the turbo boost if the ball gets kicked into the rough. Furthermore, once you are kicked into the rough there is a chance that trees will block the approach.

Now that Pete has provided the historical photos, I wonder what the status of the turbo boost was back in the beginning, because it looks as low the wet area may have been at the bottom of the hill.

Following Lexi and So Yeon at the LPGA, they both drove it to the turbo boost. Lexi must have gotten it further out, as she ended up a bit in the rough at the bottom of the hill with a level lie. So Yeon ended up on small flatter shelf on the hill in the fairway. Lexi birdied (4), So Yeon parred.


1936columbia_edgewater16 on Flickr

ColumbiaEdgewater16 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1601TeeShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1602LandingArea by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1603TurboBoost by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1604TurboLookingBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1605TurboLookingBack2 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1606Green by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

#17 One-shotter

Another pond. 

1936columbia_edgewater17 on Flickr

ColumbiaEdgewater17 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1701SeventeenTeeShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1702SeventeenGreen by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

#18 Drive and iron

1936columbia_edgewater18 on Flickr

ColumbiaEdgewater18 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1801EighteenTeeShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1802EighteenFairwayBunker by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_1803EighteenGreen by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

Gotta love a club that is prepared to put out an armada of walking golfers.

20170831_104948 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

20170831_105002 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

Garland,


the course looks like a typical Swiss golf course. Certainly the bunkering, contours and green complexes look very good but it looks like it is ruined by all those trees. Is it really so incredibly tight as your photos suggest?


Jon

Now that I have seen the historical photos, it does indeed seem "incredibly tight" compared to how it started. Additionally being next to the Columbia River it will get very strong winds out of the Columbia Gorge for part of the year.

[Garland Bayley]

The 3rd hole at Columbia-Edgewater, a classic AV Macan 1925 course, was lengthened by 30-40 yards by building a new green.  My impression on my one play?   ZZZZZZZZZ.  Why spend that money?   Now it's a longer walk to the 4th tee and the hole is only changed for the flat bellies who can no longer get there in two.

[Garland Bayley]

A lot of older courses were built on farmland in the close in suburbs.  Over the years golf committeemen, often to memorialize individuals or their own love of the forest, planted way too many trees.  Oakmont is a great example.  At Columbia-Edgewater in Portland, Ore, photos of the 1925 course show no trees inside the boundaries.   In the '60's the club planted as many as a hundred Giant Sequoias.  Fifty years later they are giant indeed.   Down the river, Waverly took out hundreds of trees during its recent Gil Hanse remodel.  CECC would benefit from the same. 
...

[Garland Bayley]

..
A top feature of Columbia-Edgewater is the best drainage in the Portland area.  I have been told it is very playable when many courses are not.  This will affect me not a whit, as my plan is to play CECC as much as possible in the summer and Pensacola Country Club in the rest of the year.
...

[Garland Bayley]

Actually, it's difficult to find a course in the Northeast that couldn't be improved by a makeover from the firm of Poulan, Husqvarna & Stihl. 
...

Most of the courses in the Pacific Northwest could greatly benefit from that same firm's work.   I guess the green committee at Columbia-Edgewater didn't realize that the young sequoias they planted in the '60's would be Giant Sequoias 50 years later.  Trees don't just grow up but out as well. 

When you play a course where the thought of improvements doesn't enter your mind, you know it's something special.

[Garland Bayley]

On seeing Kelowna's routing.

...  That's an excellent Muirfield routing, front nine clockwise around the perimeter, back nine safely inside, protecting the slicers from the OB stakes.  He did the same at Columbia-Edgewater.

[Garland Bayley]

Just had an email from the pro at Columbia-Edgewater who tells me that all the greens are the original Macans except for 3, 4, 9 and 17, and none slope from front to back.   The new greens, mostly by Bob Cupp I think, are either flat or slope back to front.

[Garland Bayley]

My former club in Portland, Columbia-Edgewater, built a great practice area off to the side for short game practice.   There is a large serpentine green that can be approached from a number of angles and distances up to about 80 yards.  There's also a putting green very close in speed and contour to the course's greens, and several green side bunkers.  It's the best short game facility I've seen.  The Macan course is very good too.

[Garland Bayley]

Lou, I have joined Columbia-Edgewater CC as a non-res member.  They brag on the drainage there and say that CECC is the driest course in the area.  I was blown away by the movement in the fairways on this relatively flat piece of land which does have significant rolls.  Take a look at the club's website (www.cecc.com) and you will see an aerial of each hole that shows the humps, bumps and rolls in the fairways.  This must all take the water away pretty quickly to drain well.

Haven't played there on a rainy day yet so no first hand knowledge.