[Rob Rigg]

I hope that Bill McBride and some of the others who have played this Macan routing will chime in with thoughts on the photo tour linked below.

http://www.thewalkinggolfer.com/CECC.html

CECC is a solid parkland course with an inner loop and outer loop routing that is quite original. There are some interesting little hills and undulations throughout and the 16th is one of my favorite holes in Portland.

CECC has a lot of false fronts, trees (hello sequoias!), front to back sloping greens, deep bunkers on the left side of the green, and holes that move right to left.

Not sure how much of Macan's original design is left, but it is still pretty cool and I can understand why the LPGA enjoyed playing there every year (until 2009) at the Safeway.

The maintenance at CECC is tip top.

How would the members of the treehouse compare CECC to its private club brethren in the city - Waverly and Portland GC?

[Dan Herrmann]

Bob,
I think Waverly is better and CE is on a par with Portland.

Those trees at CE are truly beautiful, but I think there are too many of them.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Thanks for these photos, Rob.

My brother caddied on the LPGA Tour for a number years and always spoke highly of Columbia Edgewater CC.

With great interest in Vernon Macan, I look forward to visiting CECC someday; haven't been there yet, and don't know how much of Macan's work is left. However, I've visited a large number of Macan-designed courses and am guessing that many of the green sites shown in your photos of CECC are original (which is a bit of a suprise). They appear to be, anyway.

Columbia Edgewater looks A LOT like many other Macan-designed courses throughout the Pacific Northwest in your photos, simply because a couple too many evergreens have clearly been planted over the years!

[Bill_McBride]

Rob, thanks for posting the photo tour.  CECC is a wonderful place with a lot of good golfers.  I played there for three years until I realized I wasn't going to be able to spend enough time there to make a non-resident membership worthwhile.  It's never a good idea to calculate your average cost per round!

So I guess I played 20 rounds there, enough to realize that the fairways look very narrow but play a bit wider if your natural shape is a fade.  I don't think someone who tends to draw most shots would enjoy CECC as a regular diet.

The trees ARE huge, those sequoias are not called "Giant Sequoias" for nothing.  The early photos of the course pre-trees are lovely, open vistas and the same good routing.  I have no idea how much Macan is left, I suspect just the routing although some of the greens are very natural in their setting.

Some features of note:

The par 5 third has a prominent feature you didn't mention, the hogback fairway that runs pretty much the length of the hole.  Most shots not hit dead center run off into the rough on either side depending on where you miss the centerline of the ridge.

Two of the three par 5s are in the first three holes, with a short par 4 in between, so a lot of the good scoring there happens early on.

Really good features are the diagonal ridges at #5 and #12, both right to left in the fairway, that again penalize the right to left shot shape that doesn't quite carry the ridge.  Those shots run down the steep slopes into not friendly territory.

The eighth green is a beautiful example of a terrific three tier green that is set at a good angle to the fairway, low left to high right.  Fun shots into #8.

The #17 green is a bit out of character with the rest of the greens, a potato chip unlike any of the others.  Bob Cupp designed it before I ever saw it.  It is pretty good for a shortish par 3 as the right side feeds balls down toward the ducks waiting in the pond.

And you are right, it is a terrific walk, with no significant climbs until #14 and #16 and those aren't demanding.  It's a very good walking course where most of the membership actually walks.  The club provides three wheel trollies at no charge.

The club also built a terrific practice area and short course behind and left of the 10th green in the past few years, another good reason to be a member.

A good tree cutting program would be helpful but probably not in the cards.  Gordon does a very good job of turf management in those shady areas and the NW folks do love their conifers!

[Dale Jackson]

I have played CE only once but enjoyed it immensely.  As a long time member of a Macan course, I was interested to see how it compared to other Macan courses I had played.  The routing is pure Macan, there is something about the way he laid out courses that is instantly recognizable.  I have talked with other Macan fans and they all say the same thing; he was very good at building an ebb and flow to the way the holes are laid out.

The trees are not Macan and, as Jeff has observed, that is a trait a lot of his courses now have.  A climate conducive to growing really big trees and overenthusiastic Green Committees has cut down the playing alleys of a lot of holes. 

The bunkering has all been redone but I believe most is in original places but not all. 

The greens seem a mix of old and new, although a couple of members I know think they have virtually all been redone.  Nevertheless, it is a good course, challenging, fair and very walkable. 

I am surprised no one has commented on the high skill level of the membership.  It has a long tradition of producing champion golfers - Joan Edwards Powell being one ( http://www.thepnga.org/sites/courses/layout9.asp?id=521&page=37168&sid=1136&viewmode=new ).  They have a very high percentage of single digit players, something of which they are justifiably proud.

[Bill_McBride]

I am surprised no one has commented on the high skill level of the membership.  It has a long tradition of producing champion golfers - Joan Edwards Powell being one ( http://www.thepnga.org/sites/courses/layout9.asp?id=521&page=37168&sid=1136&viewmode=new ).  They have a very high percentage of single digit players, something of which they are justifiably proud.

Two Walker Cup players from the 50's, Bruce Cudd and another whose name eludes me.

A kid who worked in the bag room won the Oregon Amateur summer 2008!  I think he beat a member in the final.

I was told that at one time CECC had the highest average on single digit handicaps in the country.  I hurt that when I joined.

[Pete_Pittock]

The other Walker Cupper from the 50s was Dick Yost. Bruce Cudd probably has the most institutional knowledge about C-E and Alderwood, a NLE Macan obliterated by the airport. Alderwood used to have the best players in Portland, they migrated to C-E when Alderwood closed. There was a smaller defection to Pumpkin Ridge when that opened. The architect who is making changes at C-E is Dan Hixson who has a long history with C-E.
 Most of the corridors and routing remain from the Macan era. The 15th hole was changed from a slight dogleg left with OB threatening the green to a dogleg right with the green set into a swale. The 13th was also changed. Greens which I know are not original are 1,4,5,6,9,11,13,14,15,17. Greens I know that have not changed from the 1960s are 2,7,8,16,18.
 When comparing Columbia Edgewater against Waverley and Portland, rmember the latter courses are USGA favorites with membershiips to match. In fact they ar more of match play courses than stroke play courses. You will see much more players walking at C-E. Waverley and Portland have more severely contoured greens thatn does C-E. The two clubs also have more elevation changes and use those to good effect. They are also much more quiet. Their greens and contours lead to more others than you would see at C-E.
 

[Rob Rigg]

Bill and others,

Thanks for chiming in - it is hard to take everything in and get it right after a round or two.

I wouldn't hold my breath on the tree removal - having asked a couple questions the members seem to like the trees the way they are - ie) you can punch out from under them which is good enough.

I think CECC would be better if a ton of trees were taken down and it was "restored" - of course I do not really enjoy playing through tight corridors with a lot of shadows. Part of it is just personal preference.

There are still over a dozen guys at the clubs who play top AM golf and/or used to play mini-tours and stuff. Impressive.

[Dan Herrmann]

One intestesing thing about C-E is the noise from the departing aircraft from Portland Internatinal Airport (PDX) across the street.

I was a member at Riverside, which is just south of C-E, and I was amazed at the sound difference between the two courses.

[Bill_McBride]

One intestesing thing about C-E is the noise from the departing aircraft from Portland Internatinal Airport (PDX) across the street.

I was a member at Riverside, which is just south of C-E, and I was amazed at the sound difference between the two courses.

Noise?  What noise?

[Raymond]

I was a member at CECC for 10 years and have only the fondest memories of the course, staff, and members. Are there too many trees? yes. They weren't there originallly. Bunny Mason and friends planted almost all of them some many, many moons ago (early 60's) and they willl be there for many more as the members would never agree to a major removal program. In defense of the trees, the maintenance crew does a good job of keeping lower branches trimmed so there is room for recovery if not too deep.

Greens #9 and #17 were completely redone about 7-8 years ago and nothing remains of the original surface. My understanding at the time was that it was an Arthur Hills redo, not Cupp, and I'd agree #17 doesn't work very well and the original #9 certainly could have used some tweaking but the new green lacks much of the character of the old green. Just this past summer a new green on the par 5, #3 replaced the original. So at least these greens reflect nothing of Macan.

Greens on #1. #2,#4, #7, #8,#10,#11, and #16 demand strategic placement of your approach shot and the need for Mickelson like imagination if you end up on the wrong level.

As for the members, I believe at one time CECC had the highest number of single digit HDCP'ers of any other course in the US. And it wasn't because it was easy.

The LPGA enjoyed a long, successful run at CECC until they moved to Pompkin Ridge. The move was not well received by most LPGA players as this course was perennially voted in the top 2-3 courses they played each yea

My single most regret from moving from Oregon to Houston, was and is my loss of playing this wonderful course.

Ray

[Pete_Pittock]

Bill,
When the LPGA moved to Ghost Creek at Pumpkin Ridge they didn't escape the jet noise this year. Air Show with the USAF Thunderbirds performed the same weekend over Hillsboro.

#17 had two redoes of the green. #1 green was totally rebuilt and the hole lengthened with the first stab at #17. I don't know if Hixson had the second shot. ( Bill has mentioned here that Hixson did the practice course.-my error )

[Rob Rigg]

The day that I played CECC, the Air National Guard were doing their take off and landing practice - Holy crap - that was insane! I had to cover my ears walking up 18 because it was so loud it almost knocked me over.

The constant take offs and landing would definitely take some getting used to - One of the members told me he actually liked it because it drowns out any other noise  - ummm, okay

I bet you can get some pretty darn amazing games on Saturday and Sunday morning at CECC with all the sticks in the hizzy.

The club championship may not be up to "Whisper Rock" standards but there must be some serious competition going on.

[Bill_McBride]

Bill,
When the LPGA moved to Ghost Creek at Pumpkin Ridge they didn't escape the jet noise this year. Air Show with the USAF Thunderbirds performed the same weekend over Hillsboro.

#17 had two redoes of the green. #1 green was totally rebuilt and the hole lengthened with the first stab at #17. I don't know if Hixson had the second shot. Bill has mentioned here that Hixson did the practice course.

Actually the par 3 course is credited to Bunny Mason and called the Mason course.

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