Hello everyone.
My "associates in the field" and myself have been hard at work gathering imagery for your viewing pleasure.
Chehalem Glenn is the newest golf course to open in the Portland region. To be accurate, they opened up their 2nd nine holes (another to follow-27 total) about a month ago. I waited for a complete 18 to be built before making the pimgrimmage to Newberg, which is about 1/2 hour outside of inner PDX.
William Robinson of Florence, OR, designed Chehalem Glenn. He also is responsible for the Oregon Golf Association Tukwila layout. The crew and I venture to Tukwila from time to time, it is a mildly interesting tract. I give it a Doak 5. Robinson also designed Ocean Dunes, a sleepy little course in his coastal hometown.
Chehalem was better than I expected. Playing to a whopping 150 slope from the blue tees, it possesses a great many forced carries. I managed to hit the ball a little that day and didn't loose too many of my dimpled friends, despite the pretty constant uphill/downhill thing.
Below is the one shot 5th. They must have spent a fortune on bridges here, perhaps the course should have been called Chehalem Bridges....
Ravine carries are called for on #1, 5-12, 14 & 18. The course opens up fairly mellow playing over some less than inspiring land. At the aforementioned fifth things begin to heat up. The stretch from #9-#13 would have Tiger Woods sweating as it is about as up and down as walk as I have ever tackled. Below is the drive on the 9th, a cool dog leg left par 4.
Here is the start of the back nine. Right straight down and back up a hill again.
The 11th tee shot spins the player around 180 degrees and takes 'em right back up the hill they just hit from on the #10.
11th green is skyline, but by this point in the game you are getting kinda sick of the up and down hill lies.
To the right here you can see two balls resting next to one another in the 12th fairway, this is about 220 off the tee. As you can see another 75-100 yard ravine carry is asked of the player.
Thankfully, after a breather hole in the form of the par 3 13th, this tee blast up yet another hill is called for at #14. Even my feebile game managed to clear everything no problemo, which kinda means the hole plays easier than it looks. The fairway bends left and just continues down about another 250 yards over some rumpled ground finishing at a green flanked right by a pond.
The last 4 holes play over and through a much more forgiving parcel of planet earth. There is a drivable par 4 at the 15th. #16 is the shortest par 3 on the card. The 18th green sets in a nice natural amphitheatre of grand old trees. To play this course you need to strike early, hold on through the middle holes, and strike again late. I liked the flow quite a lot. Go play Chehalem at least once if you live in the region, you will no regret it. (think about taking a cart though
)
Next up we have Broken Top. These came from my friend Pat. Expect pristine conditioning and a good solid layout, he tells me. From a few vantage points you can see construction undergoing with DM Kidd's Tetherow project, I expect something special over there....you heard it hear first.
Unknown Broken Top hole
Unknown Broken Top hole
Unknown Broken Top hole
Unknown Broken Top hole
The following images are from Awbrey Glen. They also come from my friend Pat. He described Awbrey as the least inspiring of Bend area private courses he has played thus far. From the images he brought back, I can see why....
Awbrey Glen
Awbrey Glen
Awbrey Glen
Awbrey Glen
The following are from Eagle Crest Resort Course. I have played the "Ridge" course here and don't see anything about the resort course which leads me to believe I need to rush back and play it. Nevertheless, there is some kinda cool things about it. I dig the narrow canyon hole, Smith Rock in the background and the cool old juniper trees.
Eagle Crest Resort Course
Eagle Crest Resort Course
Eagle Crest Resort Course
And lastly, we have Waverley Country Club, dating from 1896. My buddy must have blackmailed a member to gain access to this venerable old jewel of Portland golf because it's a tough place to crack. It owes design roots to H. Chandler Egan, A. Vernon Macan and former member Jack Moffett. I have been looking forward to checking it out for a while. Judging from the images she looks old. The final two holes finish hard by the Willamette river. One of those par 3 greens possesses some of the neatest tilt I have ever set eyes upon. Enjoy folks.....TTYL