Salem Golf Club is the work of A. Vernon Macan, as reported in The Oregon Sunday Journal, 1/29/28, and The Oregon Statesman, 5/15/28, 8/16/28, and 10/28/28.
One of Macan's principles was to not penalize bold play on the approach. This is exhibited by his refusal to place bunkers deeper than the center of the green, as he did not want to penalize the player that went over the green, but would rather penalize the timid player playing short. The bunker placement in the routing shown below demonstrates this principle.
Unfortunately Salem Golf Club is on a relatively small piece of property. This limited routing options, and prevented Macan from some of his ideals. He preferred to have holes change directions with each successive hole. Holes laid out in triangles allowed for this. One of his ideal routings would be a triangle near the club house allowing return in three holes, and a pair of triangles back to back that would allow return to the club house after six holes. The routing shown below shows he was able to make a change in direction form one to two, from three to four, from six to seven to eight to nine, and from ten to eleven to twelve to thirteen. Other turns in direction went back in the direction that previous hole came from, which is something he wished to avoid, but the size of the property limited him.
SalemGolfClubRouting by
Garland Bayley, on Flickr
Another of his principles specified an ideal configuration of hole lengths. Specifically, ideally he wanted six holes at or just beyond the limit of players to reach in two shots. Five holes that he called drive and iron holes, three holes that he called drive and pitch holes, and four one shot holes. The total length would reach 6200 to 6400 yards.
Salem Golf Club adheres to this principle fairly closely with one less hole on the border of reachability and one more one shotter, but still falling in the total length range at 6236 yards. When he began his career he limited the long holes at 475 yards, but as equipment and players improved he upped that limit to 525 yards.
1 471 Par 5 border of reachability
SalemGolfClub01 by
Garland Bayley, on Flickr
Macan wanted to allow the lesser golfers to have fun, but challenge the better players. His placement of bunkers on the first hole shows how he placed them beyond what could be reached by the average golfer.
The tee shot shows a common affliction in the Pacific Northwest, trees that have grown up to restrict play or that have been added to “beautify” the course. Macan, like MacKenzie specified that trees should be planted in clumps allowing openings between clumps for daring and spectacular recovery shots.
SalemGolfClub001 by
Garland Bayley, on Flickr
Second shot for the average golfer that cannot reach the “traps.” Macan made a complete switch from always calling them bunkers in Ireland where he learned the game and always calling them traps after his move across the pond thereby adopting the common name used in the west.
SalemGolfClub002 by
Garland Bayley, on Flickr
Approach shot for third on the opening par 5.
SalemGolfClub003 by
Garland Bayley, on Flickr