Best-Kept Local Secret: Widgi Creek, Bend, 541-382-4449
Guidebooks are great, but when it comes to travel, nobody knows their hometown like the locals. And when you ask around in Bend, there’s one course that locals recommend more often than any other – Widgi Creek.
There are plenty of reasons – the tight fairways, challenging greens and riverside scenery certainly among them — but most of the reasons can be found in golfer’s wallets. While out-of-town visitors are focused on playing the courses with the most stars in the golf magazines, locals are focused on value – and no course in Central Oregon gives as much bang for your buck as Widgi.
Summer rates peak at $75 for prime morning tee times (8-11 a.m.), and drop about $10-$15 every 2-3 hours thereafter, to a twilight (4-5:30 p.m.) rate of $39 that is less than half the rate of most Central Oregon tracks. And if you can squeeze in 18 between 5:30 p.m. and that 9 p.m. sunset? $25.
Located just outside Bend, flush against the Seventh Mountain Resort and the Deschutes River, Widgi is also friendly to your handicap. It’s a decent test at 6,400 yards from the blues and all you could want at 6,900 from the back, but might be most fun from the whites, where two of the par-5s and even a few par-4s become a fun risk-reward opportunities, giving you the chance to add an eagle on the scorecard to the ones soaring above.