Eagle Crest
Primetime Green Fees: $90 – Ridge; $68 – Resort; $45 – Challenge • www.eagle-crest.com
Situated in the high plains near Redmond, Eagle Crest’s three courses stay drier than others in the area — and the resort keeps at least one of them open year-round, which means you can be teeing it up in the morning and riding the powder at Mt. Bachelor by afternoon. With the Deschutes River meandering throughout the 1,700 acre property, the trio of courses are well suited to golfers of all levels. The Resort Course cuts through grasslands and junipers with wide fairways and large targets. The signature hole — No. 2 — offers an eight-story elevated tee shot down into a narrow canyon floor, with a 90-degree dogleg right to the green and the Deschutes plunging hundreds of feet below just behind. The Ridge Course is longer and wide open, tempting you to reach for the big stick. Built in 1999, the Challenge Course fits well with Eagle Crest’s family-friendly environment, a 3,684-yard layout that’s a stern test of the advanced player’s short game or a great course for the beginning golfer’s ego.
Juniper
Primetime Green Fees: $65 • www.junipergolf.com • 800-600-3121 x41
velopment circumstances led to the 50-year-old Juniper Golf Club closing its old course on the edge of Redmond and building a new John Harbottle design two miles south (see the history section of their web site for the interesting story of the move.) The new digs, opened in 2005, are a startling upgrade, landing on Golf Digest’s Best New Courses list in 2006. A great place to test your driver, its a lengthy course with seven par fours over 400 yards and one 650-yard par 5, the narrow fairways melding into tall grass and sage rough, pocked by lava rock outcroppings. With abundant sun and panoramic views of the Cascade range, Juniper will play host to the 2007 Oregon Open.
Sunriver
Primetime Green Fees: $65-130 • www.sunriver-resort.com • 800-228-6088
To play the epic Crosswater course, you must be a guest at the Sunriver Resort and you wouldn’t want to come all this way and not get a crack at this beauty, so this may be the perfect base for your golf junket. Sunriver has consistently been in Golf Digest’s Top 50 U.S. Resorts and has earned four diamonds from AAA for seven straight years.
Since opening in 1995, Crosswater has been a mainstay of national “Best Of” lists — most recently named the No. 32 Best Public Course in America by Golf Digest. This heathland-style course incorporates scenic woodlands and artfully preserved wetlands into its stunning Bob Cupp design, with the Deschutes River coming into play several times. Crosswater was chosen as the site of the Champions Tour final major of 2007, the JELD-WEN Tradition.
Even if you choose to stay elsewhere, Sunriver still offers two compelling reasons to make the side trip. The Woodlands Course by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., and John Fought-designed Meadows Course are both open to the general public and are just as scenic, well-groomed and challenging as their more heralded sister course. Both offer tricky shot-placement, with generous bunkers and numerous holes running alongside the gentle river.
Widgi Creek
Primetime Green Fees: $84 • www.widgi.com
Just seven miles outside of Bend, right in the center of the Central Oregon playground, is Widgi Creek, a medium-length public course with tight, tree-lined fairways and large, undulating greens. The 653-yard third hole is one of the longest par 5s in the country and the 216-yard 11th hole is all the par 3 you can handle. Widgi Creek also features an expansive practice facility that includes two practice putting greens, a bunker area and natural grass driving range. Nestled at the base of Mt. Bachelor, you might see elk, deer, coyotes, bald eagles, owl and many other wild creatures. Like many of Central Oregon’s courses, Widgi has high respect for the surrounding ecosystem and as such is a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.