A friend and I took advantage of the holiday and walked 18 holes on Glendoveer’s East course. So far on this trip to Oregon I’ve stuck to courses I’ve played before. However, today I got to add a new course to my list.

If I’m honest, I had no idea Glendoveer existed. I’ve been to the Portland area many times and played most of the public courses in the area. Glendoveer has never been on my list. And interestingly, there are actually two courses here. There is the East course – where we played – and then there is also a West course. The East course is regulation length and tougher. The West course is shorter and looks to be easier.

The green fee was $30 to walk this time of year and I’m happy to report that the course wasn’t a disaster. Like almost every golf course there are some drawbacks, but the East course turned out to be a solid layout. No homes line the course. The yardages vary quite a bit from hole to hole. There are a good mix of green sizes. The 3rd is a pretty par-3 over water and the 6th is a potentially drivable par-4.

The East course is routed across a nice piece of property, with a big hill that bisects the course. The hill separates the course into two sections that play entirely different. One group of holes sits on the flatter top portion of the property while the other group of holes play up and down the hill.

We played the black tees which are 70.8/127/6570. The course plays as a par-73 with four par-3’s, nine par-4’s, and five par-5’s. After playing here, I’d have to disagree with the lower rating and slope. I think both the rating and slope should be higher. The East course is tough, especially for the average golfer.

There are a couple things that make the course difficult. First, the East course is a classic Pacific Northwest course. And, by that I mean most holes play through narrow corridors, between massive evergreen trees. Accuracy is important as plenty of well-executed target golf is needed to score well. For example, both the par-4 12th and par-4 16th require virtually straight drives through a chute to get to the fairway.

Elevation changes and the resulting semi-bind landing areas also make the course tough. The holes that play downhill have blind landing areas at the bottom of the hill. Sometimes you have be on the correct half of the fairway so you aren’t blocked out by trees on the approach. The uphill tee shots are all carry and add yardage to the hole. There are many uneven stances on the approach shots.

I normally type up a paragraph about the conditions, but I won’t say too much as I feel bad judging the conditions in the middle of the off-season. Everything looked pretty good when it comes to the maintenance. But, the East course was – and by a large margin – the soggiest of the four courses I’ve played so far on this visit to Oregon. Still, I’ll give the conditions a pass until I can get back to play in the summer sometime.

Glendoveer’s East course offers a good value, has a good layout, and delivers that wonderful Pacific Northwest scenery. That said, it isn’t a destination course and there are quite a few other courses in the Portland area I’d prefer to play first.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):