After my round at the Campbell Course I ventured further south, into the Oregon countryside for a round at Kohl Creek Golf Course. After spending parts of the last two summers in Vancouver, I’ve set a goal of trying to play every public course in the Portland area. I have no idea if I’ll ever accomplish that goal, but it is fun to think about.

With that in mind, I knew I would need to check out Kohl Creek at some point. Today was a geographically convenient day to play here so I made the trip. I say all that because I didn’t expect much from my Kohl Creek experience and was a little reluctant to play here. And after my round, I would say that a cautious attitude about playing here is probably the best perspective to have going into a round at Kohl Creek.

I paid the $16 walking rate and headed to the 1st tee. First, I’ll share the good aspects about Kohl Creek. The proshop was friendly and the course has a laid-back country vibe to it. It seems like the type of course where someone could show up in flip flops, shorts and a t-shirt and be welcomed to try out the game of golf. The other nice thing is that the course plays through the Oregon forest. There aren’t any homes nearby and I thought the course had good scenery and some charm. Plus, the par-3’s are decent.

Now onto the bad. Kohl Creek is a nine-hole par-36 course with many regulation length holes. The course plays 3,150 yards from the blue tees and it has a handful of overly narrow golf holes. The course really could benefit from a chainsaw to open up everything. For example, the 3rd and 4th are par-5’s that are super tight. The tee shot on the 3rd plays through a chute of trees and then there is a tree in the middle of the fairway. Weird.

Sadly, the conditions were ugly. The course was baked out and my golf ball ended up in many dirt/bare areas. Most of the fairways were burned out, although the ball seemed to sit okay around the greens. The greens were slow and bouncy. I play enough golf courses to accept that the conditions can reflect the price, but I’ve played plenty of short courses in that $10 to $20 range that provide far better playing conditions.

I wish I had more positive things to say about Kohl Creek. I know someone out there loves the course and is working hard to keep it alive. If parts of the course are opened up and the maintenance improves, it wouldn’t be a bad place. However, the course is out in the sticks so I think it would be difficult to generate the amount of play needed to fund any significant improvements. If you have a play everything mindset then go ahead and check Kohl Creek off your list. If not, then you can skip it with all the other quality nine-hole options closer to Portland.

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