I played here on 07/05/12 from the blue tees at 72.3/128/6682. My friend, who lives in Vancouver, had never played here so we thought we would give this Portland Parks and Recreation course a try. We played from the blues and we had all the course that we could handle. Jumping right into the review here, I did not find that there were many birdie holes unless I was hitting great shots. Every hole was tree lined with water hazards in play on seven holes and high fescue on many others. The course features two completely different 9s and you better score well on the front because I think the back might be a good 2 to 3 strokes tougher. The first couple holes ease into the round before it becomes more challenging on holes #4 through #7. If a tee shot is positioned well on #1 and #3 then it is a short iron approach and #2, a 150 yard par 3, drops a club so it is not the hardest start. Holes #4 and #5 require a little knowledge off the tee and are semi blind. Starting on the back it gets tough. Hole #10 is very tight and deceptively uphill while #11 is a well designed, healthy length par 4. It requires a tee shot down the right and a solid long iron to avoid all the trouble left. The close is a very good test with #15 through #17 being some long holes. A bailout left off the tee on #15 (to avoid the hazard right) lengthens the dog leg right and #17 also plays deceptively up the hill. After all that the course closes on #18 in typical Pacific Northwest fashion requiring a laser off the tee to avoid all the trees. The greens were larger than average and had many slopes (many of my putts had big breaks) so this, combined with all the trouble, could lead to some slow play. And sure enough, we got around in a slow 5 hours on a weekday morning. My favorite part of this course was the collection of par 3s while my least favorite part was the routing of the holes. A wayward shot, if it didn’t end up in trouble, ended up near another hole. Plus, the 7th, a 621 yard uphill par 5 which played into the wind, had the water hazard in the wrong place. An out of place drive required laying up short of the hazard which still left 300+ yards into the green for the 3rd shot. The maintenance was good but not pristine. Putts did not bump off line much and the fairways were cut to a decent length. The views were lacking except from a couple holes and the course had a very urban feel to it. I thought it was a little over priced (not a huge surprise I guess since I think this side of Portland has some money) at $46 to ride on a weekday morning. I did not fall in love with the course, but I did not hate it either. I guess some more spacing between the holes and a more rural setting would have made it stand out to me.

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