Tuesday evening found me again on a golf course – shocker, I know! Rose City Golf Club was convenient to where I was staying and I found a 4:20pm tee time ($30). I had never played here before but read good things and was excited to give the course a try.

There was an accident on the I-205 and the proshop was able to move my tee time back to 4:50pm. That confused the starter when I got to the first tee, but he sorted things out after a few minutes. Ultimately, another single and I paired up and played in about 4 hours, finishing right as darkness fell.

Rose City is a course filled with charm and history so finishing up a round here at dusk just added to the overall experience. The course dates back to the 1920’s, as the original nine opened in 1923 while the second nine was added in 1927. The clubhouse was built in the 1930’s and it is a beautiful brick building that is surrounded by tall Douglas firs.

Rose City was designed by George Otten (this appears to be his only design) and is a parkland-style course in an urban location. While you can hear cars driving past and see some of the homes on the perimeter holes, I never thought those took away from the round. What you’ll find is that all the mature trees block modern life quite well.

I played the blue tees which are 71.5/121/6552 and felt that Rose City was much more demanding than the scorecard seems to indicate. The par-5’s are all reachable and there are plenty of short par-4’s to potentially score well on. However, the driving areas are narrow (think solid impact for your golf ball with the trees if off the fairways) and there are four long par-4’s/two long par-3’s that are not easy to par. If you aren’t hitting it straight then there is nothing easy about Rose City!

The front nine is a par-35 with only one of the course’s four par-5’s. The short par-4’s (the 4th and 7th) on the front were my favorites because after laying up off the tee the approaches are uphill and the surfaces of the greens are hidden from view. The 7th has trees overhanging the fairway so you’ll need to be in the absolute center for a clear shot at the green.

The back nine is tighter than the front and starts out with a fun par-5. The 10th is 481 yards and has a green that is tucked into a corner of trees, off to the right of the fairway. The green has an elevated tier on the right side that was hidden in the shadows late in the day. All that considered, it is probably best to play out to the left and try to get it up and down for birdie.

Rose City is a municipal course and I thought the conditions were very nice for the price. All the grass had good coverage and the rough was cut down. The poa surfaces rolled at a medium pace and had some wobbles, but that is expected on a West Coast course in the evening. The sand was a good consistency and provided that “thump” you hope for when playing out of a bunker. The 15th green was closed but the small temporary green was in good shape.

I enjoyed my visit to Rose City and while it would be too tight for me to play all my golf here if I lived in the area, I’d recommend it. I like a course with great history and Rose City impressed on multiple levels.

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