My incredible month of golf in the Pacific Northwest concluded with a round at one of Washington state’s finest golf courses! My friend is friends with a member at Royal Oaks Country Club and he was nice enough to have us out to play on another perfect summer afternoon.
I don’t get a chance to play many private courses so it is always a treat when I do. And, Royal Oaks was no exception! Royal Oaks is the crown jewel of Vancouver golf and normally gets ranked among the top golf courses in Washington state every year.
The course is located in an urban area, not far from the I-205 and SR 500 intersection. I’ve driven past this part of Vancouver many times and never knew that a golf course was tucked in here! For an in-city course Royal Oaks felt quite secluded, probably just the way the membership would like it to be.
Royal Oaks was built in the late 1940’s by Fred Federspiel and I believe the design has been worked on by a couple other architects over the years. When it comes to the layout of Royal Oaks, I’d call it a classic Pacific Northwest golf course. By that I mean holes are lined by Douglas fir trees (parkland-type setting) and the course has an incredible look to it, especially with the beautiful bunkering.
If you are looking for a good test of your game then Royal Oaks will be a good fit. There is strategy required for angles and club selection off the tees and the greens have some wild breaks. I’ll warn you and say that the course is a tough one unless you are a high-level amateur player. Positioning and shot shaping here is important!
We played the “squirrels” tees which are 72.6/138/6637. At first glance I didn’t think Royal Oaks would be all that difficult. There isn’t much water in play nor are there many forced carries. However, Royal Oaks can play extremely narrow (especially if you drive it like I do!). Those narrow corridors are probably the course’s biggest challenge. And, from what I gathered from my playing partners, Royal Oaks is more playable these days thanks to the trees being limbed up.
My favorite holes at Royal Oaks were the water holes. The 3rd (a par-4), 5th and 12th (both par-3’s) have water in play and were a blast to play. The 3rd doglegs left and requires you avoid a creek to the left of the fairway, which ends up cutting across the fairway.
The 5th is 146 yards while the 12th is 164 yards and both require you to carry the ball to the surface of the green. If you don’t then the water or rocks guarding the edge of the hazard are in play. You’ll likely need the perfect club to be comfortable on these par-3’s.
As you’d expect the maintenance at Royal Oaks was phenomenal. Everything was in perfect shape and the greens were very quick. My host was saying that the greens were slow right now compared to their normal speed! The different cuts of grass were perfect and the turf was like carpet.
If you get the chance I’d recommend a round at Royal Oaks. If possible, I look forward to a return visit one day with a straight tee ball. A better golf game was the only thing missing from my Royal Oaks experience!
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):