Before I get into my review, here are a couple pictures of the smoke from the fires on my trip up to Portland. Apparently Northern California is on fire!
Just north of Redding, CA:
Where is Mt. Shasta?
Alright now into the course review:
For the last couple years I have wanted to play Running Y on one of my trips to and from Portland, but it just has never worked out because it is so far off of Interstate 5. I left the Bay Area early on a Saturday morning headed for Portland and decided that I would finally make the stop here. I found a time on Golfnow for $52 around noon, got there a little early to unwind, and then got out a bit early. The course’s claim to fame is that it is the only Arnold Palmer design in Oregon and numerous golf magazines rate Running Y as one of the top public Oregon courses. After playing it that would be my opinion too. It should be noted that I ended up playing here on 08/25/12 from the Palmer tees at 73.2/132/7138. The course has a bit of a high desert feel to it and it sits at some elevation so the ball traveled a bit farther than normal for me. Running Y has everything about Oregon golf that I love: scenery, trees, cool summer weather, and elevation changes. The first 5 holes play alongside a wetlands area and are relatively flat before the rest of the front 9 climbs through the tree covered hills. The back is similar with a mixture of flat holes and hilly holes but the hilly holes are pleasant to play. The downhill holes (9th, 12th, and 16th) were my favorites as there was something quite fun about driver and wedge on the 9th and 16th which are long par 4s. The 17th, a mid length par 5, is one of the best designed holes that I have ever played. It features a split fairway off the tee with the right fairway being the shortest route. I played to the right side but then felt like I almost had to go for the green in two because of the good angle. An out of position drive to the right fairway would have forced me to layup to the left fairway which looked like an odd shot. The 18th hole is a strong finishing hole which played 469 yards back into a little wind and had water all down the left. Some homes are visible from a few holes but they did not detract from the play. The course maintenance from the tees to the greens was great with only a couple dry spots which did not affect play. The greens rolled very smooth, were sneaky fast, and I thought tough to read as well. In fact, I had a few putts break the opposite way of my read. I would not call the course tricky but some local knowledge would help with some tee shots and around the greens. The course was fairly open off the tee with large fairways. The difficulty came on the approaches to firm greens with knobs which influenced chips and long putts. Plus, there were many bunkers. The pace of play was slow at just over 5 hours but I think I just caught it on a busy day. I would highly recommend Running Y and it would a perfect stop on the way to or from Bend and the Bay Area.
#1:
#1 approach:
#2:
#2 green:
#2 green from another angle:
#3:
#3 approach:
#4 approach:
#5:
#5 tee looking back at #4:
#6:
#6 green:
#7:
#8:
#10 green:
#11:
#12:
#13:
#14:
#15:
#16:
#16 approach:
#17:
And to finish a great day, here a sunset over a lake in a remote part of Oregon:
