After work on Thursday I headed up the I-5 from Vancouver for a round at Three Rivers Golf Course. My friend recommended this course as one of those good-value rounds and for $22 I couldn’t pass up the chance to check it out.

Kelso is about 45 minutes from Vancouver and even with my late start I had no trouble walking all eighteen holes before sunset. I got tired of following a group and jumped around a bit on the back nine to get past them. I hit my tee shot on the 10th and then played the 12th through the 14th. Next, I squeezed in the 11th, played the rest of the 10th and got back over to the 15th. I felt like a genius as I gained two holes on them by doing that!

Anyway, as the name indicates Three Rivers has a unique setting. The course is located on a bend in the Cowlitz River, not far from where the Coweeman River drains into it. Subsequently, the Cowlitz drains into the Columbia River a mile or two south. While driving to the course you take a road that is on top of a levee and that road dead ends into the golf course parking lot. From the course the views of the Cowlitz River aren’t great, but you can see it through the trees early on while playing the back nine.

Three Rivers’ setting is also cool because the course is located next to the Southwest Washington Regional Airport and some track tracks. Multiple planes took off/landed and three trains rolled by during my round. I even got a couple great train pictures while playing the 15th hole.

Besides those elements, Three Rivers is your standard municipal-style golf course (super value and a pleasant walk I’ll add). I believe the course is privately owned, but most of what you’ll find here is quite similar to what you’d find at a city-owned course.

For example, the layout has many back and forth holes, separated by trees. I guess what I’m saying is that the course’s layout is functional and efficient, but not very memorable. At the end of my round I remembered the planes, trains and rivers more than the design itself.

I played the blue tees which are 71.5/129/6629. From those tees I found the course to be very fair. I didn’t play well and a couple holes don’t fit my slice (the 2nd and 14th) so I didn’t score as well as I hoped. But, I still ended up with a couple encouraging holes.

I think the par-4’s at Three Rivers are the strongest holes. Theses holes range from 335 to 428 yards and allowed for a variety of clubs off the tees and into the greens. The 397 yard 9th is probably the best hole on this course. It doglegs left and water guards the green short and right. Missing left is the play!

The conditions were good and well worth the sub $40 green fee that you’ll probably pay to play here. The greens were beautiful, with pure and medium-fast rolls. The fairways were a bit shaggy with a mix of grasses and everything else had a dried out look to it. It is worth noting that Three Rivers is built on volcanic ash from the Mt. St. Helens eruption and should drain great during the winter.

I enjoyed another evening on the golf course and would recommend a round here if passing through the area. I’m not sure Three Rivers is worth a consistent drive from the Portland area, however if I lived in Portland I’d probably head up here a couple times a year in the winter to play on drier turf.

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