Played here Tuesday as the second leg of 36. I had tried to play here before a few years but was deterred due to fires. With the amazing quality of ... » More

Played here Tuesday as the second leg of 36. I had tried to play here before a few years but was deterred due to fires. With the amazing quality of courses in Bend my expectations were high coming into this round. We go out at 4:00 twilight and had the course to ourselves.

As a Troon managed course. The service here could not be better. You are greeted upon arrival with a cart. Everything is loaded for you and the practice range, greens and amenities are amazing.

The course is a masterpiece. You can tell it is a Nicklaus but it is unlike any course of his I have ever played. While the fairways are massive, the unique aspect of this course are the rock, brush, dead tree outcropping. What these do is essentially cut the fairway into quadrants. A drive in the wrong side of the fairway will leave a blocked shot requiring a punch out. Every tee shot you have to decide whether to carry or lay up behind particular outcroppings. Being a Nicklaus the greens are all elevated and tiny. The challenge here are the firm lightning fast greens, with subtle breaks. Most greens are tortoise shelled so laying up short and leaving a chip in the right area is key here.

The other unique thing about this course are the optical illusions on the par 3s and par 4 13th especially. Somehow with the way the water or edge of the greens have an angle to them it greatly affects your depth perception. On several holes you actually want to drive away from the hole on the outside of bunkers (versus cutting the corner) and somehow those areas are closer to the hole then going at it. There is another fun tight short uphill par 4. That appears tight but above the pinch is a massive landing zone. Course knowledge is a must here. Me and my partner went from 92s with one birdie the first round. To an 81 with 2 birdies and an eagle. Playing conservative here is the key. The par 5s are the most difficult and should all be played as 3 shotters unless you catch the speed slope on the last one.

I'm rating this course. It isnt the type of course that will have vertifcut fairways like you see on your. But the turf here is immaculate. It is cut so thin and perfect the fairways here are jicer than most greens. As we learned the second round you are better off lutting off the green to avoid rolloffs into bunkers.

The tee boxes were the nicest I have ever seen. Immaculate, perfectly flat, and cut thin like a green.

Sand bunkers were a perfect soft natural sand. Great consistency.

It doesnt get any better than Pronghorn. It was so good we came back and played it twice. There was no point going elsewhere.

The size of the ballpark. No holes backing along each other. The sheer magnitude of this course is breathtaking. It has by far two of the most epic par 5s you will ever play.
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The third course of my Bend trip. My buddy is a member here and got us on for free at twilight. Understand this is not a high end course and basical... » More

The third course of my Bend trip. My buddy is a member here and got us on for free at twilight. Understand this is not a high end course and basically a really fun local muni. The practice facility and clubhouse are minimalist but get the job done.

This course is your classic super tight, short, risk reward target mountain golf. I absolutely love these kind of courses. They are a blast to play for a twilight round when you want to knock it around and not worry about your score.

Condition wise it wasnt the best. They didnt make it cart path only following the rain and the fairways were chewed up. Some really bad cart damage. The greens rolled fine, very quick downhill, but many of them had bad fungus infestations and other poa damage. Great condition for muni standards. A few of the tee boxes were lumpy but nothing bad.

The course is a blast to play. As if you can hit high fades or draws with your driver you can cut a lot of corners and overpower the course. I almost drove a few holes and hit all the par 5s in two. Many going driver then a 7 iron over some trees. Total blast to play. Local knowledge is a must. Really fun course with unique quirky holes if thats your thing. Which it is and I had an absolute blast.
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Played here Sunday at 4 as part of the second leg of my 36 kicking off my week in Bend. This is a really nice course. It was lush and in great condi... » More

Played here Sunday at 4 as part of the second leg of my 36 kicking off my week in Bend. This is a really nice course. It was lush and in great condition following the severe rain.

Unfortunately it had to follow Tetherow and those two courses are on different levels. Widgi I would judge as a really nice private course while Tetherow is a world class golf resort.

The fairways were lush and had drained well. Not too soft. The greens were receptive. Rolled well. Just not flawless smooth greens. They dont roll at all downhill which is odd. I had recently played Pine Canyon and unfortunately that experience spoiled me. The bunkers were a little generic. The sand was a little washed out from the massive run but I imagine they are fine normally.

Widge is mostly tight to medium tight tree lines fairways. Greens are mostly protected. But they arent overly elaborate elevated greens. Some of the par 3s have some nice green complexes. There are some beautiful shute par 4s. But looking back I dont really remember any of the holes. I felt a lack of elevation changes held the course back a little. Also the fee to play during the week is $110. Then twilight is a bargain $35 without cart. So rightfully so twilight was slammed. So we had a slow round in comparison. Some of the artificial water hazards seemed out of place too.

Forest courses aren't my favorite so this course didnt quite do it for me. But a very nice clean, beautiful course.
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This is what a golf experience is supposed to be like! This is a one of a kind course. I had one of the best golfing days ever playing here. If you... » More

This is what a golf experience is supposed to be like! This is a one of a kind course. I had one of the best golfing days ever playing here. If you want pure unflitered intense harsh golf this is your course.

I can definitely see why this is such a love / hate course which is appreciated. Golf courses should not appeal to everyone. If you try to make everyone happy you make no one happy. And I was happy. While its detractors may state this is not a true links course
Who cares. Tetherow is Tetherow. It is a links course laid out on a seemingly harsh extreme unforgiving landscape. I love target desert golf. And this is extreme links target golf and it is awesome. No bumpbing and running here into the heavily protected elevated greens. Brutally difficult blind tee shots into rolling undulating fairways. Then follow with approaches into tucked pins on tiny slivers of greens protected by the most undulating greens of your life. The greens were the most challenging multi leveled undulating greens I have ever played. It took a few holes to adjust your focus to take into effect every break and dip of the greens. But there was a natural flow to the greens. I loved the putting challenge.

Once you walk down from the parking lot and get a view of the massive ballpark that is Tetherow it is awe inspiring. There was a recent thunderstorm so the conditions were softer and more playable than usual. Conditions were near perfect. Having only played here once is the only thing stopping me from saying the conditions were near perfect. Every tee box was lush and level. No dead spots in any fairways, no cart damage areas to bee seen

Greens rolled true and never bounced once. No one hits the greens so there are no ballmarks. Bunkers are natural and fluffy, yet compacted! Very easy to get out of.

The sightlines from the elevated tee boxes here are remarkable. The designer really does a great job of making every shot appear narrow and hopeless. You cannot miss anywhere here. And great shots get penalized if you catch the wrong slope. One of my favorite rounds of all time and a brewathtaking course. Easily top 10 course for me and would say it rounds out the top 5.
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Expectations and past experiences play a huge roll in the enjoyment of a round. My experience with Oak Creek is vastly different than most. My high ... » More

Expectations and past experiences play a huge roll in the enjoyment of a round. My experience with Oak Creek is vastly different than most. My high school summer golf camp was held at Oak Creek. This was 16 years ago. What I remember is Pure as Pure can be Oak Creek. Wall to wall lush turf and beautiful fresh bark mulch. There was a time when Fazio was the most sought after golf course architect in the world. I have wanted to come back and play here as an adult. I saw this opportunity and jumped on it. No longer being a local, I was unaware Oak Creek had fallen.

The layout, bones, and experience of this course top class. The greens were nice and quick. Rolled great. Were soft and consistent. The staff, and seclusion are as good as it gets. It is a unique east coast style golf course oasis in the middle of vanilla urbanized Irvine. The grandnest of the fairways, sightlines, and bunkers is rare. There aren't courses around here that wind and flow with elevation changes like this course. The minimalist wispy bunker collors, and seemingly natural flowing waste bunkers here are not found in So Cal Courses. Quite unique

However, I want to provide a review of where Oak Creek is currently, not where is is headed, or what its bones or potential are. The weekend rack rate here is $185. I would have been really upset had I spent $185 with some of the correctable flaws of the course. The fairways are great. Very few brown spots but great coverage. I found the rough to be wildly inconsistent. As well as the slopes behind a lot of the greens were patchy and inconsistent. They would be great if they were let go, or if they were consistently mowed. They were in between.

A few of the tee boxes were bad. Like local muni bad. There was a hole in one where I almost tripped on. Some very severe slopes and ledges. Many had depressions and mounds. There was even a comical tee box location on a slope. While this may not seem like a big deal. For $185 this is just lazy and easily correctable in my opinion. No excuse. Tee boxes need to be flat on a high end course.

I was also really enjoying the round until I discovered the greenside bunker. Johnny stumbled into one and really struggled. And I thought he was over exaggerating, until I hit in them. This may be a teething process, but the sand was not compacted in the slightest. It was legit beach sand. Near impossible to hit out of with wild fried eggs. I attempted to walk into the bottom of a bunker and the sand collapsed into a sinkhole and I rolled my ankle quite bad. I'm 32 and in good shape not a clumsy old codger. I really feel like I shouldnt have to risk sinking into a sink hole of uncompacted sand walking into a bunker on a golf course. Especially a Tom Fazio $180 course.

I also really did not like the ginormous touch screen monitor in the middle of the cart

Its in nice shape right now. For $180 it has flaws. It sounds like the right GM was hired and with some small improvements this course should be back to a top notch golf course like it should be.
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