1st time here, played the blues (6526/71.2/126) in 4h, 45m on a very busy Tuesday morning for their early bird rate of $16 to walk. Teed off @ 7:35a, finished @ 12:20p and everytime I was close enough... Continue »

1st time here, played the blues (6526/71.2/126) in 4h, 45m on a very busy Tuesday morning for their early bird rate of $16 to walk. Teed off @ 7:35a, finished @ 12:20p and everytime I was close enough to see #1 tee, it was packed with 4some after 4some. Ed Lee's previous Broadmoor review was spot on and prepared me well for this layout. This is an older (Built in 1931), quirky track bordering the Portland Airport with many unique holes. You start with a short, severely downhill driveable par 4. You end with a short, severely up hill par 4. #10 is one of the uniquest holes I have ever seen, it is basically 2 holes within a hole. The ladies have a separate tee area and a separate green that all play all on the same side of the river. The men use the same fairway, but their tees and especially their green is different. The men's green is about 150 yards beyond the ladies green on the other side of a wide, yellow staked water hazard. You have to lay up from an elevated tee shot before the water hazard (max about 245) and then have a 160 to 210 yard shot over a yellow water hazard to an elevated green. Anything short may roll back into the hazard. I found the front the easier of the two nines. It starts off with a drive able par 4 and you have three par 3s and three par 5s on the front nine. The back nine is the longer of the two nines and has seven par 4's with just one par 3 and one par 5. Nearly all the holes are well guarded by tall mature trees, but this is not an overly tight course. However, better have a variety of punch shots and be able to curve your shots around trees if you get off the fairway, because most shots can't go through or over these 100' tall trees. This course offers a wide variety of par 4's. Several are short and straight-away. Several are severely uphill or downhill. Several are visually intimidating due to their length or by having trees all around. Several holes have approach shots that play severely uphill to sloping back to front greens. The four par 5's were all what I would consider scoring holes for longer hitters. The greens were pretty quick, smooth, firm but held approach shots well. They were definitely the best part of the course. Local knowledge of where to place the ball on certain greens would be very beneficial. As an example, both #9 & #18 have greens that slope fairly severely from back to front... and a bold putt could easily roll 15 yards down the hill, since these were elevated greens with a false front. Both the fairways & rough were generally lush, well maintained. The tees were decent, they were maintained but looked like a course that gets alot of play. I wasn't in any traps, but they did not appear to be as well maintained as the rest of the course. There is no driving range or short game practice area at this course, they had a decent practice putting green that was reflective of the greens on the course and a nice clubhouse with a restaurant. They do not have a beverage cart on the course, but they do have a snack shed that you loop by twice per nine. Customer service was a +, I arrived @ 730a and the pro shop had me paired up with Jeremy, Dick & Sandy to tee off @ 735a. Very fun course, I will definitely be back!