Portland area course conditions

[spud3]

It's been a while since posting, but we've been playing each weekend. Each week the courses in the PDX area just get better and better.

 

Played both Heron Lakes courses and Rose City recently, and Langdon a bunch, and all are in great shape. The greens at Langdon on Sunday were near perfect, even with what must have been a heavy watering to protect from the two 100-degree days we just had. Fairways are all running great.

 

Superb job by the local greens crews!

[Kernel]

Agree with spud3 on Langdon. I have played a few times in the past couple of months and it is dialed in.

 

Played Pumpkin Ridge (Ghost Creek) last Friday and it was in stellar shape. The greens were FAST!

[mallrat]

Thanks guys. We are actually really happy with the course especially considering how much play it’s getting. The biggest problem is that 1/2 the people actually know how to golf so people are actually hitting the greens, which amounts to 2-3x the normal amount of ballmarks. The other issue, which has really sped up play, is single rider carts. So the course is essentially getting 2x the normal cart traffic.

[spud3]

Took a cart for the first time in a long time due to Sunday's temps.

 

Really enjoyed it. More than I care to admit...

[spud3]

Made the drive out to Quail Valley this morning. The course is starting to brown out nicely and the fairways are running fast. Greens were in good shape but a little on the slow side. It was obvious that they had been dumping a lot of water around the greens. Bunkers were starting to show some weeds sprouting, but still played ok.

 

Very fun round. Don't get out there much, but will do that more often because I love it when that course bakes out a bit and plays like an Open Rota course in late summer. Finished in just over four hours, which is decent for a Saturday there.

 

Note for anyone else who hasn't been out there for a while: everything is done over the phone, even check-in and range balls, and they aren't taking any cash, even the drink cart. Not a big deal, but I was a bit surprised that it was basically a no-contact experience.

[Kernel]

Played Langdon last weekend again and once again the course is in tremendous shape. But for the second time in the past couple of months, I show up for the round and the range is closed - not a regularly schedule closure and no notice to me. So I waste the time getting there early to warm up and have to start a round (at a steep rate) cold. I get that sometimes these things happen, but they should notify those playing that day. Very frustrating

[mallrat]

What day of the week and for how long? Tues are our days to mow and some Saturday mornings we mow but should only be a 15-20 minute delay

[Kernel]

The second time was this past Sunday from noon on. They normally close it on Monday, apparently, but they changed it up because of the Winco tourney this week. So, I understand that hosting a tour event can impact things. Just let me know. Starting cold sucks, especially when arriving early to warm up and paying full freight.

The first time was a weekday, but not on a Monday. I don't recall the reasoning for that one.

I don't play there often (maybe once or twice a year), but I really enjoy the course. Though over the years there have been a handful of customer service misses that make me reconsider playing there at all. And don't get me started on their own online reservation system charging a "convenience fee."

 

 

[mallrat]

We didn’t (Langdon) close anything for the Winco and the range is never closed in the afternoon. We also changed our maintenance day from Mon to Tues.

[Btpdx]

I played Quail for the first time this week. Actually played one of my best rounds this year... not bad for first time on a course. It definitely felt short with how dry the course was. Even the rough was super fast. Greens were on the slow side, but in great shape. There were a couple tough hole placements due to it sitting on a little ridge or peak that caught us up too. I would definitely play it again.

[spud3]

Played Eastmoreland early this morning and Rose City this past Saturday. Both courses are really in good shape.

 

Prime time in PDX right now, as we have not had much rain to speak of for most of a month. Fairways are running!

[spud3]

Played at Langdon this morning.  Course is still in great condition (greens especially), but it's beginning to show the signs of all the rounds that have been played there these past 4 months.  The turf has been well watered, but it seems to be heading into the late summer stage where the divots aren't growing back as fast and the range is easily chewed up.  Fairways are still running nicely.  Saw some bunker rakes for the first time in gawd-knows how long... also saw that no one was using them.

 

Course changes are fully grown in and are definitely speeding up play.  We teed off at about 9:45 (15 min early!) and finished right at 2, and we dinked around a bit as there were no groups behind us keeping pace.  

 

Kudos to mallrat and the crew!

[edryer3]

Anyone play Orchard Hills in Camas/Washougal? Trying to get some thoughts on it. And if it plays well year round. Thanks

[ernotte]

Rose City is looking good, but they are replacing the green on #15 and playing a temp. 

[spud3]

8 hours ago, edryer3 said:

Anyone play Orchard Hills in Camas/Washougal? Trying to get some thoughts on it. And if it plays well year round. Thanks

 

Might want to ask on the Washington Course Conditions thread.  Someone there may have some info.

[Kernel]

Played OGA Saturday and was surprised by the conditions. Seems like they have cut back on watering. Lots of areas are baked out. Many areas of hard pan not far off the fairway and greens. Many tee boxes are ragged. Greens were great, but everything else just looked like they have really cut back on maintenance. 

 

 

[mallrat]

7 hours ago, Kernel said:

Played OGA Saturday and was surprised by the conditions. Seems like they have cut back on watering. Lots of areas are baked out. Many areas of hard pan not far off the fairway and greens. Many tee boxes are ragged. Greens were great, but everything else just looked like they have really cut back on maintenance. 

 

 

My buddy is the Asst Super there and he said it’s too busy for them to send out hand waterers on fairways. 

[mallrat]

On 8/23/2020 at 9:33 PM, spud3 said:

Played at Langdon this morning.  Course is still in great condition (greens especially), but it's beginning to show the signs of all the rounds that have been played there these past 4 months.  The turf has been well watered, but it seems to be heading into the late summer stage where the divots aren't growing back as fast and the range is easily chewed up.  Fairways are still running nicely.  Saw some bunker rakes for the first time in gawd-knows how long... also saw that no one was using them.

 

Course changes are fully grown in and are definitely speeding up play.  We teed off at about 9:45 (15 min early!) and finished right at 2, and we dinked around a bit as there were no groups behind us keeping pace.  

 

Kudos to mallrat and the crew!

Our tee boxes are just hammered and we can’t get them a break. The one I don’t get is all the big divots on driver holes (5, 9 & 1 especially). Same with ball marks, nobody is fixing anything and our greens are taking a beating. Something we were talking about the other day is part of the problem is with the increase in play and fewer tournaments is we are getting better golfers who hit more greens, just wish they would fix their ballmarks. We are up so many rounds it’s insane. 
I like some of the changes but still don’t like others. There is a few things I would have done different. I HATE that 15 is now a driver hole for most people and the 8/9 cross traffic without the church pews is nuts. 

[spud3]

The changes to 4 and 15 definitely change the strategy on those holes (like, removes the strategy completely) which is a bit disappointing.  4 used to be my favorite hole on the course.  Now, there's no reason not to hit driver (same on 15).  I was glad to see the church pew bunker go away (8 is hard enough without it), and I notice the flag on 9 is more often cut way back, which makes that hole a par 4.5 for me.  Most of the changes I'm ok with, but the best thing about the work is every bunker has been made playable (read: now there's actually sand in them), and just about all of them have been made shallower.

 

The range is kind of getting to be an issue, though.  If I'm teeing off at 10, I get there around 8:30-9, and there are no spots on the range line that aren't chewed up.

 

I've played a few rounds at various other courses over the past few weeks (Rose City, Eastmoreland, Heron, Quail) and they are all showing signs of the strain from the number of rounds this year.  But I'm glad they have all stayed open and you all have been doing a great job keeping up.  Much appreciated!

[spud3]

A couple more thoughts on 9:

-When the pin is back, it makes the best position off the tee more to the right, so you'll have more players aiming that way, which would increase the likelihood of them over-cooking it and, as you say, the cross-traffic with 8 becomes more of an issue.  

-Also, when the pin is back, you'll get more approach shots that end up in the pond.

-If the original problem is pace of play, both of these will contribute greatly to that problem.  Maybe save that pin position for weekdays?

[mallrat]

Pin position kind of depends on rotation and a black flag is somewhere behind the ridge but people have been cutting it WAYYY back there. I think 8 should have the option to be played as a short par 5. I have mainly been cutting the pins on 10-18 and there are certain pins I won’t cut. Behind the ridge on 17 is a no no for me, I hate the black pins on 11, 3 I try not to cut the pin behind the bunker. But I have my favorites also, right ridge on 15, front left on 6, middle right on 18. 
The range is an issue and part of that stems from the fact that we used to have a couple hours on Monday mornings to work on the range and we don’t anymore. Where we used to do about 12-15 man hours a week on the range, now we do about 4-5. Add to that the amount of play and it’s a mess. 
Some changes I don’t like are strictly visual, think the. Under behind the green on 9, I like the flattening of the area but I liked how the bunker broke up all the green. The new little greenside bunker on 10 is worthless as is the little one behind 17. 14 I would have left the old bunker but filled it in about half way so the bunker was only 2-3 feet deep instead of 8, it would have been a lot easier to maintain and the new bunker doesn’t really come into play. Just my .02 cents

[PorkChopExpress]

@mallrat 

 

Is Langdon grass only? I don’t remember.  
 

Our course has grass only Fri-Sun. We initially thought it was to save the range for the Portland Open so members complained a lot. 
But now I think about it, the uptick in play we’d have no grass on the range had we not used the mats Mon-Thurs. 

[PorkChopExpress]

Is Langdon 9 the par 5 water finishing hole? Every time I play they flipped the nines so I can’t remember which is which anymore. 
Too bad the church pews are gone. Love that hole. 

[mallrat]

7 hours ago, desaille said:

@mallrat 

 

Is Langdon grass only? I don’t remember.  
 

Our course has grass only Fri-Sun. We initially thought it was to save the range for the Portland Open so members complained a lot. 
But now I think about it, the uptick in play we’d have no grass on the range had we not used the mats Mon-Thurs. 

We are grass Thursday - Sunday. If it was 7 days a week there wouldn’t be any grass left, it is amazing how much of a beating the range takes. 
 

 

7 hours ago, desaille said:

Is Langdon 9 the par 5 water finishing hole? Every time I play they flipped the nines so I can’t remember which is which anymore. 
Too bad the church pews are gone. Love that hole. 

 

9 & 18 share a green but the par 5 is 18. There used to be the deep bunker on the back right of 9. I just thought it need to be shallowed out, in both the bottom of the bunker and the sloping behind it. The sad thing to me is if someone was asked to describe the signature hole it would most likely have been the church pews with the barn. Well the church pews are gone and we are surprised every big storm that old barn survives. 

[PorkChopExpress]

That barn is gonna be there forever

[spud3]

5 hours ago, desaille said:

That barn is gonna be there forever

 

Not if I keep hitting it....

[mallrat]

13 hours ago, spud3 said:

 

Not if I keep hitting it....

 Or us, our mechanic ran into with a tractor at full speed (He forgot to lower the post driver mounted on the back) and it’s been clipped by the mowers a couple times. Not much is keeping that thing up. 
 

The barn that will be there forever is the 1st barn on the right, just past Leo’s garage. That is built the old way with notched beams and wooden dowels instead of nails and is so solid. 

[spud3]

Is there a plan to replace/restore the red barn?  It'll eventually fall over in some wind storm.

 

Can't imagine that would be an inexpensive endeavor, but it's kind of an icon at this point.

 

Also, along with the perennial rumors that the course will close and get turned into a beer distribution location, are the stories that Langdon owns the property south, and will build a second course.  I would love to see that, personally.  Any truth to either?

 

Finally, any plans to create a short game practice area?  It's the one thing the practice facility is lacking.

Edited September 3, 2020 by spud3

[mallrat]

I’ll PM you but I would never worry about this course being sold and closed. Won’t happen, they aren’t involved with the family business anymore. 
 

There was talk about 2-3 years ago of adding another 18 but there are a few problems as I understood it. Not sure how far the talk went. One problem is routing, they would have to break up the existing course most likely, think 16 would have most likely have to be turned into 10. Second 10 would most likely have to be like number 13 on a new course. Also not sure if our facilities could handle the added traffic, meaning carts and range. 
 

Now the one that made more sense but I haven’t heard anything at all is adding a 9 hole par 3. Most likely going along the roadside of 7 and back. 

[PorkChopExpress]

The old barn is like Queen Elizabeth, gonna outlive everything