Bend, OR Trip

[DandyDon]

Thoughts on course conditions in Bend/SR/Pronghorn in Mid May (15-25)?

[puttnforthe8]

6 hours ago, DandyDon said:

Thoughts on course conditions in Bend/SR/Pronghorn in Mid May (15-25)?

ummm.flawless

[Jeff58]

On 7/25/2022 at 1:23 PM, DandyDon said:

Thoughts on course conditions in Bend/SR/Pronghorn in Mid May (15-25)?

Yup. Just about optimal timing.

[kaschreiber]

You now have me rethinking our late Sept / early Oct timing for this year... Things still hold up well (weather permitting) early Fall?

[doc52]

18 hours ago, kaschreiber said:

You now have me rethinking our late Sept / early Oct timing for this year... Things still hold up well (weather permitting) early Fall?

You should have decent weather.

[soregongolfer]

On 7/26/2022 at 1:37 PM, kaschreiber said:

You now have me rethinking our late Sept / early Oct timing for this year... Things still hold up well (weather permitting) early Fall?

We go to Bend during the first week of October (elbow season).  The courses are still in terrific shape.  The only thing you will have to worry about is frost delays in the morning.  The highs will be in the mid-80's or higher, but the lows get into the high 20's/low 30's.  It's always a shock to see frost on the windshield when you're used to lows being in the 60's on the other side of the mountains.  

Edited July 28, 2022 by soregongolfer

[kaschreiber]

On 7/27/2022 at 9:44 PM, soregongolfer said:

We go to Bend during the first week of October (elbow season).  The courses are still in terrific shape.  The only thing you will have to worry about is frost delays in the morning.  The highs will be in the mid-80's or higher, but the lows get into the high 20's/low 30's.  It's always a shock to see frost on the windshield when you're used to lows being in the 60's on the other side of the mountains.  

That's interesting - hadn't thoguht of that and appreciate the heads up. We have 36 hole days at Tetherow and Pronghorn at 830 and 855 am, so hopeful we're able to still make those work, but may be a craps shoot.

[Jeff58]

3 hours ago, kaschreiber said:

That's interesting - hadn't thoguht of that and appreciate the heads up. We have 36 hole days at Tetherow and Pronghorn at 830 and 855 am, so hopeful we're able to still make those work, but may be a craps shoot.

This year we are experiencing a “delayed” seasonal pattern. If it continues at all in the same manner, frost will not likely be an issue.

[Wardonation]

The weather turns every year at Halloween. I would try to get on Bend Golf CLub (best course in Bend) besides Fazio. I lived there for 25 years but finally had to get outta there.

[kaschreiber]

We have 12 guys, tried getting onto Bend GC but weren't able. 4/12 are members at private courses, so may be able to spread the wealth, although I have heard great things about Faz (just will be the most expensive round of golf I've ever played)

[kaschreiber]

Anyone know anything about the aerifaction schedules for Bend this year? Heading out in just over two weeks. We just punch at my home course outside of Seattle. This is the issue we run with the timing of your trip every year, so I know we're rolling the dice. We get into town on 9/29.

 

Juniper - I think they have the OR State Am (or another large OR event) the day after we play, so not worried there. 

Pronghorn - sounds like they're just punching fairways in late Sep / early Oct

Tetherow - ? 

Aspen Lakes - ?

[doc52]

23 minutes ago, kaschreiber said:

Anyone know anything about the aerifaction schedules for Bend this year? Heading out in just over two weeks. We just punch at my home course outside of Seattle. This is the issue we run with the timing of your trip every year, so I know we're rolling the dice. We get into town on 9/29.

 

Juniper - I think they have the OR State Am (or another large OR event) the day after we play, so not worried there. 

Pronghorn - sounds like they're just punching fairways in late Sep / early Oct

Tetherow - ? 

Aspen Lakes - ?

Not sure about Bend, but the Portland area courses are punching right now. My guess would be before October they'll be punched.

[mallrat]

Actually the Bend courses generally punch later than Portland. They can. Also a lot of Supers don’t want the holes to close up fully. Which, from my understanding almost acts as an early aerification for next year. The goal is generally to have them punched before the grass goes dormant up there. 

[mallrat]

7 hours ago, doc52 said:

Not sure about Bend, but the Portland area courses are punching right now. My guess would be before October they'll be punched.

Who has punched already in Portland?

[doc52]

13 hours ago, mallrat said:

Who has punched already in Portland?

 

Was told Columbia was going to punch after the LPGA event, Summerfield and King City have punched.

[kaschreiber]

Rather than create a new post, going to do a quick recap of how our Bend trip played out. We were in Bend Thurs 9/29 to Sun 10/2. 12 guys, 11 of us travelled in from the Seattle area, one flew up from Phoenix. This is the 6th year of our buddies trip, "The Leaping Deer Invitational" (long story).

 

Lodging: We rented a house in NE Bend that could not have suited our needs better. The place was MASSIVE - I distinctly remember walking someone's drink from the kitchen to the living room and realizing "this takes twice as long to walk as my house. How do we people have houses this big?" We had enough beds for everyone, with 2 guys on couches, but there were no complaints. A great outside patio for watching Ms / Huskies, bbqing, corn hole, etc. and ~20 minutes from all the courses we played with the exception of Black Butte. DM me if you're interested, I can share the airbnb.

 

Courses: We played Juniper on the afternoon we arrived, 36 at both Pronghorn courses Fri, 36 at Tetherow on Sat, 18 at Black Butte Glaze Sun before heading out:

• Juniper: Everyone really liked it. My second time playing it and just an absolute steal of a value for what we paid ($90 for carts and range balls). Some walked and found it to be a good walk, but with that much golf, most of us took carts. We teed off around 150 and caught a pretty stiff wind, which made it more difficult than I remember, but still had a great time. Course was in great condition. We took the two lowest gross scores to decide our team captains for the week and did a live draft at the house that night
• Pronghorn Nick / Faz: I had never played either, but was blown away. Had pretty high hopes for what we were paying, but they were exceeded. We were initial quoted $250 for Nicklaus, $350 for Faz, which was going to be steep, but we opted to play both for the experience. On checkout they gave us a replay on Nicklaus despite playing it in the morning, so was ~$400 all said and done for the two rounds. Would like to play Nicklaus again - several holes look extremely tight off the tee, only to get to the landing zone and find much more space than you realize. Not a blade of grass out of place on either course. Some of the holes do bleed together a bit (could have been the lack of sleep / surplus of booze by the afternoon), but the highlight of the trip for me. Two man best ball match play in the morning, two man best ball stroke in the afternoon. 
• Tetherow: Had played here before, but do not remember it kicking me in the teeth like it did. Had a tough time getting off the tee, which does not help there, but some of the pins were borderline impossible. Ex: of the 12 of us playing across 2 rounds, 1 person was able to hit the proper shelf on 4 and we range from 4-14 hc. Anything above the hole (was a front pin), you could not keep the ball on the green. All for strategy, but hitting the center of the green was often extremely penal. 2 man quota in the morning, 2 man hi / lo in the afternoon.
• Black Butte Glaze - This course was way harder to get to than I understand (apple and google maps route you through the middle of nowhere and add ~20 mins to the drive vs going to the Visitor Center and following signs), but was a hidden gem. More PNW like we're used to - tall trees, water, much fairer greens. Singles matches to close it out.

If I had to split 10 rounds between the 5 courses, give me 3 on each of the Pronghorn, 2 on Black Butte, 1 each on Tetherow or Juniper. Next time we're in Bend, it won't take much to convince me to skip Tetherow, it left that kind of taste in my mouth. Didn't feel that way last time, may have just caught a mix of bad pins / bad swings, but I now see all the disdain.

 

Format:

Broke into 2 groups of 6 with the Captains doing a draft after being decided by the Juniper round. At first the draft was done in the corner, we had results read out as if though it were a live draft and glad we did. Left a lot of s*** talking and ribbing about who was picked where. We did 2 points for each match, a tie was 1 point to each team. Everything after the Juniper round was net. For the stroke play round, gave the 2 man team with the lowest round 3 points for their team, 2 points to second lowest, 1 point to third lowest. It came down to the final group in singles at Black Butte - one guy shooting the lowest round we've had on this trip (-1) to win his match, one guy hitting it to ~5' from 130 out to eek out a tie match that wound up deciding the total match. With 8 of us standing around the green at the end, made for a really fun finish.

 

Travel: RDM has to be one of the easiest airports to navigate around. Direct flights from Seattle for <$200 round trip. We landed and were on the road in 20 and at 3:00 on a Sunday we were at the gate 10 mins after arriving. 

 

Pinehurst 2023 is booked for LDI 7!

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by kaschreiber

[spud3]

Sounds like a great trip, and you definitely hit the highlights of the Bend area courses (with the possible exception of the Sunriver courses).

 

Black Butte does not get the love it should, especially Glaze, since the renovation has grown in.  Hopefully, they'll do the same for the Big Meadow course, which will make BBR a premier golf trip target.

 

My feelings about Tetherow are pretty much in line with yours.  If you miss off the tee, you're dead.  Our last trip over, we agreed that it would be ok to play as the first round of the trip, just so everything after would look that much better.

[soregongolfer]

No sales tax is nice too.  I sneered at my receipts a few times while in Scottsdale at sales taxes and water fees.  Pronghorn's prices are higher than expected.  I'm happy to hear to they gave you a discount.  

[sratacik]

Stopped in Bend on my way to Bandon this past May and played Tetherow. Can't wait to go back...very underrated area.