Potentially moving to Vancouver, Washington next year. What's the golf scene out there?

[Nachosgrande]

Any nice clubs to join or does everyone just play around? Scratch golfer looking for challenging tracks. Coming from the East Coast so I have no idea what to expect.

[Seamus_MacDuff]

Royal Oaks Country Club is a very, very good private club in Vancouver.  Fantastic set of greens.  Typically rated one of the best courses in the state. Right across the river in Portland you have Columbia Edgewater Country Club, which is also very, very good, though I'd give the edge to Royal Oaks.  

 

Riverside Golf & Country Club is next door to Columbia Edgewater, is quite a bit cheaper but not nearly as nice.  Orchard Hills Golf & Country Club is on the east side of Vancouver, but it's a low budget club that I'm not sure even stretches to 6000 yards.  Not worth considering, IMHO.  

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Seamus_MacDuff

[Nachosgrande]

24 minutes ago, Seamus_MacDuff said:

Royal Oaks Country Club is a very, very good private club in Vancouver.  Fantastic set of greens.  Typically rated one of the best courses in the state. Right across the river in Portland you have Columbia Edgewater Country Club, which is also very, very good, though I'd give the edge to Royal Oaks.  

 

Riverside Golf & Country Club is next door to Columbia Edgewater, is quite a bit cheaper but not nearly as nice.  Orchard Hills Golf & Country Club is on the east side of Vancouver, but it's a low budget club that I'm not sure even stretches to 6000 yards.  Not worth considering, IMHO.  

 

 

Appreciate the reply Seamus. Royal Oaks seems interesting and I like the reciprocity they have with about 10 other courses in the area. Any idea what kind of initiation fee/dues I can expect?

[djmohab2]

I'll second Columbia Edgewater. They rolled out the red carpet when I toured there last year. Their pool lounge has alcoholic slushies, their restaurant insisted I try one of their higher end dishes when I just wanted to order something basic as it was all comped, and the course was a nice layout. Only problem may be with traffic crossing the bridge as I feel like it's gotten worse than ever.

[Seamus_MacDuff]

39 minutes ago, Nachosgrande said:

 

Appreciate the reply Seamus. Royal Oaks seems interesting and I like the reciprocity they have with about 10 other courses in the area. Any idea what kind of initiation fee/dues I can expect?

I don't, but would expect the initiation to be in the $50k range with monthly dues near $800.

[Nachosgrande]

56 minutes ago, Seamus_MacDuff said:

I don't, but would expect the initiation to be in the $50k range with monthly dues near $800.

Whew, definitely would need some confirmation that I'll be living there for a while to justify that cost.

[mallrat]

I don’t think it’s that much but Royal Oaks is known for the quality of their greens. 
 

Heron Lakes is a fun 36 hole muni but it gets really crowded

[Seamus_MacDuff]

Just checked in with a Vancouver friend, and I was a little high on the initiation.  I believe it's $30k currently.

 

[Nachosgrande]

1 hour ago, mallrat said:

I don’t think it’s that much but Royal Oaks is known for the quality of their greens. 
 

Heron Lakes is a fun 36 hole muni but it gets really crowded

 

Will check that out, thanks.

 

1 hour ago, Seamus_MacDuff said:

Just checked in with a Vancouver friend, and I was a little high on the initiation.  I believe it's $30k currently.

 

 

Much better, I can talk the wife into that, only 5k more that we paid out here. Thanks again!

[mallrat]

FWIW, the people I know at Royal Oaks are a little younger and more family oriented. They all have younger kids and love the pool and have met people who have become really good friends with. 
 

Columbia, everyone I know is a little older (past 50 vs 45 and below for Royal Oaks) and a little more golf specific. Don’t get me wrong there are some VERY good golfers at Royal Oaks.

[djmohab2]

Depending on your age, I think I was told it was $10-15k to join Edgewater (I was 35). PGC and Waverly told me $63-$64k, but because I was a young professional, I could pay it off over 5 years interest free 😂

Edited April 28, 2022 by djmohab2

[Joe Duffer]

On 4/27/2022 at 10:49 AM, Nachosgrande said:

Any nice clubs to join or does everyone just play around? Scratch golfer looking for challenging tracks. Coming from the East Coast so I have no idea what to expect.

Did you eventually join a club in in the Portland/Vancouver area? - if so, what club did you choose and how are you getting along... ??