Calling all Oregonians!!!

[Steel Ninja]

Considering moving to Oregon specifically Eugene or south Portland metro area. Originally from Colorado but have lived in San Diego for the last few years. Yes exceptional weather here but sick of the traffic, rudeness, high cost of living, etc.

 

Tell me about golf, climate, quality of living and culture in general in Eugene and/or Portland area.

 

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[TheGeekGolfer]

Portland area (I live in SE). General quality of living is very good, culture is 'quirky'. Lots of great food and micro-brews. Food carts galore. Good courses, accessible to the public, reasonable rates (Heron Lakes, Langdon Farms, Stone Creek, Pumpkin Ridge, Quail Valley, The Reserve, Tri-Mountain, East Moreland, etc). Weather is the biggest golfing issue, courses get very wet in the winter so your ball plugs alot. They don't fully dry out till mid-June if you are lucky. Then you have 4 months of the best golfing weather around. Last year we had 92 days of no rain, a record for the area. Great people, too, love it here!

[mallrat]

Hope this helps.

I was born and raised in San Diego, lived there for 24 years moved to Winter Park, CO for 3 years, then back to SD. In 2001 I moved to Portland and haven't looked back. San Diego sucks now compared to the 80's and 90's too much LA and monster truck tough guys.

Cost of living in Portland is very reasonable combined with no sales tax, not a bad deal. Your quality of life in Oregon is probably as high as anywhere. In Portland I can go from the beach (not a San Diego beach though) to the snow in 2 1/2 hours. Skiing/ snowboarding 9 months out of the year. Culture is very liberal but very friendly. Eugene is a tougher job market, Portland you have Adidas, Nike and Intel here. If you are in the design world, you couldn't be in a better place.

Portland has some wonderful golf and a lot of reasonable private courses. The one I belong to is 36 holes of very different style of golf, not a country club but a golf club. Dues are very reasonable and no food and beverage minimum. Add to that Bend is 3 hours away which has some of the best courses I've ever played and Bandon is a 5 hour drive.

Love it here.

Send me a PM if you want or are going to come visit.

[VinceFurnier]

Hi Fight,

Just curious, why are you looking into the South Metro area? If you are young and single, I would recommend living in Portland proper. The burbs are family, and old folks friendly but not exactly a hotbed for excitement. Strip malls, traffic, and chain restaurants. Golf is great around here from June through mid-October. You can play year round if you invest in rain gear and hand warmers. Reasonably priced courses, not hard to get tee times usually. Food is great here! Beer & wine even better! If you can handle the unbelievable number of hipsters, you would probably love it.

[Steel Ninja]

[quote name='VinceFurnier' timestamp='1358469303' post='6249231']
Just curious, why are you looking into the South Metro area? If you are young and single, I would recommend living in Portland proper.
[/quote]

Yeah I have (3) kids and so will be looking in more of a suburban area for a larger home (3000 sq. ft.) and yard and good schools + the company I may work for is located in Tigard. I heard Sherwood (south) or Hillsboro (east) may meet this criteria but need to investigate more.

[Bubba Julio]

As most have posted, golf in the Portland area is great for half the year, plus bend/sunriver is close as is bandon!

The commute from Hillsboro to Tigard would get old after a while, much better from Sherwood, Newberg or Tualatin. All 3 of those are nice communities with great schools for your kids as well.

[mallrat]

While we're on Oregon, anyone wanna join me for a round at the Reserve on a member guest rate or for a round in Black Butte, let me know.

[VinceFurnier]

Gotcha. I have a couple of young ones myself and we have contemplated the burbs, but we both work downtown, so convenience is winning out for now. There are not many golf courses near Tigard/Sherwood. Tualatin CC is close but private. Chehalem Glen is in Newberg, that is a nice track. Langdon Farms is somewhat nearby and its a good track also. More golf options in the Hillsboro area. The Reserve, Pumpkin Ridge, Forest Hills, and a few others. Driving from Hillsboro to Tigard for work sounds like rotten traffic, but might not be so bad compared to SoCal.

You can get a lot of house for reasonable prices in the burbs. As far as schools go, most districts are struggling for cash, but they are safe, and i dont hear too much complaining about poor scholastic performance. The Portland area is really a great place to live, you really can't go wrong in any area.

[DeNinny]

Will a moderator please shut this thread down? It sucks here in Portland. It rains 400 days out of the year. People are uptight. The food is terrible. No one should ever move here.

Seriously, my only minor gripe after living here for the last 12 years is that the average driving speed is about 10 mph slower than elsewhere. There are a lot of drivers here that actually follow the speed limit (novel concept in most cities). I've gotten used to it and go with the flow now.

I can't add much to what's been stated before. If you decide to come, you will understand the comedy show Portlandia a lot more and why there are bumper stickers with "Keep Portland Weird" all over the place. Coming from San Diego, just be prepared for the weather difference. That will be your biggest hurdle.

Oh and be prepared to play golf in the muck if you are a year round player.

Forgot to mention, if it suits your fancy, we have the most diverse array of strip clubs on the planet here. Ones where you will find grandma and grandpa having their steak dinner in the back to your standard run of the mill gentlemen's club. Not joking on this either. PM me if you want details.

[Cgmorri]

Being an Oregon lifer and avid golfer isn't always the best fit, but it is, what it is, just have to make the best of it. I currently live in Sherwood and it is a great family community, my kids are out on their own, but our neighborhood is mostly younger families. Tigard, Beaverton, Tualatin & Newberg are minutes away. As for the golf, The Reserve (36 holes) is about a 20 minute drive, they use one course as private, the other is public, mid month they switch the courses, the course that was private becomes public, etc. Langdon Farms is another 20 minutes away. Both these courses offer player cards that get you discounts on tee times, clubhouse etc. The Chehalem Glenn course is about 15 minutes, challenging 18 holes, not a real impressive club house compared to The Reserve or Langdon, but a good golf option. Around 25 - 30 minutes south on I-5 in Woodburn is the OGA course, great greens, great course. The Portland metro area has a lot of courses to choose from, but I find these that I have mentioned to not only be close to home, but good quality courses. Also, I have a great driving range 10 minutes from home.

[juliette91]

If you can find a job here move here. If you move here without a job and are not a genius at software developing
or computer engineering there are many many restaurants (check every week to see which ones are still in business)
who can use underpaid and overworked staff. Golf? Sounds like you're a person with money so you won't have to be
concerned about anything else.

[spud3]

Just thought I'd contrast living in Portland (I'm in SE) with Eugene (lived there for a long time before coming up to PDX). Mainly the golf in Eugene is not great, unless you belong to the Eugene Country Club or Shadow Hills CC. There are a few public courses that are OK (Riverridge and Emerald Valley) within 15-20 miles, Tokatee is an hour or so away, and that's about it for quality of any kind. Jobs are much harder to come by than Portland. Eugene is a wonderful college town, don't get me wrong, but golf-wise, it's not even close to Portland.