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From our Directory of the most recommended golf courses
Elkhorn Valley Golf Course
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Designed by Don Cutler, the course plays to an overall length of 6242 yards, with a slope of 126, and a handicap rating of 70.6 with the front nine opening in 1976 and the back in 2000. The course is located 36 miles from Salem on the way to Bend, and used to be the best 9 holer in the US before they built the second nine. It's a great find, a hidden gem with tightly woven fairways through the pines, and a variety of holes with doglegs, water, ravines, and elevated greens. The drives on a number of holes are out of chutes of trees with very little room for error, the par 3's are excellent, just beautiful and challenging. The greens are mid-sized, mostly level with few undulations, and putt true and fast. Yes, it's a short course and you can score well here if you drive the ball long....and straight.
Published by: bobbyj
Posted by: jvetter
Sep 12th, 2011
Elkhorn is one of Oregon's hidden gems. It is well off the beaten path and is usually an hour drive or more for most people in the Willamette Valley. But if you get the chance, you should play this golf course at least once in your life. And bring a camera because the background setting is gorgeous and you will probably see some wildlife while you are there. The layout had a lot of difficult tee shots with little room for error and if you do miss, you have lost your golf ball. In fact they used to sell(and may still do so) Elkhorn t-shirts that read "Do you have enough balls to play Elkhorn?". The new nine gives a little more room to land your ball off of the tee, but it definitely presents just as much of a challenge as the front nine. Warm up before you get here cause there is no driving range and I usually find myself jumping out of the car and heading straight to the tee. They do have a putting green and a chipping green but I find it difficult to really get ready by putting and chipping, especially for the challenge that the front nine throws at you right away. Don't let the yardage of this golf course fool you either. The back tees are only 6242 yards and the middle tees or 5628 yards. But the back tees have a rating of 71 and a slope of 131 and the middle is 68.9 and 117, but plays tougher than the ratings.
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