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Around (Oregon's) Bend, Part 1
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The clubhouse at Pronghorn, overlooking the Fazio course's 18th green.
The "Ultimate" Golf Getaway?
For once I didn't mind the snowflakes, which wiped out my tee time the next day. It was mid-April on the lee side of the Cascades, after all, and I just had to roll with it. Such rolling flattens out a bit when you're surrounded by 3,500 square feet of hardwood, Italian tile, flat-screen TVs, four bedrooms, four bathrooms, two dining rooms, Wolf appliances, two-person hot tubs and several flagstone patios looking out over a Jack Nicklaus Signature course and the glistening bright white Three Sisters beyond.
Take a bite of the incredibly diverse high desert golf delicacy known as Central Oregon, where 29 golf courses circle the old mill town-turned-real estate mecca of Bend; where a family can ski Mt. Bachelor by morning and be on the first tee of a Top 100 course by mid-afternoon; where the Deschutes River swells with the promise of a summer of stellar fishing and rafting and the belly swells with an unending array of handcrafted brews. Sure Bandon's courses have the ocean and all that buzz, but Bend matches it in memorable golf architecture, then blows by it in wealth of other outdoor pursuits.
Speaking of wealth, my family's spring break in Bend was partially spent living how the other half rolls in the above-illustrated Italian villa-style home at Pronghorn, easily one of the top private clubs to open in the West the past decade. And with an Ultimate Escapes membership — which range from a $70,000 to $450,000 buy-in with $8,000 to $16,000 yearly dues for 14- to 60- day-stays at dozens of resorts worldwide — such luxury could be within our reach year-round, had we that kind of scratch, which, to be honest, we don't. So the ever-gracious golf gods have asked me to tell y'all about it instead.
I'll ask you to partake of the full Ultimate Escapes meal in the June-July issue of FG Magazine, but first, an appetizer:
Thanks to my member-in-disguise privileges at Pronghorn's two tracks (not to mention the entire family's access to its huge clubhouse/spa, restaurants, swimming pool and other amenities), I'd get in my round on Pronghorn's out-of-this-world Tom Fazio course the following day, working on a brand new move discovered under the practiced and patient eye of Nicklaus Academy Director of Instruction Mike Lewis. My wife and kids soaked up as much of our (very) temporary Pronghorn home's charms as possible before we headed for another night in downtown Bend, 15 minutes to the southwest. It was cold and breezy on the Fazio but the snow was long gone and Pronghorn's incredible crew had the course in killer early season shape. I managed to fire an 83 with one birdie (after driving the downwind par-4 14th), and several solid up-and-downs on Fazio's fascinating green complexes, most of which are tucked between blasted-out volcanic rock and twisted juniper trees — with one, the already world-famous and utterly unique par-3 eighth, perched above a 30-foot-deep fissure bookended by quarter-mile-long lava tubes. I was comfy throughout the walking round thanks to four layers of clothes; in fact, layering is paramount in this history and view-rich part of the West, where the Cascades and high desert converge and dreams come to bloom among the fragrant pines and sage. By May it'll be in the mid-80s daily, with high summer jumping into the 90s, though at 4,500 fee in elevation, nighttime temps can dive toward freezing. So, you've got extreme weather even with 300-plus days of sunshine each year, to go along with the extremely alluring views.
"Yeah, this is definitely a special place," Lewis said as we strolled to our tee shots on one back nine fairway. "I thought my native Utah was as beautiful as the West gets, but Oregon — it's just incredible up here."
That goes double at Pronghorn, which, starting this year, is more accessible to the public thanks to a new area-wide golf consortium wherein all 29 public courses, from venerable Crosswater at Sunriver to brand-new Tetherow, will take part in a massive marketing effort. Tee times will be available on the Nicklaus course nearly every day. Lest you think you're getting a lesser course than the very private Fazio (which is, by the way, available to Ultimate Escapees), think again: Though very different in look and feel, it's first-rate from stem to stern. In fact, on our first night in the UE home I couldn't resist taking a few balls out to the par-3 17th tee while our shrimp skewers — purchased by our on-property concierge along with a load of other groceries, and prepared in advance by Pronghorn's chef — sizzled on our home's built-in outdoor grill 30 yards away. With a stiff, cold Cascade breeze at my back and snow spitting from the dusky sky, I toe-hooked a 7-iron to within 10 feet. Maybe warming up is overrated.
Central Oregon as a golf destination, however, is not. Stay tuned for my next entry as I take you a little further around the Bend.
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