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ADVENTURE GUIDE
Golf
BY RICHARD MARTIN Navigate:
Links to Links
Where to Play
Golf vs. Putt-putt
My career as a teen-aged golfer began unceremoniously on a Long Island course near a garbage dump in a place called Sunken Meadows. After only a few outings, something happened that made me pack up my clubs, toss away my tees and retire my Arnold Palmer shirt. I saw Caddyshack.
Halfway through the film, when Bill Murray's scruffy character, Carl, effortlessly won a Masters tournament while lopping off what appeared to be a series of cabbages with a Weed Eater, I could never take golf seriously again. Then, a few weeks ago, and approximately 13 years since my last stroll around the links, an opportunity presented itself. The folks at Persimmon Country Club invited me out to another unappealing place, Gresham, for a quick lesson and a round of nine. I shook off visions of Bill Murray's contorted face and accepted. Persimmon, it turns out, is a utopian golf oasis amid the sprawl of Portland's eastern suburbs, with rolling, perfectly manicured greens and fairways, a reportedly delicious view of Mount Hood (it was cloudy), shiny white golf carts and wildlife that scurries about the course; on the first two holes alone, I witnessed a really cute little bunny and a doe out for a leisurely stroll (and I'm relatively sure that these animals were not planted there for my benefit). A spiffy poet and ex-Berkeley radical dressed in blue polo shirt and matching cap, Larry Johns, the director of the Dr. Lawrence Johns Golf Academy, instructed me in the art of driving, putting and becoming one with the ball for about an hour. Then it was tee time. In what I can only attribute to beginner's luck, I swung my 3 wood and smacked a Titleist about 200 yards onto the first fairway. A few strokes later, I was on the green and putting as if I were the next Tiger Woods--well, more like the next Gerald Ford. The rest of the afternoon had its ups and downs. Somewhere between the tee and the green for the third hole, I stroked a ball into golf's nether world, a feat I would accomplish several more times on this day. But, as I stroked one of my final shots over the murky lake that separates a fairway from the ninth green, I realized golf's appeal. It's a storied sport of presidents, kings and CEOs, but it's also an activity fraught with existential enlightenment, near-spiritual relaxation and intense competitive thrills. Links to Links
When the Scots established golf as a sport back in the 14th century, one of the first steps they took to get the word out was to build home pages on the World Wide Web. OK, so I'm making that up, but the Web can acquaint you with the area's courses (for the non-wired, the Yellow Pages offers a comprehensive listing of the public and private clubs). The best site can be found at http://www.oregon.golf. It features descriptions and some links to most area courses. Another option is at http://www.portlandhomes.com/activities/golf.html, which is a bare-bones site that lists private and public courses, with brief commentary about some courses. The Oregon Golf Courses page, at http://www.usgolfcourses.com/oregon/oregon.html, combines bits of information with plugs for some discount-membership program the site hawks. Where To Play
Persimmon is a semi-private 18-hole course, where the country club's members have first dibs on tee times. It's one of about 30 courses open to the public in the Portland area, and many have received high marks from the national press. In 1992, Golf Digest voted Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club's Ghost Creek the best new public course in the country, and others such as Eastmoreland and Tokatee consistently rank in the nation's top 25. The City of Portland's four municipal courses offer the least expensive greens fees, with Rose City coming in at only $19 for a round of 18. The others are Eastmoreland, Progress Downs and the universally praised Heron Lakes. Following are addresses and phone numbers for the courses mentioned above: Persimmon Country Club, 500 SE Butler Road, Gresham,
661-1800 Eastmoreland Golf Course and Driving Range,
2425 SE Bybee Blvd., Portland, 775-2900 Rose City Golf Course, 2200 NE 71st Ave., Portland, 253-4744 Heron Lakes Golf Course, 3500 N Victory Blvd., Portland,
289-1818 Progress Downs Golf Course & Driving Range, 8200 SW Scholls Ferry Road, Beaverton, 646-5166 Tokatee Golf Club, 54947 McKenzie Highway, Blue River,
(800) 452-6376 Pumpkin Ridge--Ghost Creek, 12930 Old Pumpkin Ridge Road, Cornelius, 647-9977 Golf vs. Putt-putt
For those making the transition from the miniature golf course to the 18-hole course, it's imperative to note these crucial differences: |
