Crosswater (above) is a magical convergence of nature and the auld Scottish obsession. Tetherow (left) is David McLay Kidd’s contribution to Central Oregon golf.
Crosswater is a magical convergence
of nature and the auld Scottish obsession, coursing about hundreds and hundreds of acres of wetland and glade, laced through by the sinuous Little Deschutes River and kissed on the way back in by the crystalline Deschutes. There are no intrusions, unless hitting over a marsh on the short par-3 13th
with an eagle
and her fledglings keeping tabs from their aerie is an intrusion. There is not a weak hole in the routing, and that’s not something Pebble Beach can claim. “When Sunriver and Black Butte
started building courses, it changed the landscape of golf here,” offers Zack Hall, former golf writer for the Bend Bulletin newspaper and now an account manager at DVA Advertising & Public Relations, a Bend-based outfit specializing in outdoor sports and health care. “That turned Central Oregon into
42 | AZ GOLF Insider | SPRING 2017
a broader travel destination. Crosswater coming on in the ‘90s was a game- changer, and from there it exploded.” That explosion rippled to the east,
out to where the high plains hold sway with the Cascade peaks punctuating the western skyscape and producing Pronghorn. Tom Fazio and Jack Nicklaus received the call there, with the Golden Bear’s course being open to resort play. As is par for this set of high-end residential resorts, Pronghorn offers guests a taste of the lifestyle in swank residential-style accommodations. Pronghorn has a distinctly “desert”
feel. Don’t expect saguaros and mesquite, however. This is the start of basin-and- range territory, an immense highland expanse spanning portions of a number of states. The vistas are endless, but in close holes slip through twisted snarls of junipers, with cross-shifting fairways
knotted with blow-out sand and sage- crested hummocks. It might seem strange to verbally fuse design styles, but the generous fairways and greens rewarding angles afforded by right- siding said fairways is all Nicklaus, while the visual intrigue recalls Pete Dye. New life often emerges after a forest
fire and proof of that is Tetherow, on the western edge of Bend, the site of which experienced a burnover a few decades back, taking away the thickets of pine and clearing sightlines while exposing a tumult of lava crests and defiles. A new vision was in store for the land, and that came courtesy of David McLay Kidd, he of Bandon Dunes, Gamble Sands and other fame. With a tight fescue blend throughout,
snarled native scrub on the margins, some are moved to call this stunner a links-like experience. But Linksland
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COURTESY TETHEROW
COURTESY CROSSWATER RESORT
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