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Tito’s Handmade Vodka • Travel The Northwest
Sunriver Resort shimmers in Central Oregon’s high desert
o you remember the first time you visited Sunriver? Those that have been fortunate to vacation in this gorgeous, activity-packed wonderland, 20 miles south of Bend, Ore., can usually recall their maiden trip as it revealed to them the beauty of the high desert. We have some of our own amazing high desert in Washington but, we have to admit, Oregon’s is next level.
The rocky, pine/juniper/sage-covered ground, with the snowy peaks of Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top, and the Three Sisters, 20 miles or so northwest, is otherworldly. On a glorious blue-sky day, it seems almost supernaturally separated from the rest of civilization.
The planned residential and resort community sits on roughly 3,300 acres, taking up much of a larger property the government had used during WWII as a training facility for the Army Corps of Engineers. Named Camp Abbot after distinguished military engineer Brigadier General Henry Larcom Abbot, who had surveyed the area in 1855, the base was home to about 10,000 soldiers at one time. It was decommissioned by 1944, when most of its buildings and infrastructure were torn down (the resort’s Great Hall, once the officer’s mess hall and which backs onto a cool water feature located to the right of the Meadows course’s ninth hole, is the only structure that remains).
The land on which Camp Abbot had been sited was divided into chunks with almost 2,000 acres being sold to the U.S. Forest Service (it is now a part of the Deschutes National Forest). The rest became private land which was put up for sale and was acquired in 1965 by two Portlanders — attorney Donald McCallum and John Gray, the founder of Omark Industries, which produced cutting tools for the forestry, agriculture, and construction industries.
The new landowners conceived a residential/resort development that would be called Sunriver and whose first lots were sold in 1968, the same year the lodge opened.
Oregon golf architect Fred Federspiel was commissioned to build the resort’s first golf course called Meadows, which opened in 1969. Federspiel never quite gained national attention, but his designs at Salishan Golf Links and Royal Oaks in Vancouver, Wash., were highly regarded. His design at Sunriver was similarly acclaimed.
In the late 1990s, the resort hired Portland native and 1977 U.S. Amateur Champion John Fought to redesign the course and, though some parts of the original design were saved, the course Fought created was essentially new.
“I did a complete renovation of the course including all tees, greens and bunkers,” Fought says. “We removed a lot of trees but generally utilized the existing routing as it ran between homes. I did, however, reverse the 14th and 15th holes to put the OB on the left side of each, which we thought would be safer.”
Fought, who has been back to Sunriver several times since the project was completed in 1999, lengthened and restrategized every hole to establish classic features – “like Donald Ross,” he says.
The Woodlands course was added in 1981 and designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. It lies about three miles north of Meadows, its holes bordered by stately lodgepole/ponderosa pines and a number of water hazards.
The resort’s third 18-hole course, Crosswater, opened in 1995. Designed by Bob Cupp, it’s widely considered the pick of not just the Sunriver trio, but one of the best tracks in the region.
Until last Spring, Meadows and Woodlands were public daily-fee courses while Crosswater was private but open to resort guests. That changed, however, with the formation of the Sunriver Golf Club that made Meadows and Woodlands private while still accessible to resort guests (actually, though the rate is significantly higher – $225 from $125 – locals can still book tee times.) Thankfully, Crosswater is still available to resort guests.
Western Washingtonians are fortunate to live within easy reach of numerous quality public courses and, though Sunriver is a lengthy drive south, its 63 excellent golf holes (the nine-hole, par-27 Caldera Links is a fun loop with the kids) make it the absolutely perfect destination for a long weekend.
Sunriverresort.com is where you can plan out your Central Oregon summer respite.
