Featured Golf Trip: Bend, Oregon

Here’s something that’s kind of hard to believe: Three separate resorts offering top 100 golf courses sit within a half-hour’s drive from Bend, Oregon. As you might imagine, all of them offer some serene, natural beauty, and a golf trip could easily incorporate at least two, if not the whole batch. Let’s take them one by one.

• Pronghorn: Located at a modern luxury resort in Juniper Preserve, the Nicklaus course at Pronghorn may be the area’s headliner. It ranks 71st on our composite top 100 but sits 41st on the heralded list from Golf Digest, which says the second nine, “carved from a flow of volcanic rock, might be the most delightful Jack has ever designed, with gambling holes and gorgeous scenery at every turn.” There’s also a Tom Fazio routing on-site, and while the resort bills it as private, they allow just enough non-members on via stay-and-play that GOLF actually includes the track on its public(-ly accessible) rankings, where it sits 72nd (interestingly, above the Nicklaus, which the publication has at 95th). The inexact science of golf course rankings aside, there are very few people that don’t talk about this property in glowing terms.

• Tetherow: That other Oregon golf course from Bandon Dunes architect David McLay Kidd ain’t too bad, either. Attached to an award-winning boutique hotel and rental homes and nestled the closest to the city of Bend of the bunch, Tetherow sits 61st at Golf Digest, although it’s missing from GOLF and Golfweek‘s public lists. Compared to most of the Scottish-born DMK’s work, Tetherow is a beast. His routing offers a bumpy, firm and fast test on fescue, with bold contouring and jagged bunkers and panoramic views of the Cascade Mountains.

• Sunriver: You’ll find 63 holes of golf and plenty of other activity at the expansive Sunriver Resort, but the crown jewel is Crosswater, the composite 81st-ranked public in America designed by Bob Cupp. It’s a big ballpark that winds through the wetlands and the meadows of the Deschutes and Little Deschutes rivers. Mountain views frame the experience whether you’re on-course or venturing into what else the resort has to offer, from biking to fishing, kayaking, riding horseback, or kicking back by the pool.

You can really make a trip to Bend what you want it to be, but you may need to get slightly creative as you design your days and nights. While Pronghorn: Nicklaus and Tetherow are available to all comers with a tee time, Pronghorn: Fazio and Crosswater require a stay on-property, which means that an excursion including all four top 100s would require at least one change in accommodations. There’s also the consideration of resort stay greens fees versus daily fees, which can run as much as 100 bucks more.

All that to say, there are options, but it pays to do your research. The good news is everything sits an uber away from each other. The better news, from all accounts, is some ridiculously good golf.

Pricing details

Overall range (golf + lodging): $1,800 – $3,800
• Assumes four days, four nights

Golf: $1,000 – $1,300
• Greens fees (peak season) at Pronghorn Nicklaus: $269
• At Tetherow: $290 | $190 for resort guests
• At Crosswater: $375 (resort guests only)

Stay: $800 – $2,500

Travel considerations
• You’re less than 30 minutes from all three resorts when you land at Bend airport.

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This piece originally ran in the GTG newsletter. Subscribe here for free and get pricing details alongside the weekly featured stop—plus news on openings, redesigns, and more—in your inbox each Thursday afternoon.