Lost In The Junipers At Pronghorn Golf Club

We hadn’t recognized how far out in the wilderness we’d be when we started toward Juniper Preserve. The resort surrounding Pronghorn Golf Club was just a short drive from Bend. I’d only assumed it was in something of a suburban setting, development extending—if perhaps thinning—the half-hour or so from Bend out to the resort.

That was not the case. Juniper Preserve is in fact in the middle of a massive forest. A forest of junipers. That was apparent as we journeyed further through a desert landscape of aqua greens and blues to find the place. It was apparent when our ubers arrived to take us into town with tales of wrong turns. And it was very apparent when I sent up the drone and got a glimpse of golf, resort, trees, mountains—and essentially nothing else.

We were there, mostly, for the golf. A Jack Nicklaus design that ranks 42nd on Golf Digest’s top 100 public courses in America list and contains a back 9 the publication says “might be the most delightful Jack has ever designed.” A Tom Fazio routing registering 72nd on GOLF mag’s version of the rankings, besting the Nicklaus on that particular list by 23 spots.

Back in 2004, when Pronghorn first came to be, it was set up as a private affair. The Fazio was added a couple years after the original, and you had to be a member to play either. Pronghorn built a first set of lodging and opened the doors in 2010. Today, you can snag a tee time at the Nicklaus whether you’re laying your head down on site or not. For the pleasure of playing the otherwise members-only Fazio course, you’ll need to stay.

Then, in 2022, what had been called Pronghorn Resort became Juniper Preserve, a rebrand that turned the place into a sanctuary for golfers and wellness seekers alike. The golf courses already existed in one of the more beautiful, calming environments you could imagine, a place that seemed to whisper retreat. Why not formalize it, add a spa, add some outdoorsy fun, elevate the culinary options, let guests tour the caves formed by volcanoes here a bajillion years ago. Nestle a sauna next to the pool next to the golf course next to the forest. Steer into it.

Seems to be working, we walked away thinking after the trip. I did not meditate, I’ll admit. Our retreat was on the golf course, and aside from a few (dozen) shots I’d like to have back, the heart rate took a dip.

The Golf at Juniper Preserve

Indeed, that back 9 stretch at the Nicklaus is something to behold. The signature hole, the par 4 13th, is a stunner. There’s plenty of fairway to the left, but to set yourself up to score, you’ll want to inch a little closer to the pond that sits off-fairway right. Do so successfully, and you’ve got just a little flip of a wedge to a green that’s guarded on its back side by a wall of ancient lava rock and a trickling waterfall.

But for my money, Pronghorn is at its aesthetic best when it’s weaving through the flora, too, producing a combination of colors and features that’s still rattling around my brain a few weeks later. The deep greens of the junipers. The aquas and blues of the sagebrush. The dark ruggedness of the rocky terrain. The extended sandy areas that weave through it all, and some charming ghost trees to boot. The par-4 12th and par-5 15th, then, were perhaps my favorites on the course, each designed with that landscape jutting in and tightening the fairways.

It ain’t for the faint of heart. We played the course a day after getting kicked around by Tetherow, a David McLay Kidd design that very much strays from DMK’s usual congenial proclivities. It kicks you in the marbles, is what it does, although you may be too engaged by all the mindbending slopes and creativity of the place to get too upset over it.

Pronghorn Nicklaus let us breathe a little, but it did not let us off the mat. You similarly won’t want to get wayward off the tee, lest you find yourself traipsing through desert with the rabbits and roadrunners. The slopes are broader, but they can be fairly severe, as well. The bunkers are stunning. The course contains some phenomenal par 3s, with green sites that sit next to massive fall-offs or hidden feeder slopes, sometimes both. I don’t claim to be an expert in architecture, nor am I a Nicklaus design historian, but of the Jack courses I’ve played, this one is the most fun, the most imaginative. I would love a second, third, fourth crack at it.

The Tom Fazio routing offered a bit of reprieve, with wider fairways and greens that were less punishing. But that’s not to say it lacked intrigue. The 6th is a serene par 4 with a fairway split by a stream, giving you a choice to pound driver left of it or take the safe route right. The 8th is a par 3 played over an enormous gap in the earth, the caves sitting some 45 feet below, lava rock beyond the putting surface, a hole truly like none other you’ve played. The 11th is a par 3 with maybe the most prominent mountain views on the property—aim for the peaks. And the 18th is a par 5 with a fairway split by a very cool bunker at the landing area, and then thinning in the layup zone, goading golfers into taking on a second shot to a green guarded on the front-left by water.

All in all, both golf courses are absolutely worth the trip. The Nicklaus gets our nod as the better of the two, but the layouts offer a nice 1-2 punch, and the Fazio more than justifies a couple nights on property. More than any single hole, what sticks with me most is the scenery, which played quite nicely whether we were on the course or a patio after the round. You’ll never be disappointed to find yourself in the high desert near—but not in—Bend, letting the setting work its magic.