Waverley Country Club

Favorite Hole

No. 10, par 4, 411 yards

There’s something old-school, even linksy, about Waverley’s 10th hole.

Unless you have 350 yards in the bag, the approach is blind from all parts of the fairway, but positioning off the tee still matters. From the left side of the fairway, the flag is visible, but the green, which falls away and slopes left to right, is difficult to hold. Your approach will need to land short of the green while avoiding a hidden bunker 30 yards from the front. From the right side of the fairway, the green is more open and receptive, but a large, U-shaped bunker conceals the entire target, pin and all. Also, if your tee shot strays too far right, you’ll be blocked out by a group of trees. Overall, left is probably the better play, but it’s tough to make birdie from there.

The 10th green is beautiful in its simplicity and naturalness. It hugs the terrain (aside from a slightly lifted back-left corner) and spills into an elegantly carved bunker on the right. During Gil Hanse’s restoration, shaper Kyle Franz lived in the cottage just a few steps away, so maybe he gave special attention to the shaping of this green and its surrounds.

{{content-block-course-profile-waverley-country-club-002}}

Overall Thoughts

Let’s start with some quibbles I have with Waverley Country Club’s land, design, and presentation:

Land—Holes 2-6 sit on a rectangular inland paddock, a former prune orchard, which feels detached from the rest of the course and lacks the topographical variety of the riverside stretch. It’s not quite big enough to fit five well-proportioned golf holes, so No. 5, Waverley’s weakest hole, ends up pressed against a boundary and shrouded by trees that I assume are necessary for the safety of both golfers and houses.

Design—The routing is strong but not quite ideal. The prune-orchard holes run repetitively parallel to each other, and Nos. 12 and 15 climb the hill on the north side of the property in similar ways. (Some might also point out that Nos. 17 and 18, back-to-back par 5s, use up nearly all of the land on the river bluffs, but I like that the course builds to a dramatic finale, beginning with the thrilling 16th, a long par 3 that races downhill to a semi-punchbowl green framed against the Willamette.)

Presentation—Several of Waverley’s greens—Nos. 3, 6, and 11 in particular—are all but unpinnable at current speeds. They are not the fastest greens in Portland by pure Stimpmeter reading, but the combination of slope and agronomy makes them play that way.

Also, some of Waverley’s fairways are, to my eye, 10 to 15 yards too narrow. The 1936 aerial photograph that Gil Hanse used as his primary reference point in restoring the course shows more generous fairways than exist today. Bringing back these mowing lines would give players more options for attacking Waverley’s tricky, canted greens.

For these reasons, Waverley doesn’t earn a clear Egg in any single category. Yet here we have an example of how focusing on faults can lead a reviewer astray, because in the same three categories, the course has plenty of virtues:

Land—The terrain near the river is excellent for golf—undulating, occasionally severe, but always walkable—and the setting is extraordinary. For much of the round and the entire back nine, golfers get to watch the Willamette River roll by, carrying a variety of fascinating vessels. There’s nothing like it in Portland golf.

Design—Not a single shot you hit at Waverley is thoughtless. On every tee, you’re confronted with multiple dangers and options: the bunkers, beautifully finished by Gil Hanse’s crew, are genuine hazards, and the greens, with their sharp tilts and subtle internal contours, create preferred angles of approach and both good and bad places to miss. The more you play the course, the more tactical and tentative you become.

For example, you may be able to reach the green on the par-5 13th hole in two shots, or at least get close. To do so, however, you need to find the speed slot just to the left of a punishing fairway bunker. Then you have to negotiate a heavily defended approach to the green, with water on the left, trees on the right, and bunkers on both sides. A returning player, aware of the potential for disaster, might consider a safer route on No. 13: a drive out to the left followed by a layup short of the trouble. But who likes to play for par on a downhill, 500-yard par 5?

Presentation—Maintaining turf along the Pacific Northwest Corridor is one of the toughest gigs in greenkeeping. The rainy season often starts in October and lasts through April, and during recent, global warming-tinged summers, peak temperatures have crept into the triple digits Fahrenheit. To achieve firm conditions on a clay-based, river-valley site in Portland is very difficult, but Waverley superintendent Brian Koffler is up to the task. Many of the greens sit at grade and have open approaches, encouraging low, running shots, and under Koffler’s supervision, they actually function as intended.

Waverley’s strengths easily outweigh its weaknesses, and although it’s too small to accommodate a major or a PGA Tour event, it is the closest thing Portland has to a premier championship-golf venue. It will be an outstanding host for this week’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open. -Garrett Morrison

1 Egg

(How We Rate Courses)

Waverley’s clearest path to a second Egg would be to 1) slow down the greens by a couple of inches to recover some pin positions and 2) push out a few fairways—to the left on Nos. 4, 8, and 13, and to the right on Nos. 17 and 18, for instance—to enhance strategic play. As it is, however, Waverley is the best-preserved Golden Age course in the Pacific Northwest, with A.V. Macan’s Victoria Golf Club as its only real rival.

Course Tour

{{content-block-course-profile-waverley-country-club-003}}

Additional Content