Located at the southern end of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, the Eugene Country Club was founded in 1899 but moved to its present home during the 1920s, where a new course was designed by leading amateur golfer H. Chandler Egan. The Egan course survived until 1967, when Robert Trent Jones reversed the entire layout, switching green sites into tees and tees into greens, making the 1st the 18th and creating left-hand doglegs were right bends had previously existed.

Aside from changing direction, the routing remained largely intact with only par threes at the 7th and 12th altered to allow both to play across ponds. A number of other water hazards were expanded, and pressed against the putting surfaces rather than lying wasted in front of the teeing grounds. The green sites were also enlarged and, typical of Jones’ work, they were generally raised, pitched forward and defended by striking sand hazards cut into their banks.

Occupying a tightly compact property blessed with gentle undulations, the course is primarily recommended for the challenging target areas and its magnificent collection of trees, some firs towering up to 200 feet into the air. The holes themselves are all solid, but unfortunately few standout as exceptional. Longer holes tend to lack variety from the tee, while three cross-pond par threes is probably one too many, despite them all working reasonably well. What makes the course fun to play, however, are green complexes like the 15th, which is built on a small diagonal shelf, and shallow plateau targets like the 8th and 9th.

Firmly entrenched within Digest’s Top 100, the club has unquestionably benefited from the popularity of Bandon Dunes, as Eugene is conveniently located midway between Portland and the resort. Although it isn’t in the same league as the Bandon courses, this is a beautiful place to golf and a fine detour option for those heading south down the I-5.