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Don’t let the course rating fool you!
As the governing body of golf in Oregon and SW Washington, the Oregon Golf Association is licensed by the United States Golf Association to determine the measurements including course and slope ratings for all golf courses in its region.
It was in that capacity that we recently visited Crestview Golf Club in Waldport, Ore. a 9-hole course that was totally redesigned by Dan Hixson. Hixson is most noted for his design of Bandon Crossings in Bandon, Ore. and recently his Wine Valley Course in Walla Walla, Wash.
New bent grass greens, new fescue fairways, new layout. Even the name of the course is a little different (it was known before as Crestview Hills Golf Course). Nothing that you might have experienced before exists today. Even the clubhouse is new. It's a fun, family friendly golf course that will not overwhelm any player.
The course is not long, but it will make you think. There are a couple of doglegs, with trees protecting the green. The 2nd hole has interesting bunkering that gives a false front to the green.
Will the player lay up and play it safe or go for it? We do have to think about that a little and take that into account when we rate a golf course. We need to keep in mind how a scratch and a bogey golfer would play it. In fact, the yardage of the hole is right at the margin between a par 3 and 4 but because it plays uphill, it actually plays a little longer than the physical yardage indicates.
And then there’s the relatively short par-3, 4th hole. Yardages range from 102 to 169 yards depending on the tees. Seems simple enough until you realize there’s carry over a water hazard, bunkers in front, dunes to the right side and behind the green. Then there’s the green itself. It's long (48 yards) and averages a measly width of 12-yards. Top that off with it being a 2-tiered green positioned at a 45-degree angle to the tees. It may be short, but it's certainly tricky!
4th Hole at Crestview Golf Club
So don't let the course rating fool you. Just because the course rating is low, that's just because the most dominant factor in determining a course rating is yardage alone. The course used to measure just under 5,500 yards from the tips, but Hixon shortened it a little more than 400 yards but added numerous factors to make the course far more interesting to play.
So here's the new USGA Course Rating/Slope Rating for Crestview:
| 18 Hole |
Front 9 – Back 9 | |
| Men | ||
| GOLD | 63.8/108 |
31.9/108 – 31.9/108 |
| BLUE | 62.2/104 | 31.1/104 – 31.1/104 |
| WHITE |
61.4/102 | 30.7/102 – 30.7/102 |
| Women | ||
| WHITE | 64.8/109 |
32.4/109 – 32.4/109 |
| RED | 60.4/97 | 30.2/97 – 30.2/9 |
The full re-opening of the course comes in mid-June.
In addition to the new clubhouse, they've also redone the restaurant with a full bar serving casual dinners Sunday thru Wednesday and offering fine dining Thursday thru Saturday.
ABOUT COURSE RATING
A USGA Course Rating is the evaluation of the playing difficulty of a course for a scratch golfer under normal course and weather conditions for the purpose of providing a uniform basis on which to issue USGA Handicap Indexes.
A USGA Slope Rating evaluates the relative playing difficulty of each set of tees for non-scratch golfers and is used in calculating a course handicap from a handicap index. It helps adjust a handicap for a higher handicap golfer.
The OGA rates established golf courses on a seven-year cycle and upon request if major renovations have been made. New courses are re-rated after three years to accommodate natural changes made to a course as it matures.
The Oregon Golf Association is also responsible for maintaining the integrity of the USGA Handicap System and is authorized to issue handicaps to members of its member clubs. The purpose of a handicap index measure the potential ability of a golfer relative to par and provide a portable number that can be converted to a handicap specific to the course being played.
Course ratings are objective evaluations of a course’s difficulty based on a number of factors including roll, elevation, forced lay-ups, prevailing winds, altitude, topography, fairway width, green targets, recoverability and rough, bunkers, hazards, trees, and effective playing length.
Accuracy and consistency are the keys to effective course rating. Measurements and ratings are conducted by experienced teams of three trained and experienced raters including both staff and volunteers of the Oregon Golf Association. Through the collection of data on thousands of golfers and golf holes, the factors that affect difficulty have been assigned values that yield accurate and uniform ratings when applied to a course in its entirety. Results are evaluated by a Course Rating Review Committee prior to its release.
The course rating system is designed to ensure that the rating of a course is in proper relation to the ratings of other courses so that players regularly playing different courses can be equitably compared.
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