Portland Golf Club Review and Photos
- Weather: Warm, sunny
- Price: Private
- Summary: Ben Hogan won the first of his nine major championships at Portland Golf Club at the 1946 PGA Championship. Portland Golf Club hosted the Ryder Cup a year later in 1947, which was the first Ryder Cup since 1937 as it was delayed for 10 years due to World War II. The US won the Ryder Cup easily 11-1. This classic tree-lined course is full of history and is a lot of fun to play.
- All photos of Portland Golf Club
The driving range is shown below - it is evident that the course was built in the early 1900's as the driving range is very compact - I believe only about 230 yards to the net at the back of the range.
Hole #1 - 413 yard par 4. RHODODENDRON (Each hole has a name - the first hole is named for a type of flower that is behind the first green).
Hole #2 - 436 yard par four. LONG JOHN. Not exactly long by today's standards, but it certainly was for the early 1900's.
Hole #3 - 339 yard par four. LITTLE BEND. There is a plaque on the third tee that describes what became known as "Hogan's Gate." The plaque indicates that Ben Hogan used a gate near the 4th tee as his aiming point on this short dog leg left par four.
Hole #4 - 132 yard par three. RALEIGH STATION. I assume the reason for the name of this hole is that it is next to the road, which likely used to have a railroad and train station nearby. Very short hole, but the green slopes severely from left to right so don't get above the pin.
Hole #5 - 524 yard par five. HOMESTEAD
Hole #6 - 380 yard par four. BARN
Hole #7 - 351 yard par four. BRISTOL. Most scenic hole on the course.
Hole #8 - 195 yard par three. FANNO. Fanno Creek runs along the left side of this par three.
Hole #9 - 361 yard par four. DICKSON. The iconic clubhouse is at the back of this green. This hole is more difficult than it appears. I had started to notice a trend by about this hole - the greens are the toughest part of this course and hole #9 is no exception. I three-putted from about 12 feet because I was left of this pin.
Hole #10 - 509 yard par five. BEAVER
Hole #11 - 370 yard par four. MALLARD. Billy Casper won the Portland Open three times and of the eight times he played this hole, he birdied it seven times and parred it once. They may want to consider renaming this hole CASPER.
Hole #12 - 208 yard par three. BRIDGE. Fun down-hill par three.
Hole #13 - 384 yard par four. FIR. As can be seen in the tee-shot photo, it appears that the course's drainage was being worked on on a few holes on the day I played. This one is a tough tee shot. When we were playing hole #11, a member was on hole 13 and was in the trees right. He told us not to go right on 13 and he was right.
Hole #14 - 390 yard par four. DOGWOOD. They were remodeling near the teeing ground on this hole when we played, so they had us play it as a par three from about 160 yards.
Hole #15 - 542 yard par five. FIRLOCK STATION
Hole #16 - 420 yard par four. BIG BEND. Tough tee shot with bunker near landing area. Might be wise to take a little less club that won't get in the fairway bunker and aim for the bunker straight away.
Hole #17 - 191 yard par three. ISLAND.
Hole #18 - 558 yard par five. HOME. Tough up-hill finishing hole. Hopefully you've figured out by now to not get above the hole.