Best golf courses near Bend, OR

Pronghorn Resort's Fazio Course in Bend is one of the best courses in Oregon. Discover our experts reviews and where Pronghorn ranks in our rankings.

A decade after David McLay Kidd established his architectural reputation with the original Bandon Dunes course, he returned to Oregon, settled in Bend and built another dazzling course, Tetherow. Far different than Bandon, with a manufactured landscape of lumps and bumps, far more bunkers, plus a couple of lakes, it nonetheless has the same fescue as at Bandon, so tee shots get plenty of roll and some approach shots can be bounced into flagsticks. The big difference is that Tetherow is a bear to play and demands a high degree of strength and skill to put up a good score, whereas Bandon Dunes creates opportunity when the wind isn't whipping. This design marked the beginning of Kidd's wandering phase where he lost sight of the reason most golfers enjoy the game and built a series of impressive and attractive but inforgiving courses. Even he admits Tetherow can be too penalizing. His response was Gamble Sands and Mammoth Dunes where tactics and recoverability take precedence over strict shot-making.

When it first opened, Pronghorn was strictly private and its Nicklaus Course was ranked by Golf Digest as No. 2 among America’s Best New Private Courses of 2004. A few years back, the club (which also has a Fazio-designed 18), began allowing public play on its Nicklaus track. The Nicklaus back nine, carved from a flow of volcanic rock, may be the most delightful Jack has ever designed, with gambling holes and gorgeous scenery at every turn.

Part of Crosswater was reportedly built in the meadow where John Wayne, as Rooster Cogburn, filmed his climactic charge with guns blazing in the 1969 film, True Grit. The Bob Cupp design is far more subtle than a Wayne western, with low-profile greens edged by graceful chipping areas and fairways intersected repeatedly by the Big and Little Dechutes rivers. Crosswater was Golf Digest's Best New Resort Course of 1995.

Sunriver Resort, located in central Oregon, offers three 18-hole courses and a nine-hole layout. One of our panelists notes that the Meadows course, a John Fought design, plays the easiest of the Sunriver’s three layouts. The Meadows course is aesthetically pleasing, with towering pines, fescue-covered bunker faces and a meandering Sun River all enhancing the course’s beauty. The Meadows course hosted the 2002 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and the 2007 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.