Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian The Blue Mountains rise above the tee box and fairway of the seventh hole at The Golf Course at Birch Creek near Pendleton.

By Annie Fowler
East Oregonian

PENDLETON — Golf courses in Eastern Oregon tend to be lush, green, and offer many challenges. The hardest part of playing a round is choosing which course to play.

The area offers six 18-hole courses, and seven 9-hole courses. Some come with breathtaking mountain views, while others offer a few unexpected twists and turns. None will break the bank.

At the Golf Course at Birch Creek, golfers will find one of the oldest courses in the area has undergone a change of ownership and some improvements.

Previously known as the Pendleton Country Club, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation bought the course in March 2019.

Improvements to the pro shop, dining room, bar, RV parking and the swimming pool are finished or are in the works.

What hasn’t changed is the layout of the course, which has been around since 1929.

“It has good bones to it,” said Phil Lagao, the grounds superintendent for Wildhorse and Birch Creek. “We haven’t changed anything routing wise or structural wise. What we have done is put our maintenance plan that we have at Wildhorse in action there. It just needed some TLC.”

The greens at Birch Creek are a mix of bluegrass and bentgrass, while the fairways are annual bluegrass.

“I have a great crew out there,” Lagao said. “We used our connections with vendors to get some new equipment. It makes life easier when you have the proper tools.”

A round of golf with a cart will run you $50 Friday-Sunday, and is $5 cheaper during the week. If you want to get your steps in, you are welcome to walk the course. Tee times are encouraged.

The longest and most challenging hole is the par 5 No. 15 at 599 yards, while No. 6 is a fun little 150-yard par 3.

“We have been pretty busy,” assistant golf pro Scott Marcum said. “Golf really took off with the COVID thing because it was all we were allowed to do.”

While daily golf was good, tournament action was scaled back because of COVID in 2020.

This year, the tournaments are back, along with play-and-stay packages at Wildhorse Resort & Casino.

“Our marketing people have done a really good job of making this a destination place,” Marcum said.