We want to have some actual useful information for you! This page will keep you up-to-date on news regarding (hopefully) new courses to be built and, sadly, courses biting the dust.

Most of the business news regarding golf courses in Oregon has been discouraging in recent years, so let’s start with some good news. In July 2017 the Silvies Valley Ranch Resort, located off of Highway 395 between John Day and Burns, will open four — that’s right, four — new golf courses. Sort of.

The “sort of” involves the centerpiece Craddock and Hankins course(s). These are a unique, reversible 18-hole track. At the beginning and end of each fairway will be a tee box and a green. The plan is to reverse play literally every day, so one day you’ll play the Craddock Course going one direction, and the next day you’ll play the Hankins Course going the opposite direction. Tuesday’s dogleg right will be Wednesday’s dogleg left, etc. The complex will also include the Chief Egan 9-hole Par 3 course, and will also host Oregon’s first 7-hole track as well. That's right, seven — McVeigh's Gauntlet, a "challenge" course of par 3s and 4s. Most is well documented on the Silvies Ranch website.

Alas, that’s about it for good news. The proposed Bandon Muni addition to the Bandon Dunes complex has been abandoned by developer Mike Keiser. Further south, the Crooked Point Resort is opening without its anticipated golf courses — its spartan website now simply lists “Nearby Golf Courses” with no mention of any of its own.

Additionally, rumors abounded around 2012 that UO alumni were planning a semi-private home course for the Ducks, to be built near Creswell. All has been quiet on that front since 2014.

Oregon has lost several courses in recent years: Orenco Woods near Hillsboro (2006), Battle Creek in Salem (2007), Kentuck in North Bend (2009), the Roseburg VA Hospital Course (2010), Colonial Valley near Grants Pass (2011), Portland Meadows (2013), Cedar Links in Medford (2013), Eagles On The Green in Eugene (2013), Ontario Golf Club (2014), Colwood National in Portland (2014) and South Fork in Dayville (2014). Some notes:

• Having grown up in Forest Grove, Don had played Orenco many times; it closed before The Quest officially began.

• We made a point of getting to Battle Creek before its well-advertised closure in 2007; it’s now a South Salem housing development.

• We were disappointed to hear about the closures of Kentuck and Roseburg VA after-the-fact and before we could get there. Kentuck was as much literal pasture as it was a golf course, and a pasture is what it is today. The Veteran’s Administration needed the adjacent land the VA course was located on; in fact, before it closed the VA course shrank from nine to seven holes. It had the cool nickname of “Aspirin Acres.”

• Colonial Valley wasn’t much of a course (more a very big backyard), but even it had a small group of (very senior) constituents; we hit Colonial Valley as part of Golf Week 2008.

• Portland Meadows was a glorified pitch and putt course located inside the racetrack. We showed up to play one afternoon in 2010 when the course was supposed to be open, but it was closed for "personnel reasons" that day.

• Cedar Links, built in 1972, went from 9 holes to 18 back to 9 to closed as of September 2013. Frustratingly, it was the one public course in Medford that Don & Pete didn't play during Golf Week 2008; it was on the schedule for Golf Week 2014.

• Eagles On The Green was a small Par 3 course in the Santa Clara region of Eugene owned and operated by the local Eagles lodge. We played there in 2011; the lodge sold the 17-acre site to a Baptist church in 2013.

• The impending closure of Ontario was well known, but you can't just hop over there to play. That was another frustrating one, as it was on our Golf Week 2015 schedule.

• Colwood National in Portland is also (mostly) gone, with about two-thirds of it now industrial and parkland. However, there is a "new" Colwood Golf Center in its place that sports a nine-hole, par 3 layout.

• We're guessing a bit on South Fork. It existed for many years as a 6-hole course. Don talked to the owner circa 2012, and they had expanded to 9 holes. But when we pulled up to play as part of Golf Week 2015, the only indication there had ever been a golf course on the property was a row of rusting pull carts adjacent to an out building. The course looked to have been closed at least a year.

Finally, if you peruse online you may see mention of Paradise Ranch Resort just north of Grants Pass. For years it had a nice website making you believe it was quite the place, including an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus-designed course. The reality is, three holes were constructed many years ago now and the place has been in bankruptcy court. Iron gates keep you away from getting a glimpse of the three holes (we tried), though we’ve heard that some people have indeed played them. Whether they still exist is unknown, most likely not. Some online golf sites even list Paradise Ranch as a three-hole course, but don’t try booking a tee time anytime soon.