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A place for everyone
Columbia Edgewater's new par-3 course generating wide appeal
By Paul Ramsdell, PNGA Media
It took the realization of a 25-year-old dream to put Columbia Edgewater Country Club firmly decades ahead of other clubs in terms
of providing a complete golfing experience for any family.
The private club along the Columbia River in Portland has completed a nine-hole, par-3 course and a short-game practice area that
both entices novices to take up the game and enables experts to get even better.
"It hits every category," said Hall Wade, the club manager at CECC. "It hits the wives. It hits the kids. It hits me, a 12 (handicapper)
who wants to be a 2, and the guy who is a 22 and wants to be a 12."
On 10 acres just to the south and west of the 18-hole layout at CECC is the par-3 course, which was completed this fall. Most members
didn't even realize the acreage was available, but Bunny Mason, a golf course architect and the head golf professional at CECC
from 1960-1972, knew it was there.
"Basically nobody knew the land was even there because basically it was such a mess," Mason said.
"This whole area out here was a solid mess, nothing of any value," he said. "It has been a dumping ground with briers 10 feet high."
And the site spent more than 75 years as a waste area hidden from the golf course.
"There were tires, old tanks, abandoned golf course maintenance machinery, you name it," Mason said.
When the members at CECC approved the project, Mason and Dan Hixson designed the layout and practice area.
Unlike most courses, there is not a set yardage to this layout.
"The concept is you play it from wherever you want to," Mason said. "We put the markers out there, but we encourage people to play it
from wherever you want to, it doesn't matter."
The holes range from 85 to 135 yards and run alongside the 10th and 11th holes at CECC.
Mason said providing an area where juniors could learn was his inspiration.
"Somewhere in the late '70s I probably got into thinking about it hard," Mason said.
"We had a need. I think everybody has that need. We love our children and want to take care of them, but we don't want to turn the whole
country club over to them," he said.
Mason said that after the course opened, he got calls from members telling him what a great time they had taking their grandchildren
out to play.
"It gives you the opportunity to teach the etiquette, traditions of the game, how you get around the golf course and be a good
companion," Mason said. "It gives grandpa a chance to be a genius."
It also has turned into a genius of a marketing tool for Columbia Edgewater in the difficult battle private clubs are having in finding
new members, Wade said.
"I think the wives look at this and see 'Where my kids can play, and I can see if I wanted to play where I could play. I can see where
the club has more thoughts other than just my husband playing,'" he said. "They kind of get the whole picture that this could be a nice
place to raise a family."
And how have the juniors responded to this little playground?
"They love it," said Bryan Tunstill, the head golf professional. "It's kind of like a park environment out there. We've gotten really
good feedback so far."
The positive feedback, however, isn't just from juniors. It's a great training ground for anyone. Wade has seen Randy Mahar, the
eight-time club champion, using the par-3 course to work on his short game.
"He's out here throwing down three balls and playing all sorts of shots. He's flipping balls over the trees," Wade said. "Just
throwing down balls and saying, 'I'm going to try this shot.' So he's out here having a great time all by himself."
Mary Lou Wittenberg, a four-time women's club champion ranging from 1952 to 1958 now in the later stages of her golfing life, has
been a regular as well.
"Now, she said she has just fallen in love with this," Mason said. "See, she can't walk the full golf course anymore."
It can be all things to all people, a selling point not lost on Wade.
"What the club is trying to do is make the best golf and club experience they can have and this was a very significant idea cost-wise,
and labor-wise, and all that out-of-the-box thinking that just enhances that experience for the members," Wade said.
"It separates us from the other competition in the area. It certainly should bring in some added benefits for memberships."
Closest to the clubhouse will be the short-game practice area that will be perfect for practicing wedge play and shots out of the bunker
with a target green of nearly 15,000 square feet.
"I think at the end of the day it's going to be a positive in every respect," Wade said.
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