Of Shield Volcanoes and The Curse of the Elevens

Geology is an important factor in Golf Course design.  Golfers cannot be bored and a large part of enjoying a round is the scenery.  Within a few hours of the Portland metropolitan area are two good golf courses, tucked up against the Cascade Mountain Range.

I choose Elkhorn Golf Course in Gates, Oregon that is reached by a steep paved climb over a mountain ridge from State Highway 22 and Mallard Creek Golf Course near Lebanon.  Each course owes its challenge to the steep sides of volcanic rock that is part of the Western Cascades.  These "Cascades" were the first north -to- south band of volcanoes that was fed by subduction of the Pacific Plate under North America.  The volcano line shifted a little more than 2 million years ago to the present line of stratovolcanoes that accent the present Cascade skyline. The renewed uplift steepened the river courses of the Western Cascades, again, meaning that golfers ought to forget following lost golf balls into river channels.  The banks are too steep.

Still, the Western Cascades are causing problems for golfers.  There are many holes with water hazards at Elkhorn, that golfers would hope to forget, because fairways are cut be water, and occupied by ponds and swamps.  A posted question at the rustic pro shoppe asks, "Do you have enough balls to play Elkhorn"? The rolling steepness of "The Back Nine" at Mallard Creek offers some interesting and sometimes frustrating challenges.

Two daunting challenges are the 11th holes of each of these two courses.

You have to loft the ball to "bomb" the green on the 11th hole at Mallard Creek, otherwise the ball trickles off the green and ends up in a pot bunker.  Just lift the ball and add a stroke if that happens.  At Elkhorn, No. 11 has 180 yards of water, and you need a long drive.  The wait to clear the hazard is very suspenseful. More often that not, you have lost one of your better golf balls, in the water, just off the edge of the green. Almost,....NOT quite!

Each hole has its rewards at this time of year.  You can look off across the valley at Mallard Creek, drop another ball and try, again.  Pretend that you are "Tin Cup".  "Take the shot!".  At No. Eleven, you can hang your head in frustration, and walk 80 yards to the drop area, just across a short arm of the water hazard and club an eight iron onto the narrow green. Take a moment to admire the turning alder, the fortress-like Elkhorn Mountain with the white bleached trunks from an old forest fire above you, or look listlessly over your left shoulder at House Mountain.  Welcome to the Western Cascades.