Juniper Golf Club

Review and Rating of Juniper Golf Course in Redmond Oregon

Owned by the City of Redmond, Juniper Golf Club has an interesting history, some of which includes: the first nine opened in 1952; the club house and facilities burnt down in 1963; the second nine opened for play in 1987; in 1995 a highway bypass was planned to come through the course and the lease fee of $1 a year was going to be raised to over $300,000; and that increase made it more economical to build a completely new 18 holes in a different location, which opened for play in 2005. 

Juniper Golf Club was carved out of the Central Oregon high mountain desert and the holes meander through Junipers, yellow sage brush, and lava rock outcropping with magnificent views of the snow capped peaks of Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top, the Three Sisters, Mt. Washington, Three-fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood. With great conditions, reasonable rates, good service, and some great holes, it's not surprising that Golf Digest has named it "Best Places to Play" and "Best Municipal" in Oregon.

Some of what we liked about playing Juniper Golf Course included:

• the conditions from the tee box to the cup were near perfect and the course is well maintained and manicured
• the mountain peaks form a backdrop to most every hole and the contrast of the lush green fairways, black/brown lava rock, natural desert landscape, Juniper trees, and yellow sage is stunning
• the greens are huge and run true and at a great speed
• with 7 sets of tee boxes (two are combos) you can find a set that fits your game
• the fairways are wide and forgiving and heavily contoured
• the course will throw a lot at you some of which includes strategically placed bunkers, blind shots, elevated tee boxes, and some minor up and down shots
• an excellent pace of play and great practice facilities
• only $6 for two eggs, sausage, bread, and hash browns cooked to order – what a deal

When we played in September, the fairways were in near perfect condition – lush and soft.  Off the tee the landing zones are typically very generous but after that they can get tight on some holes.  Miss the fairway and the rough, which was also in great shape and cut very playable, and you are in the desert native area and most likely lost.  All of the fairways have some contour ranging from gentle to roller coaster. 

The greens at Juniper Golf Club are huge ranging from 25 to 43 yards deep.  Some are raised, most are guarded by at least one bunker, and several are heavily contoured.  They ran very true, held the ball well, but were running a little slow due to a recent aeration – normally they run between 10 to 11.

The bunkers at Juniper Golf Course were perfect with soft, fairly thick, white sand.  They range from small pot bunkers to average size and the majority of the faces are manageable.

Some of the holes that we really liked at Juniper Golf Course included:

• #4 is fun – a 366 yard par 4 with a slightly elevated tee box, a landing zone pinched by a right side bunker and a natural area infringing into the fairway, and a second uphill shot that needs to carry a ridge and natural area in front of the elevated green which has a left and right side bunker
• #5 requires some shot making – 3 fingers of natural area with lava outcropping extend into the fairway and pinching the fairway which puts a premium on the drive and approach shot to a green set way off to the right side
• #11 is a 429 yard par 4 with an elevated tee shot past a large lava outcropping and over a small natural area then slightly uphill to the green
• #15 is an outstanding 438 par 4 with an elevated tee shot to a fairway that dogs right around a lake to a green with no room for error thanks to the lake on the right and a long skinny bunker on the left