REDMOND —

Sometimes a golfer can get a little too comfortable being aggressive.

On a recent sunny but breezy afternoon (so breezy, in fact, that when I mentioned to the starter that I had lost my scorecard, he quipped, “It’s probably in Madras by now.”) I was becoming a little too attached to swinging out of my shoes on the wide-open Ridge Course at Eagle Crest Resort.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan when I smacked a driver about 280 yards down the fairway of the par-5, 501-yard 18th hole. It was perfect position to go for the green in two shots.

With a 2-hybrid in hand from the middle of the fairway, my aggression got the better of me. I overswung, pushing my ball far right toward the watery grave near the green.

As if a gift from the Ridge Course itself, my ball crashed into a dead juniper and dropped it onto solid ground. An easy pitch and two putts, and I had a lucky par.

More important, I walked off the 18th green with a renewed appreciation for just how enjoyable Ridge can be for most recreational golfers.

Loosely lined with juniper trees and mounding, as well as homes that are in most cases hard to reach, Ridge is so driver friendly that a hack like me could forget about the trouble he can get himself into at some of Central Oregon’s more unforgiving layouts.

“If you have your ‘A’ game, great,” said Ron Buerger, the longtime director of golf at Eagle Crest Resort. “But if you have your ‘B’ game, you can still play it and live to tell about it.”

Make no mistake, though. Ridge is no gimme.

The Ridge Course features several testy par 4s, particularly on the back nine, where four par 4s of 400 yards or longer (from the 6,549-yard black tees, from which I played) put a premium on distance. And all four par 3s — which from the black tees range from 133 yards to 191 yards — offer significant defense to par.

“That’s the testament to the design,” said Buerger of architect John Thronson’s 22-year-old layout. “It’s user-friendly. But you can step back and to the gold tee markers and get all you want. It’s a really well-rounded golf course.”

The challenge includes the brutal but beautiful 190-yard third hole. No. 3 plays significantly downhill and into the prevailing wind, plus a pond sits greenside to swallow any ball that drifts too far right.

Playing from the 219-yard gold tee, some competitors in a U.S. Amateur Championship qualifier staged at the Ridge Course in July laid up and played the hole as a par 4 just to avoid a disaster, according to Buerger.

The 173-yard 16th hole can also turn into among the toughest par 3s anywhere with a back-right pin position, as I found. With the wind blowing from left to right, I hit what I thought was a solid 5-iron and watched helplessly as it drifted right toward the greenside pond. My ball caromed off the green’s fringe and barreled down the hill, luckily snagging just enough grass to stay dry.

From the scraggly secondary rough — which Eagle Crest has chosen to grow out in recent years — I pitched onto the green and salvaged bogey.

It got worse on 17 when I badly hooked my tee shot on the 434-yard 17th hole into the deep rough. Under control for much of the back nine, I suddenly found myself some 240 yards from the green and in a grizzly lie. Reaching for too much, I grabbed a 3-wood and advanced the ball into even deeper rough. After punching out, I finally reached the green. Exhausted from the self-imposed adventure, I made triple bogey on a hole that had seemed so straightforward.

I was left shaking my head, fully aware that Ridge has a little more teeth than first glance might reveal.

In other words, despite its forgiving design, if you bring your ‘C’ game to Ridge, you will likely take a beating.

Then again, you might still get a fortuitous bounce off a dead juniper.

Difficulty of course

Ridge is not easy, but it is less punitive than many of Central Oregon’s tree-lined or desert golf courses.

The straightforward design is dotted with loosely gathered juniper trees. Water is present on four holes, but there are no forced carries over those hazards. Most of the fairways are spacious, and the often-tiered greens present sizable targets.

All of it makes for a comfortable round for golfers of every skill level, from driver-happy bombers to control-challenged novices.

However, the Ridge is still guarded with mounding around the greens and along the fairway, significant bunkering, subtly challenging greens and a deep secondary rough.

Favorite hole

I have always been a fan of the uphill, par-5 14th hole, which plays a reachable 497 yards from the black tees.

The fairway bends slightly right from the tee box, which offers a panoramic view of the hole. A grassy gully that runs the entire length of the fairway punishes tee shots that drift right, and drives that miss left bring into play two fairway bunkers and desert beyond a series of mounds.

Those who go for the green in two shots will be forced to target a small green guarded by mounding and three bunkers, while layups are rewarded with a roomy landing zone.

The prevailing head wind in the late afternoon, when I played, makes the hole play much more difficult. However, playing at that time has an added benefit as the sun drifts behind the desert hill that serves as a backdrop to the hole: The view is gorgeous.

How to approach the course

Few courses in Central Oregon are as driver-friendly as the Ridge Course, so play aggressively.

Ridge features some exceptionally long par 4s and a tough set of par 3s that make bogey a decent score. So it is important to score well on Ridge’s short par 5s, which are all reachable in two shots for longer hitters, especially from the 6,549 black tees, where the longest par 5 sits at just 511 yards. (The 6,974-yard back gold tees are rarely set up at Ridge, though golfers are free to play the tips if they choose.)

In most cases, play approach shots below the hole, as most greens are sloped from back to front. In addition, approach shots that drift too long will find trouble with mounding and deep rough that back many of Ridge’s putting surfaces.

Once on the green, be mindful of subtle sloping that can snatch a par away.

Off the course

The clubhouse for the Ridge Course is shared with Eagle Crest’s Challenge Course and includes a snack bar and a well-stocked pro shop. Just a few feet behind the clubhouse, a golfer can make use of a roomy putting green and short-game practice area, as well as a full-size driving range.

Eagle Crest’s 18-hole putting course — which mixes miniature golf with natural-grass putting greens — sits just a few feet away from the practice area and is worth a play for golfers of all stripes. Cost to play is $10 for adults, $6 for juniors.

Verdict

Ridge is in excellent condition and presents enough challenges to test high-level golfers, especially the difficult back nine. Yet the layout is forgiving enough that it will not frustrate most players, even on a day when they are not playing their best.

At $74 in prime time, the Ridge Course is not inexpensive, though the price drops to $49 after 3 p.m. during the peak golf season.

In the end, Ridge is a place many golfers could envision playing every day. And that is high enough praise.

— Reporter: 541-617-7868, zhall@bendbulletin.com.