Rose City Golf Course
About
Rose City Golf Course is the second oldest municipal track in the Portland area. In 1921, A.H. "Jay" Gould played his first round of golf ever at Eastmoreland Golf Course. After returning home, he decided to look for a good place to hit golf balls and came upon The Rose City Speedway. He spoke with C.P. Keyser of the City Park Bureau and obtained permission to burn the tall grass on the infield so that golf balls could be found.
Jay and friend Herbert George used shovels and hoes to carve out a nine-hole course on the speedway infield. Tin cans were used for cups, packing cases for tee-boxes, and iron rods and rags for flags. The Oregonian and Journal Newspapers ran a story on the new golf course and 30 golfers showed up the following Sunday to hit balls around on the burnt grass and dirt. The main hazard was a head-on train collision that occurred earlier in the summer and partially blocked the seventh green.
After a few weeks, the Rose City Golf Association was founded which marked the beginning of the course. Full cooperation from the city and donations from businesses and individuals solidified the construction. George Ott drew up a nine-hole plan and work began in the spring of 1922. Play continued in the spring, but was stopped in the summer due to long grass and no mower. Play started again in the fall, but stopped again due to motorcycle racing. In the winter of 1922-23, the viaduct on the west end of the track washed out and put an end to the races. On Jan. 31, 1923 the first green fee ticket was sold to Jay Gould and in the spring, more than 800 played in one day. The city then took over the course completely.
Today, Rose City Golf Course is an 18-hole, par-72 course with rolling fairways that are lined with a variety of large trees. Water comes into play on holes 10, 11, 14, and 15 and greenside bunkers are well placed.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | 72 | 6552 yards | 71.7 | 123 |
| White | 72 | 6164 yards | 69.8 | 119 |
| White (W) | 73 | 6164 yards | 75.3 | 126 |
| Red (W) | 73 | 5589 yards | 71.8 | 118 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament M: 71.0/120 | 367 | 388 | 502 | 341 | 171 | 425 | 364 | 216 | 384 | 3158 | 475 | 465 | 200 | 367 | 329 | 133 | 473 | 414 | 423 | 3279 | 6437 |
| Blue M: 70.9/119 | 367 | 388 | 502 | 341 | 171 | 425 | 364 | 216 | 353 | 3127 | 475 | 465 | 200 | 367 | 329 | 133 | 473 | 414 | 423 | 3279 | 6406 |
| Blue/White M: 69.4/116 | 343 | 362 | 502 | 323 | 171 | 390 | 333 | 216 | 326 | 2966 | 475 | 465 | 200 | 351 | 320 | 133 | 473 | 378 | 405 | 3200 | 6166 |
| White M: 68.6/116 W: 74.5/120 | 343 | 362 | 476 | 323 | 154 | 390 | 333 | 190 | 326 | 2897 | 450 | 446 | 180 | 351 | 320 | 120 | 462 | 378 | 405 | 3112 | 6009 |
| White/Green M: 67.4/112 | 325 | 325 | 476 | 308 | 154 | 369 | 303 | 190 | 280 | 2730 | 450 | 446 | 180 | 298 | 262 | 120 | 462 | 353 | 395 | 2966 | 5696 |
| Green M: 66.5/108 W: 71.4/114 | 325 | 351 | 447 | 308 | 123 | 369 | 303 | 142 | 280 | 2648 | 424 | 432 | 166 | 298 | 262 | 77 | 416 | 353 | 395 | 2823 | 5471 |
| Red M: 62.7/103 W: 66.4/109 | 241 | 262 | 383 | 240 | 123 | 288 | 262 | 142 | 220 | 2161 | 353 | 365 | 142 | 260 | 262 | 77 | 416 | 275 | 294 | 2444 | 4605 |
| Red/Gold W: 66.0/108 | 241 | 262 | 383 | 240 | 123 | 288 | 262 | 142 | 205 | 2146 | 340 | 312 | 142 | 260 | 262 | 77 | 340 | 275 | 294 | 2302 | 4448 |
| Gold M: 62.1/100 W: 65.0/105 | 241 | 262 | 383 | 240 | 123 | 288 | 262 | 142 | 205 | 2146 | 340 | 312 | 142 | 253 | 230 | 77 | 340 | 220 | 294 | 2208 | 4354 |
| Handicap | 7 | 3 | 15 | 13 | 17 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 18 | 16 | 4 | 2 | |||
| Par | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 37 | 72 |
| Handicap (W) | 11 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 13 | 7 | 9 | 15 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 18 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
Course Details
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Clubhouse, Banquet FacilitiesReviews
Reviewer Photos
Bonus day in October
Great weather and a great course. Greens rough from sanding but the course has held up well for the year. See you next year!
Do you like golf now players?
This course is easy to access in the city. I’ve played here several times. Easy layout with some cool elevation changes. They punched the greens recently, so everything was bumpy. When checking there was some marine behind the counter that complained about everything. He had an issue with me using golf now and if it were up to him he would do away it. I let him know it was the reason why I was there and it’s how I book most rounds. I wanted purchase a cart at 2:45 and he demanded that I had it back by 5:30. It’s the worst customer experience I’ve had any course this year. I will think twice before I come back.
Great Municipal course
Had a good time playing the course, however it felt rushed because of golfers riding carts were expecting our group who was walking to play as fast as them. Additionally there were a few golfers just roaming the course cutting in front of other golfers. Slowed down our round. Just inconsiderate in my opinion.
Family day.
Great day for golfing until we got to the greens that had just been sanded, heavily. No crowds made it a fun, quick paced 18 holes.
Good city course
This course would benefit from an iron-only range, which might increase its revenues. Staff was glad to advise us prior to booking that green aerification and top-dressing would occur the next Monday and Tuesday. Rate was very good for Saturday mid-day. There are a couple of par-4's that are beyond the capabilities of seniors or people who normally play the white tees, but overall it's a good test!
Never change
I having play this course for years , nothing change at all ,on the fall lots of buds pine on the greens ,we play because it close to home and our church ,sometime hot deal really hit us thats all..
Mediocre Public Course
Other than the greens the course is a pleasant experience. The greens however are sad. It seems they haven't cut or rolled them for days, very bumpy and slow. Additionally, be warned, a bunch of old people play the course and have no clue about speed of play!
Late summer golf
The Rose City course was is great condition and very green. I just wish people would replace their divots to help the grounds keeper.
Very busy
Today was a beautiful day to play golf. Clear skies warm weather it was the high 80s low 90s little on the warm side for here in Portland Oregon. Everybody in his cousin was out playing today and there is four people in our group three people in the group of head of us for people behind us I never felt pushed I think we kept a pretty good pace of play never saw a marshall on the course which I thought was unusual. Overall I had a great day I was able to get a cart which made it better all the carts are out which I thought was unusual too.
I enjoyed this course for the "major monday" setting and the value through hot deal.
had much fun and looking forward this kind of deal..
hoped the green could have been faster...!
Where's the starter?
Things were a mess at the first tee, with no starter anywhere. There were 5 singles waiting around, as well as our two-some, all with the same tee time. First half was quite slow, with a large gap in front of the group two in front of us. No marshal anywhere to move things along. Second half was fast, as the slow group stopped after 9.
Rose city course
The time of the day worked out perfectly and the course was nice for the first time of play.
Great course
Rose City is in great shape, it is a pleasure to play. It is a walking course and we chose to ride. Cart fee was quite high. Next time we will walk.
Rose city
We were able to get on but the pace of play was a bit off no Marshall to control pace...
Sunny golf weather
Once again Rose City provided me with a memorable day of golf. My foursome included a couple of exceptional golfers and the course was in great summer shape to showcase their skills. Pace of play has been good even without seeing a marshall on the course.
overall,, was happy but the green could have been faster as they advertised
Agreed, this counter person discriminates against Golfnow users, in our case he told us to wait our turn while we saw no one on the course due to cold and windy weather. We were then bunched up to 2 foursome with more players arriving as it gets warmer, causing a traffic jam on the tee box we never seen anything like it. Golfnow should investigate this course or this person behavior!